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 Mt. 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 ten countries where LEAF International works with culture keepers to keep alive the musical traditions that are in danger of disappearing due to globalization. 

Bequia kids come to LEAF. 

         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 be teaching artists and partners 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.  “All LEAF International programs are carried out in partnership with already existing, local organizations where we work collaboratively to set up traditional music and dance programs. While LEAF International acts as a catalyst to create and support the programs, these programs are not ours: rather, they are community-owned and community-led....”

Jairo and his drum. 

Learning the rhythms at Jairo's family's home. 

      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.“I feel like I am making a positive difference in my community through this program because it is like building a bridge between the young and the elders.”  

            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

The Mizero Children of Rwanda.

Gisenyi. 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. “We dream to have work, and when we can sustain ourselves, we wish to take in other kids from the streets.  We want to empower other kids the way that we were empowered.  We will work hard to help the youth of Rwanda,” David said.

The teaching center in Guatemala. 

  “Your traditions are very important.  It’s like you forget who you are if you don’t know your traditions,” says Bois Bris a teaching artist in  Haiti.  When you meet the culture keepers and their students you feel the powerful way that music 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 inspired 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.”

 
All photos provided by LEAF.      

Find out more here: 

http://www.theleaf.org/international/