Kenny, Waliko and I have spent the past three days in Blantyre going through footage, making sure we’re on the same page—translations, cultural explanations, film treatment, etc—before we all head our separate ways. For Ken, he’s off to Canterbury to start a new year of teaching secondary school in the UK. For Waliko, it’s back [...]
Archive for August, 2008
Tiwanana from the Warm Heart of Africa
Posted in Deep Roots Malawi, Music, Projects on August 14, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
The Body, Mind & Soul of Malawi
Posted in Deep Roots Malawi, Music, Projects on August 8, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
This week, Lilongwe played host to the international finals of the Music Crossroads International (MCI) competition, a unique youth empowerment through music program initiated in 1995 by Jeunesses Musicales International (JMI) that encompasses five southern African countries: Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Since the program began twelve years ago, Music Crossroads has reached almost 35,000 [...]
Music as an Instrument for Change
Posted in Deep Roots Malawi, Music, Projects on August 6, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Today we had the wonderful opportunity to sit down with both Peter Mwangwa and his record label, Rhythm of Life. Mwangwa, one of Malawi’s most prominent fusion artists, has made a name for himself in the last decade by combining indigenous Malawian rhythms with international standard recordings to produce uniquely Malawian sounds. Surprisingly, he has [...]
“It’s over, over…”
Posted in Interns - 2008 on August 5, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
We titled this blog after our favorite song that we hear almost nine times a night. But seriously, it actually is over, and we couldn’t be happier with our experience. On Friday, we presented in front of the director of NTA (the Namibian Training Authority), which COSDEF is under. We had prepared [...]
Back in Tsumeb
Posted in Interns - 2008 on August 5, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
After running around the country we’re finally settled back in Tsumeb! It’s amazing to look back on the past two months and think about all the traveling we’ve done and all the things we’ve seen. It’s really nice to be back in quiet Tsumeb, to finish up our project and actually get a feel [...]
The Wheels Got Tired
Posted in Deep Roots Malawi, Music, Projects on August 4, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
Saturday morning, we caught up with the Makambale Brothers, one of Lilongwe’s most talented groups of traditional musicians. Their unique sound, born from oil-can guitars and bottle-cap cymbals, screams Malawian. We recorded three songs with them, hoping to produce a music video from our short session with them. Afterwards, we were so impressed with their [...]
Back in the Capital City
Posted in Deep Roots Malawi, Music, Projects on August 1, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
After spending Monday-Thursday in production review in Blantyre, we resumed filming today in Lilongwe with Harry Gibbs, a key figure in Malawian entertainment and music promotion. His activities range from organizing Malawi’s annual international music festival, the Lake of Stars, to owning and operating Lilongwe’s premier venue, Umunthu Theatre.
He was able to give us his [...]
