VCU Jazz

Trip 3: VCU to UKZN March 2013

(Written in Prof. Garcia’s voice…)

As you may already know, VCU Jazz received an “International Partnerships Major Initiatives Award” (IPMI) to bring American and African citizens together in musical and personal understanding. VCUarts generously matched the grant. Titled “VCU and the University of KwaZulu-Natal: A Jazz Bridge to Greater Understanding,” this grant project brought together students and faculty of the Jazz Studies Programs of Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa over the course of the VCU academic year.

SATURDAY, MARCH 2

We flew from Richmond to Dakar and on towards Johannesburg, South Africa, connecting to Durban. It was a pleasant pair of flights on South African Airways.

SUNDAY, MARCH 3

Our hosts, Prof. Neil Gonsalves and his wife, Nareen, were so kind to pick us up personally (along with the assistance of additional cars). This trip the VCU team was staying at a locale that Neil and I had scouted and chosen during my visit last summer: Mackaya Bella Guest House. The houses are set within beautiful grounds, and the rooms are very comfortable. We arrived at the B&B about midnight; so not long after I shot this photo, we were asleep!

MONDAY, MARCH 4

After a delicious breakfast on the deck of the B&B, we headed to UKZN’s Centre for Jazz & Popular Music for a 10a rehearsal/soundcheck and our Noontime concert.

The concert, at which the ensembles of both schools performed, was attended by the visiting VCU Provostial team, which had timed its visit to Durban to coincide with our concert. VCU and UKZN had chosen this week for administrative and faculty exchanges that would lead to a renewing of their sister-university agreement. After hearing this initial Noontime concert, two members of the Provostial team changed their return-flights to a later date so that they could then be present at our upcoming Wednesday night concert, at which the new commissions would be performed.

And that surely meant we needed to rehearse those new works! Each team had practiced on its own continent, plus in February we had accomplished a pair of rehearsals over the Internet that allowed the performers to receive feedback from the composers and their mentors on the other continent. The previous semester I had researched software called Source-Connect, which under the right conditions can provide ISDN-quality audio over the Internet between the participants with only brief latency. (The primary condition to be addressed is how each participant’s firewalls are arrayed, as functionality is easily blocked.) After installing and troubleshooting it on both campuses (one on a Mac, the other on a PC), we were then also able to run Skype (audio off) simultaneously. Skype’s own brief latency seemed to virtually match Source-Connect’s, allowing us to see and hear on both sides of the transmission. Music aside, it was great for the teams to reunite in this way: we greatly enjoyed seeing and hearing each other as one!

The final ingredient to the success of the Internet rehearsals was configuring the composers on the one continent to monitor the Source-Connect audio via headphones, while the rehearsing musicians on the other continent monitored the Source-Connect audio at normal volume over house speakers, thus avoiding any chance of a feedback loop. So the composers could easily speak up and interrupt the rehearsal at the other school, as well as of course be easily heard with their advice to the performers.

Here’s a flashback to February from one of VCU’s jazz rehearsal rooms:

So, now to the present, we could rehearse with composers and performers in the same room for the first time–including with UKZN Profs. Neil Gonsalves…

…and Sazi Dlamini.

Neil knew that our VCU team was keen to return to the Indian Ocean beachfront, where we had enjoyed a brief afternoon last summer; so he and Nareen arranged carpooling for the field trip towards downtown and uShaka Marine World. Admission to the beach and shops are free. And it is a beautiful beach, with most pleasant weather.

TUESDAY, MARCH 5

Daytime showed the relaxed ambience of Mackaya Bella, with its breezy spaces and verdant pool area.

Then it was off to UKZN for more rehearsals. VCU student Victor Haskins got to work his piece with his UKZN colleagues.

And we had our first rehearsal with our South African guest artist for the concert, Madala Kunene, whom we had met and learned from during our Durban trip last summer. As a youth, he and his family had been displaced from their homes by the prejudicial policies of the time; and his folk music throughout his career has expressed a call for equal rights and social justice.

