This day started really early, well at least for me. I still haven’t adjusted to the 7 hour time difference. Normally we’re getting up when people back home are going to bed. Also, the sun rises around 4:45am here. So in addition to trying to sleep in the night at the equivalent of about 5:00 or 6:00 in the afternoon back home, I also have the beautiful, brilliant, bright, vivid and intense sunlight articulating every detail in my room….even my eyelids. It’s so bright that these curtains do no good.

We did a workshop for kids at The Music Academy of Gauteng. One of South Africa’s greatest jazz Musicians, Johnny Mekoa, started this music school for kids in the area of Davidson that have a desire to learn and play jazz. When we got out of our transport van, Mekoa said “Welcome Home”. It felt really good to hear that. Mekoa studied in the US as a Fulbright scholar and brought his experiences back to South Africa. The facility was incredibly nice and the equipment was comparable, if not better to stuff that we use on gigs in the states.

» Read more: Catch Up Time: 11/29/06

I’m so happy to have the internet!! I didn’t realize exactly how much it mattered to me until I got here and realized that I wouldn’t have access to it on a regular basis. At any rate I’m here and anytime you see a title “Catch Up Time” then I’m going back to days that I missed.

We did a workshop for about 15 college students at the University of Johannesburg. They really enjoyed everything we covered in the workshop and even stayed through our entire rehearsal. We asked them about some of the difficulties they have as musicians here in South Africa and the number one issue they seem to have is not being able to access instruments. Most people simply can’t afford them. You also find that here, most people play more than one instrument because they work with whatever they find available.

This particular group of musicians wasn’t studying music at the University, but they organized themselves a year ago and meet once a week to rehearse. For everyone that’s in Atlanta, imagine the Apache Café with a 12+ piece band (because there is no limit to the number of musicians that can join them) playing behind vocalists that don’t really sing, but they read poetry. Instruments in the band range from drums and percussion, to guitars made from Castrol cans, Cellos, violins, pianos and harmonicas. Their spirits are really great and they have enormous music potential.

» Read more: Catch Up Time: 11/28/06