Thursday, 25 april 2013
Spotty sleep, due to an overzealous air conditioner... but I wake up on time to be dressed and ready for the full-English breakfast before heading out to meet the local band we'll be working with a lot this week.
The sun is shining (hooray!! A much needed relief from the Parisian gray!) as we drive across town through the streets lined with lush green trees. This is the first time we've been on the continent during "rainy" season - no rain yet for us, but the vegetation is clearing bursting with well-watered-ness. Dar Es Salaam is clearly at the heart of the much anticipated economic growth for the region - with new buildings going up right and left, and billboards seducing investors and consumers to join in the impending boom.
We drive up behind one such commercial center, and pull into a small back street where we're greeted by Kelvin the manager for Wakwetu Jazz Vibes, and their lead singer, Damien. They lead us to a darkened room, where it looks like the amps, music gear, and mercifully the A/C, have been given electrical priority over the lighting system. So, we prepare to work in the semi-darkness with our new colleagues - Emanuel (guit), Leonard (bass), Kawzeli (percussion). It seems the keyboards and drummer haven't arrived yet, but we set to work anyway with those present to start narrowing in on some common repertoire.
It turns out we have some repertoire in common, so we work through our arrangement for Autumn Leaves, which is in a different key than they're used to, plus we've worked in the added challenge of a time change from 4/4 to 3/4. They know the tune well though, and so they can handle it! By the time we're done working through that, the rest of the band has arrived, so now it's time for them to show us what their thing is. The start into one of their songs, and I hear the voice of an angel come of Demian's human body :-) Thoughts of D'Angelo, and Prince, and Smokey Robinson flicker through my mind, and by the time the first song is over, I'm inspired - "You do know Alicia Keyes, don't you?" I ask. "Yeah, of course!" they reply. And I insist that we work it up as a duet for me and Damien to perform on the gig. And then the real musical exchange starts to happen :-)
We work out a few more tunes for tonight, and they demonstrate a couple more of their own things, some of which are based in traditional folk music, and at the end of 3 hours, we're ready to wow the audience at the Ambassador's residence for tonight!
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