Thanks Beth for sending me this video evidence that shows old rockers never die!!
People photos …. Instrument pictures …. Donate to this project …. Village pictures …. Hear about the drum
In 2005, Martin and Rebekah Neil were recording in a rural community in Tanzania. Now, “Sing to the Well” brings the people’s story home to you. The CD & extra DVD present a musical glimpse of the sounds, songs and rhythms of a beautiful people, the Wagogo. The harsh realities of their lives do not stifle them; they retain their creative passion to sing, dance and give thanks to God.
Be transported into the heart of the Wagogo community and experience for yourself the atmosphere and spirit of hope.
Best of all, as you enjoy the music and the story, you will be directly supporting the construction of wells in the village and a medical unit, as all monies go back to the village.
100% of sales go straight to projects in Mnase village when you buy the Sing to the Well CD and DVD Read More
The Idea is to go back maybe in Jan 2010 to help them tell their story through their arts. We will partner with them by recording their traditional Khmer music, their new songs written by the students and filming their cultural dances (our good friend Jerry Curd, a cameraman is available for the adventure). CCAMS have a dream of opening up an arts centre just outside Phnom Penh in Kompong Chnang (they have purchased land there) which would be a facility where they could grow their own food and have multiple buildings for school, auditorium and housing, enabling them to take in more children. 100% of funds from the sales of the recordings will go back to them to help in this endeavour to provide a new home for the community.
This trip was to visit CCAM, a place of refuge for many children who have fallen on hard times. All are youngsters from difficult backgrounds – orphans, street kids, children sold into slavery, kids who were members of gangs, poor children whose families could not feed and educate them, abused children, abandoned kids from broken homes, teenagers on their way into prostitution, etc. Read More
Power struggles, war and genocide have devastated the Kingdom of Cambodia in recent decades. After French colonization, a pro-western Prime Minister Lon Nol seized power and his opponents went into hiding and formed the Communist Khmer Rouge.
Following the withdrawal of US troops from Vietnam in 1975, Pol Pot (their leader) and his followers evacuated all cities and towns; for the next 5 years between 1.5 and 3 million people died from execution, enforced hardships or starvation. The legacy is a very poor country where 50% of its inhabitants are under the age of 18.
Pictures ……
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Nestling amongst the surrounding hills in the north and the South China sea in the East, South and West is the city of Hong Kong. It is quite an amazing sight arriving into the airport …. I have never seen so many skyscrapers in all my life …. home to some 7 million people.
Interestingly there were strict health checks as we entered into Hong Kong due to the swine flu virus, temperatures taken and anyone with a high temperature was automatically quarantined for a week. I did laugh when I was given a conference pack with a face mask! Sadly the leader of the event, who had flown in from Japan, was found to have a suspect temperature and was whisked away, he missed the whole event …. Very bizarre!
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In this season where the media is bombarding us with the financial crisis that is crippling the world my question is what is our response? Interestingly like most Mandarin words, the word “crisis” (wēijī) consists of two syllables that are written with two separate characters, wēi and jī. These separate characters mean “danger” and “opportunity”. Maybe this paradox can point us towards a counter cultural view point. Do we choose to worry about the danger that may be lurking around the corner or do we look for opportunities to be generous?
Sing to the Well is a CD recorded in a rural community in Tanzania. The only documentation we had found of this instrument was a 3 string version so you can imagine our excitement when we met this player who plays a 10 string Zeze.
Just had a great Easter week helping with the celebrations for Eveshams 1300th year. During that time came across a small rural village on the outskirts where almost all the houses had bizarre house names. Read More
