Progress

I had an interesting conversation with some of my closest friends last night. George and Edie, Judy and John were having dinner at our house after the theater. (Terrifically funny play, by the way: The Thirty-Nine Steps presented by Portland Center Stage. It’s a theatrical parody of Alfred’s Hitchcock’s 1935 spy film which itself was based on John Buchan’s novel published before World War I. Let’s hope that spies and spy-catchers are not so inept in real life. Or our spies and spy-catchers, anyway.)

During the course of dinner, Judy told us that she was flying to Atlanta this coming week to visit her sister and brother-in-law. Judy’s brother-in-law is a retired general. He’s also the headmaster of the Georgia Military Academy, one of the South’s finest military prep schools. Judy told us that he has a fine singing voice. He took the role of Tevye when the community theater company in Milledgeville performed Fiddler On The Roof.

That got my attention. I put down my soup spoon. “Milledgeville, Georgia!” I exclaimed. “Fiddler On The Roof in Milledgeville. That’s ironic!”

Everyone wanted to know why I said that. “That’s where Leo Frank was held. In Milledgeville State Prison.” That turned out to be no answer at all. Who’s Leo Frank?

I suddenly realized that my friends, not being Jewish, would be unlikely to know about the Frank case, which occurred nearly a century ago, in 1913. Here’s the story. Leo Frank managed a textile mill in Atlanta. One of the workers, fourteen year old Mary Phagan, was found murdered in the basement. Frank was accused of killing her. Given the nature of the crime and the fact that that Frank was a Jew and a Yankee, the case ignited passions and protests all over the United States.

Frank was found guilty, despite questionable evidence, and sentenced to death. John Slaton, the governor of Georgia, a decent man, commuted his sentence to life imprisonment to give Frank time to file appeals that ultimately went all the way to the Supreme Court. Slaton had become convinced of Frank’s innocence. He hoped that he would ultimately be freed on appeal.

It didn’t work out that way. Frank was sent to the prison farm in Milledgeville. There he was attacked by a crazed inmate who cut his throat. While he was in the hospital, a mob entered the prison—it says something about the quality of the staff back then to think that a mob could just drive through the gates of a state prison—hauled Frank out of his hospital bed, drove him to Marietta—Mary Phagan’s home town—and hanged him from a tree. A photograph taken at the time circulated throughout the South.

In 1986 the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles granted Leo Frank a posthumous pardon in recognition of the fact that the state had failed to protect Frank, apprehend or punish his killers.

After I finished sharing this story, my friend John said, “Wow! And a hundred years later they’re performing Fiddler On The Roof in the same town where they lynched that man! I’d call that remorse. Or maybe repentence.”

I thought for a minute and said, “No. I’d call it progress.” I really believe that. That’s why it’s important to study history. You can have no idea how far we’ve come unless you realize where we’ve been.

If you’d like to learn more about the Leo Frank case, check out this link. The definitive book on the subject is Steve Oney’s And The Dead Shall Rise. Check out out here at Amazon or at your local library.

Swims With Turtles

We’re back home from Hawaii. Nothing but memories of a beautiful trip. Thanks David, and everyone at the Hawaii Preparatory Academy. I hope we’ll be back there some day.

If you’ve been following this blog, you’ll know that every time I leave on a travel adventure, I promise to blog about it. Yeah, yeah! Like I promise to go on a diet. It always seems like a good idea at the time. The problem is that I can never live up to it. Writing anything takes a lot of thought and mental energy. I’m tired at the end of the day, especially if it has been an exciting one. That’s why I usually end up doing my blogging after I get home.

Better late than never. Would you like to hear about one of our best adventures on Hawaii? Here goes:

Our friend David Giff, the librarian at Hawaii Preparatory Academy’s Lower School, is a surfer. Naturally, he knows the best places to go. He gave us a choice for our second free day. We could go to see the volcano. Or we could go to the ocean.

Doris and I opted for the beach. As exciting as seeing a volcano might be, it meant a whole day in the car. In such a beautiful place as Hawaii, we wanted to be outside. David gave us directions to get to his favorite beaches. He told us that we shouldn’t have any problem seeing whales. If we were lucky, we might even see a sea turtle or two.

