We had a another great week with the Gateway community in the mountains @ Moniatis – after our time of stories and teaching we had a day doing some wandering around the island. The church of Saint Paraskevi near Pafos in Geroskipou village, had the most amazing frescoes, some of which were painted in the 1oth Century.
Thanks to Bonnie for introducing us to this wonderful TV documentary from New Zealand about 4 musicians, Ruia Aperahama, Maisey Rika, Anika Moa and Warren Maxwell who take the art of songwriting into prisons. With the incredible technology we have at our finger tips today you can watch the whole series on the web – Maori TV – Songs from the inside.
In February 2014, a second series of programs started, this time Auckland prisons Paremoremo and the Auckland Region Women’s Corrections Facility were the recipients of the musical program. Joining Anika Moa this time is; Don McGlashan, Laugton Kora and Annie Crummer. Video from this series will also be available globally online.
This incredible overtone singing started in the small republic of Tuva, a Siberian republic on the border of Mongolia and is known as throat singing (xöömei in Tuvan). Tuvan throat singers can produce two, three and sometimes even four pitches simultaneously. This ancient style of singing is accompanied by horse hooves, bull testicles (yes, you heard me correctly – a percussion instrument!) and horse hair fiddle. Read More
Martin’s musical mystery tour – I have always loved singers who use their voice as an instrument and experiment with the possibilities of sound. So this month we look at some female singers who have discovered new areas with their vocal chords.
ALTHOUGH I AM REALLY VERY TiRED PHYSICALLY, I AM FULL OF JOY BECAUSE THE MAIZE WAS SAFELY DISTRIBUTED TO THE PEOPLE OF MNASE YESTERDAY. ALL THE PEOPLE OF MNASE WeRE SO HAPPY AND SENDING MUCH THANKS TO YOU AND ALL THE PEOPLE who DONATED. WITH MUCH HAPPINESS AND FREE MIND, I HAVE UNEXPLAINABLE THANKS TO GOD AND TO YOU MEN OF GOD FOR YOUR LOVE AND KINDNESS TO US AND OUR PEOPLE HERE IN TANZANIA ESPECIALLY OUR PEOPLE THAT were MOST AFFECTED WITH FAMINE, The famine has caused many DISEASES AND KILLed OUR PEOPLE FOR MORE than A YEAR now. PLEASE, PLEASE KEEP PRAYing FOR OUR PEOPLE.
Thanks to all those who made this possible – the maize has arrived and been distributed. The pictures show the process of buying maize in Tabora – loading trucks and arriving at Mnase village – finally the gathering of the villagers and distribution. Read More
I love unique creativity – so here is a video of the The Vegetable Orchestra which was founded in 1998. They are a group based in Vienna, and they play concerts all over the world. Fruity eh?
Martin’s musical mystery tour – This month we listen to some of the most exciting Balkan brass ensembles. Oh boy do they make me smile when I hear this music! Romanian band, Taraf de Haïdouks decided to mix styles with those of other Balkan countries by inviting Gypsy virtuoso musicians from Macedonia (the Koçani Orkestar brass band), Bulgaria (clarinet player Filip Simeonov) and Turkey (percussionist Tarik Tuysuzoglu).
Here the Kodo drummers show us how humour can be used within a drum ensemble.
Can’t believe that he has had to travel 600km just to find good and reasonably priced maize! Oh how we live in a different world – respect!
“Dear, Buying maize from Tabora about 600 km a way fro Dodoma is some how going on well,the maize are so good for human use,but it takes long time to buy the maize we want the people at Mnase Dodoma,Now we have 50 sacks of maize,we are continuing to buy more maize.The challenge is that many people from many parts of the country and also from nearby countries are coming to buy the maize here and the maize are not enough compering the number of the people,companies,societies and business-men who comes to buy them from this small area farmers.”
Latest news from Seth in Tanzania – maize buying is not like going to the supermarket in the UK !!
“After receiving the money i went to see the maize, I found the maize was not Useful for human being – it was just for animals and chickens, and there are so many scandals for the people,societies and government who are sending useless and spoiled food (maize and millet) to the villages and other places where hunger affected most of people. And that food has affected many people and caused some of them bad sicknesses. So we were so shocked and thought we need to find a different way to get the maize.So we confidently decided to travel to another region very far West side of Dodoma to Tabora where I lived and grew up for many years. There we found good maize and we will start to buy the maize tomorrow we hope to buy very nice maize and we hope to buy more sacks of maize than expected to be bought in Dodoma.”
