A workshop organised by my friends Lucky, Bongani, and Tsepo at IC Mobile Music Institute, who hired local musicians to teach indigenous music – IC MOBILE MUSIC INSTITUTE MUSIC APPRECIATION WORKSHOP
(I’ll try to upload some graphics)

Leader of the Mbaquang workshop in Johannesburg: How many of you know R & B music? (whole room of children raise their hands.)

Leader: And how many of you know Mbaquang music? (No hands go up.)

Leader: That hurts me. R & B comes all the way from America, so far away! Mbaquang is right around the corner. It is the music of Johannesburg.

He went on to describe the music, how it is a mixture of all the language and peoples (mostly men) of Africa who travelled to Johannesburg during the gold rush and were smushed in together in work camps/“hostels” where their languages blended. There are so many more stories, some horrifically painful, some inspiringly hopeful, and many songs to match.There is still so much work to do with the many past wrongs and pains that continue, yet the beauty that shines through – especially in the music.

I will also try to upload the mp3’s of the incredible mbira band from Zimbabwe. They had 2 mbiras (sort of like thumb pianos inside huge gourds so they are naturally amplified), a set of maracas, and stunning harmonies. The lead singer, Lucky, was powerful and bursting with soul. Later in the day he and I sang and jammed together along with the whole pulsating group of children and adults, swimming in the pride of culture and language. We sang “I am not afraid” over and over again, children passing the mic back and forth between each other and singing, and saying “I am not afraid.”