We headed out early the next morning. I started out by making a wrong turn which sent us south when we should have been going north. However, that turned out well. We found a viewpoint by the side of the road with a clear view of the ocean. What an amazing sight! The water inshore was a clean band of turquoise green. Beyond, in the deeper water, it was a deep, almost purple, blue. The whales were jumping! Looking through our binoculars, we saw them leaping out of the water, diving, spouting. We watched for about an hour until the pod moved on. Then we got back in the car and continued driving in the wrong direction.

Twenty miles later I checked the map. For Pete’s sake! We were nearly fifty miles from where we wanted to be. If we went any further we’d be back at the airport in Kona. Time to turn around. Grumbling, we headed north. Doris had some wise advice. Why be upset? If we hadn’t taken the wrong turn, we never would have seen the whales or the banded ocean.

Back to where we started. We began looking for sign for the Puako Beach Road. David said the Puako Beach was a gem that we shouldn’t miss. We found the road, but couldn’t figure out exactly where the beach was. We drove back and forth past several fine beaches. None of them seemed to match David’s description. We were supposed to look for a general store, park, and then walk down to the beach along one of the public access roads.

After bumbling around, we found a general store and beach houses and a public access road. Was this the place? Who knew. It seemed worth trying. I was tired of driving. Any more time in the car and we may as well have gone to the volcano. We parked, then walked down the the beach. It turned out to be a beautiful cove on the south side of a magnificent bay. Lava flows of black rock broke the water up into smaller pools. We found a shady spot and settled in.

Doris was looking at the birds, trying to identify them. I suddenly saw a round shape emerge from the water, then disappear. Was that what I thought it was? I stood still, waiting. There it was again. A sea turtle! No mistake. We watched it paddling around the cove, raising its head every now and then to breathe and keep its eye on us. Doris got out her camera and took lots of pictures.

That made our day. Doris moved her beach chair down to the water so she could get as close to the turtle as possible without disturbing it. I went swimming. The water was like a bathtub. I wish I had snorkeling gear. That would be something to look forward to next time.

After I got out of the water, I felt like exploring. I walked along the gravel and lava rock along the sea wall between the beach and the houses. The lava flows were extensive here. The rock went out into the bay. Then I noticed two round shapes on the rock, about twenty feet from where I stood. Could that be? Yes! Two sea turtles basking on the black lava rock! And that wasn’t the end of it. There were four other turtles, two on each side of the point where I was standing, swimming in the water.

I went back to get Doris. I had to show her the turtles. I hoped they would still be there. They were, exactly where I last saw them. We took pictures and watched them for almost an hour. Then the tide started coming it. The sun was dropping low. Time to go back.

What an adventure! And the most amazing part is that we found exactly what we hoped to find by getting lost.

Life is like that sometimes.

Give me a few days to catch up and I’ll post the pictures.

In Hawai’i

We’re in Hawai’i. Really Hawaii. The Big Island. I’m here as guest author at the Hawai’i Preparatory Academy in Kamuela. Our friend, David Giff, is the lower school librarian. David is a former Oregonian who used to teach at Oregon Episcopal Academy, one of my favorite schools. (Every school I visit is a favorite school, but I have a special relationship with the ones that are close to home since a lot of the teachers and students are friends and neighbors.)

We’re staying in an enormous condominium apartment at Waikoloa Beach. It’s about as big as my house in Portland. Doris and I rattle around in it like two ghosts. We haven’t even looked in some of the rooms upstairs. Looking out over the gardens in back we can see the lava fields. They go on forever. The Hawai’ian islands are volcanic and several are still active. Especially the ones here! This is where Kilauea Volcano is, in Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park. The trade winds were blowing strong that day. The wind blew the chair pillows off our back porch and almost to the lava fields. That’s an odd juxtaposition, isn’t it? Climbing over lava rock to retrieve a deck chair pillow.

There’s so much to do. Yesterday we drove to HAP in Waimea to make sure I knew my way to the school, even though I don’t have to be there until tomorrow. Our tour nearly ended there when David showed me his library. He has a big section of books related to Hawai’ian history, science, and culture. Doris had to pull me out so we could get back on the road.

We took the Kohala Mountain Road up the lee side of Kohala mountain. We went as high as 3500 feet. Spectacular views. We ended up on the north side of the island, in the town of Hawi. Doris found a bead store where she discovered a selection of abalone pendants. She and our cousin Jean are devoted beaders. Doris is going to Sarasota in a week. Abalone beads are apparently rare. She tells me that Jean is going to love these.