Madala seemed pleased–if a bit pleasingly startled by all the various instruments playing his pieces that typically had been performed by him alone or with few others; and the teams posed for a photo together.

The VCU team accepted Neil and Nareen’s offer to return to the beach area; so off we went for a drive.

The faculty had a wonderful dinner as the breeze picked up on the evening’s beach outside.

Before long, we spotted that the guys had picked a table at the same restaurant.

It was a great meal, and we left full. Another great day had come to a sweet end.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 6

Neil and I had planned that this day would include only necessary rehearsals; but when the preceding day had concluded, we agreed that none were needed. We left the day open for individual practice and relaxation. We have a saying in jazz: that practicing is “shedding”–going to the shed for a musical workout. And in this instance, Trey was literally shedding–in the laundry unit of Mackaya Bella. After I noticed that he’d been keeping the door closed so as to limit his sound spreading to other people, I encouraged him to open the door. It was hot in that unit; and I wanted the young man to live (much less to play the night’s concert)!

Victor got in some balcony reading but later went down to pair up with Trey in the shed.

Then it was off for dinner, soundcheck, and the night concert. Some of the guys were a bit sleepy at this point…

…while VCU guitarist Chris Ryan got a brief lesson from Madala.

Outside, the monkeys were rehearsing as well.

But as the concert approached, the students’ energy level was rising fast.

We faculty were ready as well!

The student ensembles, with faculty guests, swung the house, including on the four commissioned works: “Breathe” by Victor Haskins, “Makalafukwe” by Sazi Dlamini, “Leap of Faith” by Stephan le Roux, and “Reunion: Brothers from Another Mother” by yours truly–each a premiere, commissioned by Virginia Commonwealth University in honor of its partnership with the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

Neil and I had the pleasure of debuting one of his compositions as a duo. “Southern Skies and Lavender Blue” had been inspired by his September trip to Virginia, the colors of the blossoms, and Mary’s love of shades of purple–which propel me to often wear shirts of said color!

When it was time to close the concert with our guest, Madala Kunene delivered a spirited performance that inspired us.

And as the students sang parts I’d written for them, he chimed in on the chant with such inspiration that the audience joined in.

It was a magical conclusion to a wonderful concert–which was captured for our upcoming VCU/UKZN CD!

Good feelings abounded after the concert.

So we carried that camaraderie on out to a late dinner.

A great musical evening of friendship! Vice-Provost Catherine Howard had e-mailed back to VCU colleagues in Richmond this report following our night concert:

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The final concert was before a full house and the crowd yelled for more at the completion of the concert. The energy, passion, joy, and incredible talent was appreciated by all. While the creation and production of amazing music was the tangible outcome, there were so many intangibles at work–building relationships which will last a lifetime, appreciation of significant world cultures and their histories, and an awareness of being a global citizen. The students have bonded such that you can’t really tell who is VCU and who is UKZN. What a wonderful investment from GEO and the School of the Arts!!!!!

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THURSDAY, MARCH 7

The morning started leisurely enough with a short walk to a neighborhood bakery for choice of breakfast or lunch.

Neil had been kind to ask the VCU students what they most sought to do on this day, and the unanimous vote was to visit the local markets to experience the cultural flavors and buy some souvenirs. So his kind staff assistant, Thuli Zama, was so incredibly kind as to walk us through the multiple markets within the Victoria Street Market (with the additional transportation assistance of UKZN Prof. Debbie Mari).

As we approached, we could see the local means of carrying some items.

The guys were ready to blow off a little steam!

A picturesque, church-like building was just across the street.

And off into the market we went!

We were met by our arranged guide, who provided commentary throughout our tour, as well as a bit of shoplifting security as provided by him and a colleague, all within a collective operation that the market store-owners self-organized long ago. It was clear that the proprietors took a great deal of pride in running this expansive marketplace.

We walked through the areas of spices…

…and clothes.

We saw placards advertising “safe abortions,” which are legal there, apparently at the equivalent of some $20 American dollars. Those signs seemed to me oddly reminiscent of some similar signs seen in the U.S. thirty years or so ago.

