Friday, October 27, 2006
A jazz club has been found in Ghana! My life is complete. Okay, not quite. I still need a girl...but we're getting there. This last weekend I went to Kumasi, the cultural capital of Ghana, visited a friend and then went to this awesome lake formed out of a crater. I sat by the water and did not move for close to four hours. It was fantastic. Recently the challenge has been balancing between the ideologies of African and American culture. Both are entirley different, and it severly messes with my head the more I think about it. For instance, in the states it's all about personal gain. Here, the individual is supressed. Anyways, I will write again shortly.
Best,
WIll
Best,
WIll
A jazz club has been found in Ghana! My life is complete. Okay, not quite. I still need a girl...but we're getting there. This last weekend I went to Kumasi, the cultural capital of Ghana, visited a friend and then went to this awesome lake formed out of a crater. I sat by the water and did not move for close to four hours. It was fantastic. Recently the challenge has been balancing between the ideologies of African and American culture. Both are entirley different, and it severly messes with my head the more I think about it. For instance, in the states it's all about personal gain. Here, the individual is supressed. Anyways, I will write again shortly.
Best,
WIll
Best,
WIll
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Independence.
I first must say how nice it has been recieving emails and phone calls from friends and family back home. I'm not sure if I'd be able to handle this voyage in Ghana if it was not for such correspondence. Yesterday I recorded on a Gospel album. While the music is quite frankly pretty bad, I am very excited about the music video they are filming. It will be good comic relief for all of my friends watch such as an embaressing sight as myself in a African Gospel music video. I began my interviews with Jerry Hanson on monday. He is such a wondeful human being although I don't believe I have discussed him in this blog yet. In the early days of Ghana's independence from colonial england Jerry Hanson formed a band named "the Ramblers" which traveled around the world and became a source of pride for Ghana (the first west african country to gain independence). While being featured on numerous television and magizine productions, his life story (as far as I know) has never been documented in a centralized text.
After we discussed his life for a little over an hour, he suggested we share a beer and relax. We drank Star, one of Ghana's the most popular beers.
My friend Duncan who is an Astrophyics/Religious studies major at UC Berkeley is going to have his father bring a Camera for me to Ghana when he travels here next week. This means I WILL HAVE PICTURES SOON! I'm leaving for class now, then to rehearsal. Afterwords I will probably clean my room and get some reading done. (Something which is long overdue)
I learned two new negotiation terms in Twi today!
Tosoi (meaning give me more of that)
Teso (meaning give me that for less money)
Ciao!
I first must say how nice it has been recieving emails and phone calls from friends and family back home. I'm not sure if I'd be able to handle this voyage in Ghana if it was not for such correspondence. Yesterday I recorded on a Gospel album. While the music is quite frankly pretty bad, I am very excited about the music video they are filming. It will be good comic relief for all of my friends watch such as an embaressing sight as myself in a African Gospel music video. I began my interviews with Jerry Hanson on monday. He is such a wondeful human being although I don't believe I have discussed him in this blog yet. In the early days of Ghana's independence from colonial england Jerry Hanson formed a band named "the Ramblers" which traveled around the world and became a source of pride for Ghana (the first west african country to gain independence). While being featured on numerous television and magizine productions, his life story (as far as I know) has never been documented in a centralized text.
After we discussed his life for a little over an hour, he suggested we share a beer and relax. We drank Star, one of Ghana's the most popular beers.
My friend Duncan who is an Astrophyics/Religious studies major at UC Berkeley is going to have his father bring a Camera for me to Ghana when he travels here next week. This means I WILL HAVE PICTURES SOON! I'm leaving for class now, then to rehearsal. Afterwords I will probably clean my room and get some reading done. (Something which is long overdue)
I learned two new negotiation terms in Twi today!
Tosoi (meaning give me more of that)
Teso (meaning give me that for less money)
Ciao!
Friday, October 06, 2006
Ghana Beat Japan in Football! After the game all the gaining living in my building were singing triumphantly.
Life right now is good but complex. My natural tendencies have been getting me into trouble here. I've been playing a lot of music but with musicians I am not extremely interested in. I need to learn how to Say no. Somehow I got myself into directing sound/doing some graphic design for a hip hop concert. Woop. The show is on Thursday. I'm also playing trumpet with a rapper there. Check back on Friday for a posting about the event.
Right now my biggest challenge is just not to get completely disillusioned with the ways things are done here. One needs to really be assertive yet appear to be relaxed to get there way. I'm not particularly graceful at this art.
On a brighter note, I just recieved a post card and a letter from my mom and dad. This made me happy. Thanks you. It's really nice to hear what people are up to back home.
Hope everyone is doing well.
Much Love,
Will
Life right now is good but complex. My natural tendencies have been getting me into trouble here. I've been playing a lot of music but with musicians I am not extremely interested in. I need to learn how to Say no. Somehow I got myself into directing sound/doing some graphic design for a hip hop concert. Woop. The show is on Thursday. I'm also playing trumpet with a rapper there. Check back on Friday for a posting about the event.
Right now my biggest challenge is just not to get completely disillusioned with the ways things are done here. One needs to really be assertive yet appear to be relaxed to get there way. I'm not particularly graceful at this art.
On a brighter note, I just recieved a post card and a letter from my mom and dad. This made me happy. Thanks you. It's really nice to hear what people are up to back home.
Hope everyone is doing well.
Much Love,
Will
