bumbooway

The Friday before finals, I went to the Ethnomusicology Department's Noon Lecture Series. This particular lecture/performance was given by Sheasby Matiure, a Zimbabwean graduate student in the department. He, along with a handful of enthusiastic and festively dressed apprentices (mostly white Americans) played 14 inspired songs (that I was lucky enought to record) from and around Zimbabwe . The incredibly rich, contemplative, and deceptively simple music came at me with such immediacy and soul that it was impossible not to cry. IMPOSSIBLE!


...These are the roots of rhythm and the roots of rhythm remain - P. Simon...


A week from Thursday marks the first class of the semester taught by Sheasby. I am enrolled in his class in which I'll be learning about the music and cultural tradition of Zimbabwe while also learning how to play the Nyunganyunga mbira!