The “bridge market” was filled with people.

We were not allowed to take photos of the medicine market, for concern that this action would rob the medicines of their powers. But we did see indications of Western-style medicines in another area…

…as well as other Western traditions.

A transitory walk outside brought us a glance of a woman shopping for her family…

…and a game of pool on the street.

The meat market followed, where a given cow is divided up according to longtime traditions…

…and the fruit market was next.

The poultry market offered live chickens and more.

As we waited for our ride-rendezvous, Trey decided he should practice the custom of those around us.

When our two-car caravan headed out the marketplace, Debbie guided us to a street-side spot where drums were made and sold.

It was a warm day for a mostly outdoor tour, but exactly what the students had sought! Our thanks to Thuli for taking us through it and to Debbie for her additional transport!

And how to cool off after such a day? How about a return to the beach? As several of us sat for ice cream, Sonya had friendly company.

Then it was on to the adjacent beach. Trey and Brendan are center of this panoramic.

As Neil and I chatted, Nareen, Mary, and Sonya walked ahead (seen at left on this walkway).

Dinner and a rainstorm later, we were home at the B&B–and with some souvenirs for us and for folks back home. These are just some of them.

Given the purchases by all our visiting VCU team, it was a good day for the local economy!

FRIDAY, MARCH 8

It was time to say goodbye to our breakfast balcony at Mackaya Bella and to our wonderful hosts there, John and Louise.

Flash back to last August, when it had been VCU’s final day in Durban on our first trip before returning to Richmond. That morning a woman was sitting in the Centre for jazz concert hall that I had not yet met. She was Nomusa Xaba; and she had been waiting to meet me, not having been able to catch me after the previous night’s concert. She wanted to present me with a book about her life and a CD by her South African husband, Ndikho Xaba. Her family’s history in Africa and the U.S. brought her ancestors through Richmond and slavery; so her story is especially pertinent.

To our surprise, we discovered we had known each other twenty years ago: she had served as an administrative assistant to the Music Dean while I had begun my initial years teaching at Northwestern University in the early 1990s. We were amazed to run into each other a half a world apart! I had known her only scarcely and as “Nomu”; so meeting her in August as “Nomusa” 20 years later delayed my recognition a minute.

She had left Chicago and eventually returned to Africa with her husband, another South African musical legend, Ndikho Xaba. (Hear a tune by him dedicated to her.) Believe it or not, she also lived in Richmond for a time; and she and Ndikho had in the U.S. befriended now a well-known Richmonder, saxophonist Plunky Branch.

So Neil Gonsalves had suggested to me last Fall that it might be a perfect circle if we might explore “the collective wisdom of Plunky, Ndikho, and Nomusa Xaba. To some degree, their relationship, which dates back to the ’70s, pre-dates our Richmond-Durban exchange; and the exile experience which they share will provide an interesting extension to the Kwamuhle-Tredegar visits.” (The latter refers to the museums of oppression we visited on both continents as part of the grant.) I agreed.

So both teams spent this final morning in a dialogue with the Xabas, who told us of their lives spanning the most tumultuous times of the civil rights movement in both South Africa and the U.S. It was a riveting and moving morning; but at one point, in order to salute their friend back in Richmond, they held up a t-shirt they’d kept for decades and now shared with us.

We were all grateful for our time with them.

That time slot was the only opportunity our VCU Music Chair, Darryl Harper, had to reconnect with a colleague of his who now teaches at UKZN Music, Salim Washington.

And now it was time for us all to say our goodbyes.

For the VCU team, it was our last scheduled trip to Durban; but we knew that we’d see the UKZN team in Richmond in just a couple of weeks! This photo of the twelve core students on the deck of the Centre will be among those on the cover of our VCU/UKZN CD this Fall:

Nothing really prepares you for an overseas flight, but the VCU students were always a joy to travel with. Complete strangers would approach me to say how much they enjoyed our students’ camaraderie, laughter, and good manners. Great ambassadors, indeed!