The best part of the day was driving from Hawi through Kapa’au to Pololu Beach. We stopped at the end of the road for a spectacular view from the cliffs. Looking way, way down, we could see a black sand beach. There’s a steep trail leading all the way down. It must be a spectacular hike. However, neither of us had hiking shoes and I have a troublesome knee. We decided to save the hike for another day, especially as there was so much to see from the top of the cliff.

Whales! This is the best time of the year for the Humpbacks. We’re used to whale watching in Oregon, so I let my eyes scan the sea for signs of a spout. Sure enough, I glimpsed a familiar plume, followed by a a horizontal splash of white water. What’s that? I borrowed the binoculars. Whales! Spouting, breaching, leaping straight out of the water! What a show!

Doris and I stayed on the cliff, watching the whales, until the pod moved on. Then we drove back the way we came, down the coast road, stopping at every likely-looking spot to see if we could see any more whales. We saw a few.

Our last stop of the day was Spencer’s Beach, a oasis area with a sheltered cove. We didn’t see any whales, although we saw lots of people swimming and snorkeling in the water. A Hawai’ian man sat by one of the shelters, playing his ukulele and singing. We sat and listened. The gentle surf gave a perfect accompaniment to his high, sweet voice.

David met us for dinner at the Fairmont Orchid, a lush hotel not far from where we are staying. We watched the sun go down. I sat, enjoying the view as a man in Hawai’ian dress blew a conch shell and lit the evening torches. Doris went further down the walkway with David to find a good spot for a photograph of the setting sun. They also discovered a sea turtle, swimming just off the beach.

What will we do tomorrow? Shall we take the four hour drive to see the volcano? Shall we hang out on the beach with the whales and turtles. So many choices!

AND THIS IS MY JOB!!!!! I’m working!!!!

How’d YOU like to be an author?

Fear Is Not An Option

While surfing around late at night I came upon an interview with James Cameron, director of Avatar. I haven’t seen the film yet, but this quote is memorable. I have to share it.

Cameron says, “Curiosity is the most powerful thing you own. Don’t put limitations on yourself. Other people will do that for you…failure has to be an option in art and exploration because it’s a leap of faith.

“In whatever you’re doing, failure is an option, but fear is not.” Here’s a link to the full article if you’d like to read it.

If you want to become a writer or any other kind of artist. write this down and keep it with you. Take it out and look at it when times get rough. It’s so true! Failure is definitely an option when so many of the elements that determine success or failure are beyond your control However, you decide how you will react to those circumstances.

No fear.

What’s Up?

There’s a Bob Dylan song, whose title I don’t remember, with a line that goes like this: “Something’s happening/But you don’t know what it is/Do you, Mr. Jones?”

That’s how I felt this morning after I fed the cats and sat down to read the New York Times. There were several important articles today relating to electronic books that I found fascinating. They definitely fit together into some kind of pattern. Something’s happening. I just can’t figure out what it is. Maybe I should change my name to Jones.

First, Google is negotiating with publishers for the right to distribute ebooks on an open platform. In other words, anyone with a computer or a reading device with the proper software ought to be able access them. The implications of this are enormous. Goggle has been steadily digitizing every book it can get its hands on. It’s managed to get the Authors Guildd to come aboard. The Justice Department still has reservations about how this would affect copyright law. Assuming they can get by those hurdles, think of this: potentially every existing book ever written in any language would be accessible from your ebook reader or laptop computer at any time!

The publishers raised a legitimate question: how do we make money? Google will allow them to set their own prices for ebooks distributed on its network. That means three giants—Google, Apple, and Amazon—all competing for my ebook dollar. As an author I’m not sure how that will work out. As a reader, I love it! Competition brings prices down, not up.

The media companies discovered that in another article that I read online. Online sales of digital music are down by half! What’s happening? For one, they raised the price of best-selling songs on iTunes from .99 to $1.29. A lot of music lovers must have felt that .99 cents was their limit. More than that, and they could get it for free.

Readers think the same way. This one does. I love my Kindle and I’ll pay $9.99 for a book I really want. Most of the time I pay a lot less. There are tons of ebooks available for next to nothing, or for very good prices. If I’m buying an actual book, I’ll take my business to my favorite local bookstores. If I think the book looks interesting but I’m not sure if I’ll like it enough to want to own it, I’ll get it from the library. Publishers can charge all they want. That doesn’t mean I’m going to pay it.

