My new xylophones

Hello Everyone,

On Sunday afternoon, the xylophone maker-Isaac came to the university to drop off my xylophones. They are 15-keyed instruments tuned pentatonically in G - Pentatonic meaning a five-note scale...think of the black notes on a piano. The resonators are gourds with small holes covered by a thin membrane that vibrates. They have a wonderful sound. It will be great to have some instruments to use for performing and teaching.

I will ship one home and bring one back with me on the plane.

All for now,

Patrick

Good Morning

Hello Everyone,

I have been having trouble with the internet lately so this may be my last post for a while.

I have had an excellent trip with lots of music and new friends. It has been a completely worthwhile experience.

I was able to purchase 3 Kpanlogo drums, 2 Djembes, and 2 xylophones while I was here. Now as long as I can get them all back to Utah we will be able to play traditional African music on real African instruments!

Best to all,

Patrick

Some Pictures

My Master Drummer Teacher, Michael


The Music Department Compound. Tis is where they have choir rehearsals, performances, guitar classes. It is pretty much an all-purpose space. It adds to the sense of community in the department. All the faculty offices are in the buildings surrounding the compound.

An action-packed day in Accra

Greetings All,

Wow! Another incredibly full day! I had a lesson with Aaron and Michael at the university this morning early. Afterward we caught a tro-tro to Accra Centre. A tro-tro is a large van crammed with passengers. I counted 22 in ours. It is a cheap way to get to downtown from the university which is in Legon.

We stopped at the Arts and Crafts Center in Town. The merchants outnumber the customers about 100 to 1, so they are pretty aggressive. It helps to know exactly what you are looking for; otherwise it can be totally overwhelming. Aaron, Michael, and I all worked together to bargain with the vendors. It helped that we had them outnumbered!

We walked to the center of town to purchase some foam, cardboard boxes, and a plastic sack to ship the instruments back to the US. It was so crowded and so busy. I am glad Aaron knew where to go – I would have been totally lost. There was so much to see: the people, the buildings, all the street vendors. Every second was like a new page of an “I-Spy” book with hundreds of things to see.

We bought coconuts from a man on the street who chopped the top off with a machete so we could drink the water from inside.

When we got to the place that sold the boxes – used cardboard boxes – we were swarmed with four or five guys. It took about 10 minutes to find the right sizes for what we needed: three boxes large enough to fit five drums and one xylophone. Then came the bargaining…another ten minutes with the three of us and several of the vendors going back and forth about how much we were going to pay. We finally settled on 85,000 Cedis – a little over $9.00.

Then of course we had to negotiate our way through narrow streets and alleyways with three huge boxes and a huge package of foam to get to the main street for a taxi. Nothing is taken for granted here; even the most basic things take time and effort.

We caught a taxi out of Accra and drove out to the country to stop at Aaron’s house. He lives in a section that is about 30km outside Accra called Frafraha. It is a nice peaceful place – a welcome break after downtown Accra.

Tonight the German student’s studying here from Hanover invited us out to a barbecue at their house. We had a very nice time. They had barbecued kebabs for us. We had drumming and dancing and Aaron performed on the Mbira and sang. I had many discussions with several of the German student’s about American politics. I think they are anxious to know what American’s are thinking right now…Getting to know them has been a real bonus to this trip.

That is all for now,

Best,

Patrick

Fufu and fingers

Hello Everyone,

I am tired tonight! It has been a very busy week.

Michael brought my drums to the university today. I bought three beautifully carved mahogany Kpanlogo drums and 2 djembes. I have rarely seen drums of this quality in the US! My xylophones are supposed to be ready tomorrow…

There was a program today with the German music students from the University in Hanover. They have been here for two weeks studying drumming, dancing, and xylophone. They are music education students, and many are string players, so they have been playing with the university string ensemble along with the Ghanaian students. In addition to African drumming and dance, they performed a German pop song a cappella, and finished with a traditional Irish song.

The song was a setting of the Traditional Irish Blessing: “May the road rise up to meet you…and may God hold you in the palm of his hand until we meet again.” How is that for the power of music to unite cultures – a group of German students singing an Irish blessing in English in Ghana – on St. Patrick’s Day no less!

Today I tried a dish called fufu. We really have nothing like it in the US. It is made with ground cassava and plantains that are mashed together in to a large lump. It is a bit like mashed potatoes except with a much thicker consistency. It came in a big bowl with a very spicy peanut soup. They brought two small containers of water and a pitcher to the table for me to wash my hands in...I asked Aaron where the spoons were and he smiled and said…”No, no, you eat it with your hands –like this”…as he demonstrated the proper technique in the air. It was good – definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me!

