KICKSTARTER PROJECT UPDATE #18

EBOLA!

30 mars 2014

Well, well, surprise, surprise: ebola fever epidemic in Guinea!!!

That is something I did not expect. I knew I might have to deal with malaria, cholera, yellow fever, meningitis, etc, and took measures to protect myself, but ebola?!!! One the most contagious, virulent, awful and deadly known diseases. Fortunately (for me, not the poor souls out there), for the time being the flareup is largely confined to the other side of the country in Macenta, Dabola, and Kissidougou, about 400 miles away, although it seems that a few cases have emerged in Conakry in the last days.

Many have advised me to return home and that would be the prudent thing to do. However, I am halfway through with my Project and things are going well. It would be a waste of money and all our efforts if I was to drop everything and come back; a big disappointment and, I must say, a personal dishonor. It would also be rather uncool to say to all my students, friends and collaborators here: "Sayonara folks, I'm outta here! Good luck, ' hope you don't get sick!"

So I am in for the duration, inch Allah! The probabilities are on my side and by being careful, I can maximize them. I carry a bottle of disinfectant and I do not shake hands, I give a fist bump (big up!) and say: "Ebola!" and they laugh.

It would be a shame to drop the Project. People appreciate what I am doing. By now, some of the kids play flute rather nicely. The music-reading part is challenging but they are picking up on it. They will not be reading Bach Partitas too soon but the concept is penetrating: the notion that you can abstract music on paper is a big leap for people who have only known it orally.

At this point, the more advanced students know the notes on their instruments and read them on a simplified staff of three lines (graduating to five lines soon) and rhythm figures up to an eight-note with corresponding silences. They are doing scales and we are playing some polyphonic pieces. I will lay some Mozart and Beethoven on them in a couple of week… we'll see how that goes.

I often end the class with a listening session where I play music from all over the World (many thanks to M. William Bain for the World Music library he provided me), then we discuss what we heard: what is the meter? what are the instruments? in what language are they singing? from what country does this come? where is that located? what type of music is it: popular, dance, classical, ritual, etc.?

Please do not worry too much for me and have positive thoughts for the people of Guinea. They are sitting on a dreamland, a country of unbelievable riches. A land of plenty if they can figure out how to get it together. This epidemic is temporary, they will bounce back but I worry that it will put a crimp on their economy as the rest of the world will have cold feet about visiting for years to come.

We'll see it through and do our utmost to make you proud.

Many thanks to all my supporters. Untll next time, Sayonara!

Sylvain

Some people wanted to see Alhassane play