Another interesting article caught my attention as well. Twilight has just come out as a graphic novel. This may point the way to a new development in publishing. Books are morphing into different forms. There’s the initial hardback; then the quality paperback; then the cheap paperback; then the ebook; now the graphic novel.

Think of this: the Kindle and other ebook readers don’t handle illustrations well. But the new Apple iPad is built for them. If the tablet idea catches on, you’ll be able to read books AND graphic novels on the device. If it can handle graphic novels, it can do an even more spectacular job with picture books.

Right now the picture book market is aimed a young children. I can’t tell you how many times editors have told me, “Keep it simple. Keep it young.” My friend Rafe Martin, an outstanding storyteller, writer, and folklorist, tells me he’s putting his energies back into the storytelling world. I know the feeling. I’ve experienced the same disappointment myself.

But the iPad may change that picture. I don’t know many people who will let a six year old play with an $800 device. If there’s an audience for graphic novels, why not for beautifully illustrated picture books telling exciting stories. Why shouldn’t picture books and graphic novels merge? After all, the main limit on the size of picture books has to do with the cost of printing. Take away paper and ink and these limits don’t exist. In the digital world, the only limit is the imagination of writer and artist.

So I’m excited. Rafe is, too, after I encouraged him to think about the iPad and its implications for the future.

Something’s happening/And you don’t know what it is/Do you, Mr. Kimmel?

No, but I can hardly wait to find out.

(Hit this BUTTON if you’d like to share your thoughts to comments with me. I’d love to hear what you think of this post and any others.)

Where’s The Snake?

I’ve gotten a number of emails from readers who follow my blog asking what’s happening with The Snake. For those who don’t know, that’s the title of the manuscript I was working on last year. I blogged about it as I wrote it. I wanted to show readers how an author—or at least this author—wrestles with issues of plot and character, solving problems with the story as they emerge.

What’s happening? So far, nothing. My agent Chris has been sending it out and it’s been coming back. Editors’s responses are much the same: I like it, but I’m not in love. (Chris wants to know why editors always seem to discuss manuscripts in terms of personal relationships. I wonder if stockbrokers do that?)

My question is: what is it they’re not in love with? They don’t love the story? They don’t love the writing. Or is it—they don’t love snakes.

That can be a problem. An editor who’s creeped out by snakes is not going to be falling in love with a story about them.

So I sit and wait. I’ll let you know if there’s any news. Meanwhile, Pirate has been getting bigger. He gobbles down fuzzies now. I wondered if the last one I gave him might be too big. He swallowed it without any trouble at all. Did you know that snakes’s jaws have four parts that move separately. Top right, Top left, Bottom right, Bottom left. They work together in sequence, pulling the prey in without the snake ever having to release its grip.

What was I thinking? That’s the kind of information that can kill an acceptance. Ah, well! I only need one editor: one who thinks that the dynamics of snake ingestion are cool.

I’ll let you know if and when there’s any news.

iPad Mysteries

I love tech stuff. So naturally I was glued to my laptop when Steve Jobs introduced Apple’s new iPad. That is one beautiful display, judging from what I’ve seen of it from a distance. Some commentators called it an iPhone or iTouch on steroids. Another described it as the iPhone meets a rolling pin.

To my mind, it like what might result if I could detach the screen from my laptop and carry it around with me. A touch screen capability would mean that I really wouldn’t have to use my keyboard at all unless I were doing serious writing. My neighbor Colleen agreed. Colleen just graduated from the graphics arts and design program at Oregon State. Nearly all her work is done on computers. She commented that the ability to draw directly onto the tablet with a stylus would be “sweet.”

But I have a laptop. So does nearly everyone I know. Can I really justify spending $500-$800 for an iPad? What does it do that I can’t do now with what I already have?

Another issue is that I’ve longed for an iPhone for years. The problem is that I like Verizon. I don’t want to switch. If Verizon came out with an iPhone, I’d have one tomorrow. The genius of the iPhone and other smartphones is that they do so many things. Phone. Email. Address book. Messaging. Calendar. Expense Tracker. The list goes on and on. It does it all and does it in one compact, convenient package that you can put in your pocket.

The iPad is big. You won’t carry i around in your pocket. If you get an iPad, think about what else you’ll need. A phone. A keyboard. Perhaps an iPod. (You’re not going to run on the treadmill with an iPad strapped to your arm, are you?) Instead of needing less stuff, you need more stuff. That’s not the way the tech world has been going lately.

