Connecting cultures through music
My family of friends often says that we raised our kids at the LEAF Festival.
Over the decades, these twice-a-year treks to Black Mountain, N.C. have been a musical balm; a time-out with a soundtrack ranging from banjos to balalaikas.
It was there that we first heard an African rock ‘n roll band and the doors to world music opened. But it is only recently that I learned about the opportunities to visit the 10 countries where LEAF International works with culture-keepers to keep alive the musical traditions that are in danger of disappearing due to globalization.
Projects often begin with a spark from LEAF’s visionary leader Jennifer Pickering. In 2006, she visited Bequia and asked someone “How many kids on this island are learning the local steel pan tradition?”
She was told there was only one: the governor’s daughter. Jennifer found local musicians who were willing to teach artists and partners how to make steel pans. Now they’ve taught over 70 children. Impressed by the success, the local government donated a building so the program can expand.
Unlike the approach many organizations take when serving abroad, LEAF collaborates with existing community initiatives.
About a dozen of us, including three adventurous children, visited the program in Costa Rica where LEAF works with the indigenous Bri Bri. Previously, only three people in the community held knowledge of the drumming tradition. Jairo, whose grandfather had been a drum maker, was selling trinkets to tourists. With LEAF’s help, Jairo is now hewing drums from logs and covering them with snake skin. We visited him and his family in their conical thatched hut and learned some of the dances and rhythms just as his dozens of students do each week.
At the May and October festivals, LEAF brings young students and their teachers from the partner countries to perform at the festival and in school auditoriums in Asheville. It’s often their first time out of their countries; their first time to meet children from the U.S and international musicians. It’s a peak experience that has lasting impact on them.
“My favorite moment at the festival was every moment,” said Brian Linus, a LEAF International Tanzania student. “We now have friends in Haiti, Malawi, America and many other countries. This was my dream and it has come true.”
In October 2007, Jean Paul Samputu performed at LEAF with the Mizero Children of Rwanda. I was awestruck by his message of reconciliation coming from a man whose country had endured unimaginable genocide. In fact, many of the children in the troupe were orphaned. David Kwizera was one.
“I was born in 1989, in Gisenyi,” he said. “I grew up without my parents. I was living with an older woman who I considered was my grandmother. She found me abandoned in a field. When I was 10, thieves invaded our house, took our belongings and killed my grandmother. Left with no family, I ended up living on the streets. Life on the street was tough. I ended up in Kigali. I was lucky to meet with LEAF International who has helped me get music and dance training and accommodations.”
LEAF has helped the troupe of formerly homeless orphans move into a house and gain musicianship. They even tour internationally.
When you meet the culture-keepers and their students you feel the transcendent power of music that connects us to our past, to each other and to the world. Three trips are planned in 2018 accompanied by LEAF staff and teaching artists: Jan. 30 to Feb. 4 to Guatemala, in July to Haiti, and later in the year to Costa Rica. You’ll come home changed and hopeful like this Rwandan student who said, “The music has changed us. We now feel proud and have hope. Through music and performances, we are example students to the rest of our community and our country.”
To find out more, visit http://www.theleaf.org/international/.
Roadtrips Charleston highlights interesting destinations within a few hours drive of Charleston, S.C. as well as more far flung locales. Carol Antman’s wanderlust is driven by a passion for outdoor adventure, artistic experiences, cultural insights and challenging travel. For hot links, photographs and previous columns or to make comments please see www.peaksandpotholes.blogspot.com.