Music to my ears...

Earlier this month, our group attended a church service in Arusha, enjoying the cool breezes through the open windows as we took in the nearly two and a half hours of music, scripture readings, three offerings and two sermons (almost three of those, too!) all in Kiswahili. As soon as we stepped out of our vehicle after arriving at the church, the organ inside began playing and the sound just resonated off the stone walls and rang throughout the entire area, and I immediately got really homesick. I don't know what it was about hearing the music, but it definitely brought tears to my eyes thinking of how even here in Tanzania, in a place that feels so far away from the only world I've ever known, even here can the language of music speak to a person's soul and bridge the distance between home and heart.

Aside from my family and friends, what I miss the most is my piano (OUR piano, sorry Mom). :) Boy, do I really miss it. I miss being able to just sit down and pass the time by playing. I have yet to go poking around the university's fine arts building (oh, by the way, I am finally in Dar es Salaam now and living in the residence halls at UDSM) to see if there is a piano and if it is open for students who are not enrolled in music classes to play. I brought along my favorite Jim Brickman piano solo book, so hopefully one of these days I can find a piano to play and unwind. Silly as it sounds, I am completely serious when I say playing piano is a sort of therapy, as I can think through issues or problems while expressing my emotions through the notes. Whenever I finish playing, I am always more relaxed. So going from a piano and two organs at home to a college with 40+ pianos in the music building alone available to play at anytime of the day, this separation from the music I know and love is not easy.

HOWEVER, :) I am finding many opportunities to experience new forms of music - lots of drumming, different styles of singing, tons of dancing and the new sounds of African-influenced music. There is an intensity and rhythm and heart in the music I've heard here that is different from anything I have ever performed. The strength and accuracy of multiple drummers matched with the off-rhythms of chants, songs or movement create this palette of color and energy that gets your heart racing just by watching! I wish I could capture a small box of sound bytes to send you all; it is really wonderful, and by the time I have to leave, I
ll probably be lamenting about missing Tanzanian music! So I'm open to the possibility of perhaps discovering a new musical passion to pursue here while in TZ. But in the meantime, I
ll need to polish up on my stealth skills for some undercover work in the fine arts building, which hopefully have improved since the Maasai craft market photo shoot in Arusha... :)

*Picture taken during an impromptu drumming and dance performance in local Arusha while visiting the Wamata Center, which provides assistance for patients living with HIV-AIDS.