What interests me most is the description of the iPad as “Kindle Killer.” Although I’m a passionate fan of the Kindle, I’m also a Mac addict. I’m open to being convinced that the iPad is a better way to read ebooks. So far I’m not convinced by what I’ve seen.

First of all, it’s more expensive. A lot more expensive! A few commentators have pointed out that the cheapest iPad is only $100 more than a Kindle. Yeah, well! Nearly all the Kindle owners I know opt for the basic, smaller model. Right now that’s selling for $250. Considerably less than the iPad!

Apple’s bookstore appears to be setting the basic price for books at $15. It’s $9.99 on Amazon. Also, when you buy a Kindle you pay for your wireless connection up front. The iPad’s connection costs $30 a month, unless you want to rely exclusively on wi-fi.

Some other things to think about: Apple tells us that the iPad’s battery will last about 10 hours. Anyone familiar with computers knows to take that estimate with a large grain of salt. A Kindle, in comparison, has a battery life measured in weeks, as long as you turn off the wireless connection when you’re not using it. I took my Kindle to Africa and only recharged it once. Even then, the battery still had half a charge left. Nobody’s claiming that the iPad will last that long between charges. Color and a backlit display require more power than Kindle’s e-ink.

Another issue is what will it be like to read books on a backlit screen for hours at a time? Nobody’s discussing this, I suspect, because nobody outside of Apple has been able to handle an iPad for long periods of time. We’ll find out in April. I’m skeptical. If we could read novels off backlit screens without eyestrain and headaches, we’d be doing it now. We wouldn’t need the Kindle or the iPad.

There’s a mystery here. When a company launches a new device to challenge an older, successful device, it has to offer something to make the switch worthwhile. Why should I switch from Kindle? The iPad has a better display. Okay, but it also has a much shorter battery life; it’s more expensive up front and over time; the books at the Apple Book Store cost more than the ones on Amazon; it may be harder on my eyes. What’s the advantage? I don’t see it, with or without my glasses.

However, I could be wrong. Way wrong! I’ll just have to wait for April to see. Meanwhile, what I’d really like to get is an iTouch. But then I keep hearing rumors that Verizon and Apple are going to get together to bring out an iPhone. That’s supposed to happen in June, if it happens at all. My psychologist friend Mike says, “You are a mighty hunter, but don’t forget to shoot the arrow.” That’s the hard part. Reminds me of an old song by The Loving Spoonful (remember them?), “Did you ever have to finally decide?/Say as to one and let the other one ride…” Decisions, decisions. More later.

Pinré Village in Burkina Faso

Click on this LINK to see slide show of photos I took on my visit to Pinré village in Burkina Faso.

First we met the chief. That is the first thing you do when you enter an African village. The chief gives you permission to visit. The chief of Pinré is over 100 years old. He has been chief for 60 years. His father was chief before him.

We were greeted with sweet millet water and millet beer, which I drank out of a gourd. We learned how millet, the staple crop, is harvested, stored, and threshed. One of the women was spinning cotton. She used a whorl spindle. This spinning technique is thousands of years old. I’ve tried it myself. It’s hard! She made it look effortless. The thread she spun was strong and even. Cotton fibers are short, which makes cotton one of the hardest textiles to spin. I was impressed.

Then we went to the village center, under the shade of a huge baobab tree. The drumming was loud and exciting. First the men danced, then the women. I wish I had brought along a video camera to record it. It was one of the most wonderful events I’ve ever experienced. You have to remember that the temperature was over 90 degrees. How can people move so fast and so gracefully in such heavy costumes? The looks of joy and concentration on their faces showed that they enjoyed the dancing and drumming as much as I did.

Then the women danced. They had a special dance. The women danced in a line. Then, at a given moment, two women danced out of the line and tried to knock each other off balance with their hips. It had to be done at the right moment and in time to the drumming. It reminded me of a medieval joust. You could tell who was good at this and who wasn’t. It was fun for most, but in the case of a few of the women, you could tell that this was a grudge match. “You won’t knock me off balance.” “Oh yes I will!”

The older women danced first. Then the teenagers. Then the children. The little girls weren’t sure of what to do. They’ll learn, and this is how. By doing.

We visited the village school. Three classes in a concrete buildings. Three teachers. There are about 50-60 children in each class. The lessons are written on the blackboard in chalk. In French, which the children don’t speak. They learn by rote, recited the lesson according to the teacher’s example. There are no textbooks; only notebooks. The village is fortunate. It has a school. Many villages do not. Yet even with a school, the literacy rate in the village is 1%.