My xylophone lesson today went very well. Yesterday it seemed as though my brain was not working, but today both of us enjoyed ourselves quite a lot. I have learned two songs and their variations so Aaron and I are able to play together. I am looking forward to having time to practice this instrument at home.

This afternoon after lunch Michael and worked on the master drumming part to Kpanlogo some more…My hands are sore tonight – so much drumming this week!

I will have a quiet evening tonight…I want to transcribe the video recording of my lessons before tomorrow.

Cheers,

Patrick

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I am off this morning to go and practice before the music department program at 10:30. The group of german students will be drumming and dancing, and the university brass band and a few other groups will perform as well.

Last night I saw a Ghanaian political show on TV...They were discussing some of the issues here in Ghana. A major concern is poverty and especially the huge split between the rich and the poor. The figures they gave were: the top 10% of the population make 40% of the income while the bottom 40% make only 7% of the income.

That would seem to make sense from my observations. There are some very big homes close to where I am staying, and I have seen a lot of very nice cars driving around and parked in the hotel parking lot - and yet there are many people here that do not have much at all...

I must confess I had many ideas about what Arica would be like; now that I am here I realize many of our conceptions of Africa are wrong...or at least a little off base.

That is all for now.

Cheers,

Patrick

SSSSSSSSS!!!!

Greetings!

SSSSSSSSS!!!! - this is how you get someones attention here in Ghana. You make a hissing sound. When I fist heard it I thought “wow that is rude,” but everyone does it and it really is not rude at all…just something that you do.

This morning I came to the university and did some research at the reference library here at the music department – also known as the International Center for African Music and Dance. They have a small reference library with many excellent resources on African music including many dissertation and thesis. The library is very small- maybe 20 feet by 30 feet - with a desk for the reference librarian and a large desk for students to study and do research.

Afterwards I visited with some of the German students who are here from Hanover. They are music education majors who have been here for two weeks. They are giving a performance of African dance and drumming tomorrow morning that I am going to attend. Earlier in the week I observed their drumming class, and I have gotten to know a few of them fairly well. They have invited me to a barbecue on Saturday.

Aaron and I had lunch today at the market. I dod not feel too adventuresome so I had my favorite – Wyke – pronounced Why Chi. It is a dish with beans and rice and shredded cassava with noodles and tomato sauce and hot pepper sauce – spicy but very good!

I had a lesson with Aaron this afternoon and later a two-hour lesson with Michael on Kpanlogo. I am starting to fell more comfortable with the master drum parts and am getting the right sounds on the drums. When I leave I hope to have the entire Kpanlogo learned. Aaron and I are working on two tunes and the many variations that go along with those tunes.

There are women and girls who sell small plastic bags of water around campus and on the street. They carry a big aluminum bowl on their heads with the bags of water. It is not expensive – about 2 or 3 cents per bag. It is so hot here that you need to drink water all day long. To open the bag you have to bite off the corner with your teeth. I am still not very good at that part of it, and seem to always squirt water all over the place.

I am meeting many students and faculty here. They have all been very welcoming and gracious hosts to me – especially Aaron and Michael. They have taken good care of me and in the evening they negotiate my taxi fare. Tonight Aaron got the fare down from 15,000 cedis to 10,000 ($1.60 to $1.10).

That is all for now. I am going to study my video recordings of my lessons today to prepare for tomorrow.

Best to all,
Patrick

Highlife

Hello Everyone,

Last night as I was typing the period for "that's all for now" the computer did something funny and logged me off...at that point I gave up and called it a night.

Last night I went and saw a Highlife band perform at a place called the Alliance Francaise with my instructors, Aaron and Michael. They began by playing an African version of the 1960's hit "House of the Rising Sun" and I thought "Oh no this is going to be a long night." But soon after they started playing some more standard Highlife songs. The music was a real blend of pop music, reggae, calypso...really hard to pin it down. It was definitely music for dancing. People were dancing all night long. They also included Paul Simon's "Call me Al" The German students at the show recognized it right away and started dancing like crazy to it! What a small world...

The band played continuously for two hours straight - no breaks. When one song ended the next one began.

My lecture yesterday on Jazz Genesis and Evolution went very well. there were many, many students and faculty there. They seemed very interested and asked quite a few very good questions including: What is Jazz? A very difficult question to answer - I think that will be the topic of my next lecture!