As we left the daylight of South Africa, our host country put on a light show to beckon us to return someday.

Our flight back was uneventful, all luggage smoothly delivered (as well as passengers). It is always good to be home, but we were already missing our great friends from Durban.

The following are reflections from the 12 core students about this trip.

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Sphelelo Mazibuko

It has been surely another wonderful experience unraveling great things about the thing we call music. In the week we had with the VCU ensemble I really experienced the power of music: we might not speak the same tongue, but music speaks beyond the boundaries of language and culture. I realized that when we started playing music written by Prof. García and fellow musician Victor Haskins. It was different music from a different culture-base and was challenging in the sense that we have to come out of the comfort zone of playing the jazz that we are all familiar with–but it was worth every second of every bar of notes we played.

The recording was not like any other recording I’ve done. For me it carried the hearts of beautiful musicians, friends, and colleagues. I can highly recall the wonderful atmosphere when we performed Madala Kunene’s music: it can never be counterfeited; it was the TRUTH.

I’m very grateful for each moment we spent with the VCU ensemble. There has not been a time I never received eye-opening information from the guys. As the exchange programme is coming to an end, I realize that my way of picturing the world and music has changed. We live in different parts of the world, but we can speak the language of unity even through music. Whatever goes on in the world can be changed by music, and the same music can bring together even those people who don’t know each other.

Forever I will treasure these times, and surely they will stand as one of the best times of my history in my life. I’d like to send my gratitude to the visionaries of this programme: Profs. Neil Gonsalves and Antonio García. I believe we have to thank people whilst they are still alive. Thanks even to the team working behind the programme with funding (VCU): you are really making a powerful difference. To the VCU ensemble: this is bigger then all of us, and I know we will always meet and share wonderful music with the whole world.

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Sebastian Goldswain

I can safely say that over the course of this most recent exchange visit, the UKZN and VCU teams have become like a close band of brothers. As it is almost six months since our last leg of the exchange, it has been thoroughly exciting to see the VCU guys again–and how they have all immensely developed and grown as musicians!

The task set to us this time around, which was to learn compositions commissioned for us by our respective counterparts, proved to be a most challenging and fruitful one. Personally, I learned a great deal about reading charts in unusual time signatures and feels, particularly Afro-Cuban, as well as following and making sense of charts written specifically with a classical approach. I thoroughly look forward to the next and final leg of the programme in Virginia, which will hopefully prove to be the jewel in the crown of this fantastic exchange programme.

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Lungelo Ngcobo

The previous week was very honourable to me, and with great privilege I treasure it–though it came with a lot of nervous feelings. We knew it came with music we hadn’t played before, and it was an actual recording. I have never done a jazz recording of this caliber on a live platform before. I personally feel I could have played better and understood the music more, and I’m still in the daily process of getting it more into my system. I have also been doing research on music that sounds like this music: it’s hard to find, though.

We’re hoping to do better in Virginia and to enjoy the tour in Virginia next week even more than last time.

*            *            *

Ildo Nandja

Everything was very interesting for me this time around in the exchange program, and the result of that is the beautiful performance that both combos had.

First, a big thank to Prof. García for composing such a challenging but enjoyable tune. It really gave me a workout, and I’m grateful for that because it made me improve a lot in the past few weeks. Thanks also to Victor Haskins for his beautiful and lyrical composition: another challenge that requires a lot of technique and attention, especially to dynamics.

Thanks to all the VCU students and staff and Prof. Darryl Harper for bringing good energies and sharing good experiences. I also want to say a big thanks to all my colleagues from UKZN for their commitment and effort for putting this music together–and to Prof. Neil Gonsalves for his patience with us and for making this possible.

In conclusion: I feel very privileged to be part of this exchange program: first for being the only non-South African and secondly for its importance in my music career. I tried to give my best and to learn the most from this experience and be an example for the future exchanges.

We are next heading to Richmond, where the weather is currently cold; so let’s take our Durban warmness, and heat Virginia with our performance!

(Note: Ildo is a native of Mozambique.)