I had lessons on both the Kpanlogo drum and xylophone today. The drumming is coming easier than the xylophone playing. Since my time here is so short I am trying to accomplish as much as I can with my lessons and practicing.

All is well here.

Best

Patrick

Fish Heads, Beans, Yams, Pineapples

Greetings everyone,

I am starting to try some of the local cuisine. Aaron took me to a place to get Yams and beans this afternoon. I opted not to have a fish head with mine, but Aaron did get one with his meal. I had more than I could finish for about 30 cents! The food is really good, but you just have to ignore the fact that it is not like the US in terms of cleanliness.

I practiced xylophone early this morning...It is getting easier each day. Later, my master-drummer instructor Michael invited me to come and observe a class of German college students who are here from Hanover studying African drumming and dance. Afterwards I had a lesson with Aaron on xylophone. I am starting to get the feel for the layout of the keyboard.

We worked on several tunes today. The first was a tune called Zorwatuorime (Zo Wa Toury Meh) music for a dance by girls and boys. It means ...loosely "run, come to meet me". We also worked on a tune I recognized from a CD of Ghanaian xylophone music that I bought a few months ago. It is called Gandayina.

The music for the xylophone is a bit like jazz in that there are certain elements of the music that provide a framework for improvisation. There is no one correct way to play the music. There can be many different variations.

After lunch I had a two-hour lesson with Michael. We worked on the master drum parts to Kpanlogo. The most difficylt thing for me is the transitions from one pattern to the next. In Kpanlogo you have a regular bell pattern(like a cowbell), a rattle, and then 2 different supporting drum patterns and the master drum part. The supporting rhythms do not change, but the master drum part does change.

I tried one of their oranges today. They scrape away most of the peel and then slice the top off . You basically just squeeze the orange and suck out the juice. It was pretty good. I also had pineapple again. I only gagged once...In time I may start to like it; we'll see.

All is fine here. Tonight I am going to work on my lecture for tomorrow and try to obsorb some of the information that I learned today.

Best wishes to all,

Patrick

Lizard, ATM, Kpanlogo

Hello Everyone,

Wow!...what a day! I took a taxi to the university this morning and stopped off at the University Bookshop. I stopped at the ATM outside and there was a huge lizard (over a foot long)on the sidewalk in front of the ATM. I decided to give him his space and waited to go up to the ATM...he disappeared in a few seconds.

I met a student from Pittsburgh who is here working on his dissertation on Jazz drumming. I am not sure the connection, but somehow one of the professors here is on his committee...

Afterward I had a class with my master drummer teacher, Michael. Those of you who saw the faculty spelling bee will know the correct spelling of Kpanlogo...silent K. It was definitely an omen when I misspelled that word last fall...or maybe I hate to lose, and this is how I am making up for it...The class was two hours long out under a tree beside the music compound. During the lesson, a shoe shiner came and shined my teacher's shoes...now thats an idea!...maybe work study?

I went to John Collin's class on "Music of the African Diaspora" He focused on the music of Jamaica and its African connections. It was very enlightening...There was a drum that made its way from Jamaica back to Africa - The Goombay. We always just consider the African influence on the Americas, but done always realize that there was also an American influence on African music as well.

It amazes me how students in Africa are much like my students in America...They talked while professor Collins played his music examples and a student left class to answer his cell phone. The lecture was two hours long with about 40 people crammed into a tiny classroom - no air conditioning - and it was so hot and humid in there. Those students sure have a lot of stamina...

The faculty and students are so positive here. They have so little compared to what we have, but they do not complain; they teach and learn and are happy to be there...

I had a xylophone lesson with Aaron this afternoon. I studied my video of the last lesson for over an hour yesterday, and even though I couldn't practice on an instrument I was able to do many of the things I couldn't on Saturday. It is frustrating for me to hear the music and not be able to play it on this instrument. I am planning to practice tomorrow for a few hours, and hopefully by the end of the week, I will be closer to getting it. Some patterns fall together fine but a few are really difficult for me.

After our lesson, Aaron and I listened to his CD called "World Citizen" It is a really interesting mix of African and Western instruments and styles. Later we had dinner at the market close to campus. I had Wyke - pronounced something like why chee. It is beans and noodles, and I think some tomato sauce with fish- very spicy but really good, and sooo cheap. I had more than I could finish for less than $1. We topped it off with some Guiness Malt - my new found favorite non-alcoholic Ghanaian brew.

Thanks for your comments on the blog. It is nice to know that you are out there reading. I am having a great time. It has been an adjustment but I am getting more comfortable getting around in the taxis and walking around by myself. I am sure out of my comfort zone...I really stand out! I am sorry that I am not emailing more of my family and friends. The computer is really slow here and it takes me a long time to access email. Please know that I am thinking of you all. Best Wishes.

Patrick

Good Morning!

Hello Everyone,

Just a quick note this morning. I am finally getting over my jet lag with a few good nights sleep.

I thought I should probably fill some of you in on how this trip came together. I have wanted to come to Ghana ever since a good friend of mine, a colleague who teaches at Eastern Washington University, spent three months at the University of Cape Coast in the 1990's. I had always hoped that some day I could pull together a trip here.

Last summer I spent an evening with a friend of mine who has done quite a bit of traveling in Ghana, and he put me in touch with a few contacts here at the University of Ghana. They welcomed my offer to come and be a visiting scholar for these ten days.

With the grant from the Larson Legacy I was able to make the trip happen. Many thanks!

I hope that this trip is the beginning of a successful collaboration between Southern Utah University and the University of Ghana.

Best to all,

Patrick

"Congregation" or Graduation Day

Today was "congregation" -what we would call graduation- at the University of Ghana. There were cars, people, police all over campus. It was very much like a graduation day at a university in the US: proud families, graduates in gowns, lots of excitement.

After a walk around campus, which included a stop at the bookstore and the bank, I stopped at the music department compound which was fairly quiet since it was Saturday. As I was waiting for my xylophone lesson, a large group of people came and set up a graduation party in the center of the compound. A group of musicians and singers arrived a little while later and began performing as part of the celebration.
The songs they performed were religious; they sang "everyone should be happy because God has forgiven us our sins" translation from a Ghanaian student I had just met...

Learning the Ghanaian xylophone (the gyl) is proving to be a bit of a challenge. Because the instrument is so different from a Western xylophone, I am having to really concentrate on the music and the instrument. There are similarities between the instruments and I am picking up things quickly...it is just really taxing my brain!

More later...

PS. I am starting to get the hang of the hand-shake-snap thing...I can't wait to use it when I get back!

Best to all,

Patrick

My First Full Day: Xylophones And Lots of Music

After a quick breakfast of bananas, pineapples, tea, toast and pineapple juice I headed off to the University of Ghana where I met Dr. Kongo, the head of the music department as well as John Collins, and my xylophone teacher Aaron Bebe Sukura.

Aaron and I spent the afternoon under a tree outside the music department building with a pair of xylophones. The xylophones are made with slats of wood on a wooden-stick frame with gourds underneath each bar to resonate the sound. The tuning for the xylophone is a five-note scale: CDEGA - a bit like taking a Western keyboard and getting rid of the F's and B's and all the accidentals. It took me a while to get my mind around the tuning and the layout of the keyboard. It also doesn't help that the bars are different widths, but hey no excuses.

Here are some other random observations:

There is incredible energy in this place; it is crowded and busy and noisy and at times overwhelming...but beautiful and exciting at the same time.

When two friends meet they shake hands and then pull their fingers away slowly, hesitate for a second, and then each one snaps their fingers before releasing...totally cool. And you don't just shake hands once; you shake again at important parts of the conversation - 3-4 times in a few minutes.

all the taxis honk their horns all the time. My taxi driver was honking the rhythm of the reggae beat of the song on the radio...

Best to all,

Patrick

Arrived!

Whew...what a journey... To miss the oncoming snow storm in Cedar City, I left for St. George right after the Jazz Band concert. After three hours of sleep at a hotel in St. George, I drove to Vegas to catch my flight to Washington DC. I flew from DC to Frankfurt... then a four-hour layover. My flight took me from Frankfurt to Ghana with a stopover in Lagos, Nigeria. My flight was delayed both in Germany and Lagos...a couple very long days on very little sleep.

I met some Ghanaians who are living in the US right now and are visiting Ghana for a few weeks. They took care of me at the airport and made sure I got through immigration and customs without any troubles.

It was a bit overwhelming after I came out of customs at the airport. There were dozens of people waiting to carry my bags to the taxi. A few wanted me to pay up front... I didn't.

That is all for now. I need to get some sleep.

PR

Getting Ready To Go

Hello Everyone,

Well a few more things to do here in Cedar City, Utah before I head off to Accra and the University of Ghana. I leave from Las Vegas on Wednesday morning and arrive in Accra on Thursday evening. I will use this to blog keep you all posted on my adventures...to be continued.

PR