*            *            *

Sakhile Simani

It’s always an honour to associate with American folks. They have lot of experience in life generally and music, too. They always have something encouraging to say, something that you can keep or use in your entire life. I feel blessed when I’m around, play, or chat about music with them.

“Music is not about tricking people; it is about who you are and what comes from your soul.” That was a chat I had with Chris Ryan. I enjoyed playing both new tunes: I learned so much musically.

*            *            *

Linda Sikhakhane

To me this exchange has been a great pleasure–a bit challenging at points, but very inspirational and educational. Having played the two pieces by Prof. García and Victor Haskins has made me realize the beauty of playing something new and its challenges throughout. This keeps you on your toes because you are trying to figure out the sound and really play the music as written. The music was very detailed and required one to look deeper into things like dynamics and articulation.

The very interesting part of the commissioned music was that it also needed our own musicians’ taste of things in terms of the clarity of sound: Prof. García mentioned often that he wants us to feel free in playing more of ourselves, rather than being held back by the written music. All in all I just had loads of fun throughout.

Peace and light.

*            *            *

C.J. Wolfe

I wasn’t sure how this trip could top our first week in Durban, but we were pleasantly surprised. First of all the flights were much easier to handle, and the bed and breakfast was very nice. We also had more time to soak in the culture while still maintaining a steady rehearsal schedule. Rehearsing Sazi Dlamini’s chart with him in person was very helpful, and when we performed we were surprised when the crowd reacted so excitedly to the groove we played. Stephan le Roux’s chart was a good deal of work as an ensemble, but I think we performed it well at the concert. One of the highlights for me was rehearsing and performing with Madala Kunene. The audience in South Africa loves him; and they really made us feel some of that energy, especially during the ensemble vocal sections.

Aside from playing music, my favorite parts of the trip were getting to know everyone involved a little better, going to the beach and swimming in the Indian Ocean, and finally the tour of the open-air markets. The herb market was the most eye-opening; I had not seen real traditional African medicine before this time. We were not allowed to take pictures of this medicine for fear that it would rob the magic from these items. At another part of the market I was able to get a fiberglass gourd resonator for my mbira, some clothes, and some carvings of Malachite stone.

This whole opportunity has been a life-changing experience, and I’m looking forward to the next concert at VCU.

*            *            *

Chris Ryan

Last week I was able to share an incredible journey to South Africa with some equally incredible people. As I sit and reflect, the best word that comes to mind is gratitude. I feel so thankful to have been a part of something so special. I am thankful to all our friends and hosts back in South Africa, and also thankful to my American friends who made the journey with me. We shared in friendships, music, laughter, and knowledge that spans two continents and will last a lifetime.

The whole trip felt like a highlight reel; so I would be writing a long time if I were to discuss all of the highlights. But some of my favorite moments would include the Wednesday night concert: performing commissioned works written by South African composers Sazi Dlamini and Stephan le Roux, both the VCU and UKZN ensembles performing music by and with South African music legend Madala Kunene, and an international premiere of one of my own compositions, on which Prof. Neil Gonsalves joined our VCU team.

The many moments of laughter shared amongst friendships new and old seem to stick out in my mind and particularly warmed my heart this trip. Our trip to the markets with Thuli was an experience I will never forget. And on our final day our meeting with Poppa Ndikho and Mama Nomusa Xaba was a beautiful, educational, and inspiring experience.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you all so much for the friendships, laughter, music, and sharing in the positive energy we all shared. I feel so honored to have shared this experience with all of you on both continents and look forward to our final concert here at home a few weeks away.

*            *            *

Victor Haskins

Our trip to Durban was once again deeply culturally informative, with the added bonus of being a huge musical learning experience simultaneously. We spent a day at a street market that houses a great deal of history and culture for those from different tribes (especially Zulu and Xhosa), where we not only learned about the different functions of the various parts of the market (the area where they cut and serve parts of the cow head, the area where white and red lime and herbs for rituals are sold, etc.), but we also got to learn about and see their traditional medicine market (of which we were not allowed to take photos because it would take power from the medicines). These vivid and live interactions with parts of South African culture that one would not normally see without actually visiting the country were quite special. In addition, before we left, we got together with Ndikho and Mama Nomusa Xaba and learned about their roles in the civil rights movements of both America and South Africa, and how music and performance have tied them into history. Once again, a very deep and profound experience.

Musically, this entire trip (and the months leading up to this trip to Durban) was very enriching. Both teams had to perform works commissioned by the opposite team, and thus different cultures were shared through written music. Really digging into the music composed for our group was a fundamental lesson in really understanding and expressing a different style. Getting the rhythmically unfamiliar pieces together was one challenge, but putting them together with the group and really making the tunes “dance” and have the authentic South African flavor was a whole other challenge. This is because everyone has to feel it the same way; and that way is the South African way–the feeling and dance of another culture.

This is where the greatest lesson was learned, and I am glad we all had that experience. It is not often that one can perform music from a very different culture and get coached by the people who wrote that music on how to perform it more authentically. This will certainly stick with me and act as another influence on my own writing and performance as a total musician.

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Trey Sorrells

I would like to start off with saying that there was no better way to spend my spring break. During this week I was given the opportunity to perform for an audience with a group of musicians that I love playing with and admire. I was able to play some really great compositions by some great musicians and also able to learn even more about the South African culture.

If I could describe this trip in one word I would use the word “energy.” From the first day the UKZN team gave a high-energy concert that I was a huge fan of. I feel that the first concert inspired us to work really hard on the commissioned works in the rehearsals; and the rehearsals inspired us to spend the rest of the day relaxing at the beach, if you know what I mean.

The second concert on the trip, which featured the commissioned works that both teams worked really hard on, was probably the most fun and inspiring concert I’ve ever played. From Chris Ryan’s soul chart to Madala Kunene’s soul-touching music, the whole concert was a blast. I honestly couldn’t think of a better way to spend my spring break than traveling and performing with VCU team, truly an unforgettable experience.

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Brendan Schnabel

By the time of our second arrival in Durban, our team had evolved from musical ambassadors to participants in UKZN’s musical scene. We were no longer strangers in a foreign land, but rather friends coming to share in a week of happy music-making. It took a challenging metamorphosis on our end to inherit this role; the works commissioned by our South African brothers tested our preconceived ideas about music, especially about rhythm. It took our physical presence and immersion in the peaceful yet earnest atmosphere of Durban, South Africa to finally capture the musical essence of this wonderful land.

I think this musical essence was most evident in our collaboration with Madala Kunene, a man without pretension whose music at first listen reveals an exuberance and a message of peace. This experience has taught me the universal healing power of music. I think it is wise to remember this when we are caught up in the business and politics of our American music industry. The way people treat music in South Africa is a reminder that music is supposed to be a celebration, a cleansing of the soul. I think all of us who had the honor to go on this journey will carry these lessons with us the rest of our lives.

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Justin Esposito

Our return to Durban, South Africa as a part of the VCU-UKZN jazz exchange was an empowering experience, personally and musically. The chemistry between my peers on the VCU jazz delegation has grown into a great bonding experience. Our trust within one another musically and personally has developed and enriched the musical and cultural learning experience.

Being able to represent VCU on a world stage has revealed what the true meaning of leadership is. Sharing our passion for music with the VCU Global Education Office and the Division of Community Engagement has connected me to the opportunities that our administrators present to us with genuine interest, in order to provide us students with life-changing experiences.

Our counterparts on the UKZN team have showed us nothing but openness and kindness towards our music and interactions. Being able to share my musical experiences and hard work with people of a different culture has enabled me to gain an outlook and new perspective on the universal characteristics all people have in common. Working together on jazz compositions from a different culture and musical background has enabled me to translate the life experiences of our talented composers. These African grooves and melodies have opened up my ears to rich and vast cultural movements through the stories told through the commissioned works. Being able to tell my story through this platform of African music has broadened my understanding of music and humanity.

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