On the way back to Ouagadougou, we stopped at a cafe in the town of Zorgho. A couple of buzzards hung around us, looking to see if we’d drop anything. Or if we dropped! Not good publicity for a restaurant, but fairly common in Africa. Vultures are part of the landscape. Like pigeons here, I guess. Our African friends paid no attention to them.

I took some photos of the vans we passed on the way home. Vehicles here in Burkina are important means of transportation. There’s always room for one more person and one more load. It’s not unusual to see vans, trucks, and buses going by with luggage stacked on the roof. You’ll see live sheep up there as well. Bicycles and moped are stacked on the rear bumper. There are always a few brave souls hanging on behind or on top.

I added some music when I put this slide show together in iMovie. Somehow the music got lost when I posted it. I’ll try it again. Maybe I’ll get it right. Meanwhile, enjoy!

I hope that someday you’ll have a chance to visit Africa. I hope I’ll go back again soon.

Waiting for Apple’s Tablet

Hey, fans! I’m sorry. My blogging schedule has been totally out of whack. I still have plenty of pictures to post from my African trip. I haven’t done anything with the adventures we had in Burkina Faso. That’s on the schedule for tomorrow. I almost have the slide show together.

I’ve spent most of today combing the tech sites, reading all the rumors about Apple’s announcement tomorrow of its tablet computer. It will be big: about the size of a sheet of paper. More important, it may be replacing paper; especially the paper in the form of a book.

I love my Kindle. It works! I’ve been devouring books on it since I got it. After the ALA children’s book awards came out, I checked on Amazon. They’re all available for Kindle in electronic editions. The future is here.

But a Kindle functions as a book, not a computer. The black and gray screen doesn’t do color. You can download newspapers and magazines. However, you read them one article at a time. Doable, but not the same experience as reading the NY Times in the morning over my coffee.

Now imagine the Times in color, page by page, with videos included. Imagine being able to share picture books in full color. Imagine being able to switch into computer mode to get email, surf the web, download information.

Sounds magical. Will the reality live up to the dreams? How easy will it be to read books on the screen? My laptop gives me full color, but I wouldn’t want to force my ancient eyes to read Ken Follett’s Pillars of the Earth on it, which I just read effortlessly on my Kindle. How long does the battery last? A Kindle goes forever with a single charge. A tablet e-book won’t be much fun if you have to charge it up every few hours. I’ve taken my Kindle to places where there is no electricity. Could I do the same with Apple’s tablet?

Finally, how much will it cost? A Kindle is currently $250. Kindle books on Amazon are about $10. How does Apple plan to market books?

Publishers seem eager to embrace it. They’ll embrace anything that will save them from a shrinking book market and from having the prices of their books set by Amazon. Will Apple’s tablet save them?

All good questions. Right now there are lots of rumors. Tomorrow we’ll have answers.

Music In Mali/2

I’ve been trying to write this post all day while listening to the news reports coming in from Haiti. It’s all dreadful. Hundreds of thousands dead, many more without food, water, medicine, electricity. Port-au-Prince flattened. No reports yet from the countryside. It’s a calamity of major proportions. To make it worse, Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world. Those who had next-to-nothing now have absolutely nothing. I hope all of you reading this will do whatever you can to help. The people of Haiti need it desperately.

Now to get down to business. I intended this post to follow up my last one about what I learned about music in Mali. Paul, the music teacher at the American International School at Bamako was a wealth of information. I asked where I could get cd’s of Malian music, traditional and contemporary. He suggested waiting until I got home, then going to iTunes. iTunes, it turns out, has an exceptional international section. It’s a great way to listen to different kinds of music. It’s also easy to download recordings when obtaining the actual cd might be difficult.

At Paul’s suggestion, I started listening to different Malian musicians, traditional and modern. Here was a surprise! Modern Malian music sounds contemporary. I could identify strains of blues, jazz, hip-hop. Are these original African traditions, or is the music being influenced by recordings from the US and Europe?

Yes and no, says Paul. Musicians are curious about music. African musicians are no exception. They listen to different sounds and incorporate the ones they admire into their own performances. The question for a musician isn’t whether or not the music is authentic. It’s whether or not it’s good music.

Another point: Paul mentioned that the recording quality of African cd’s is not what it ought to be. It isn’t a technical issue. It’s more a cultural one. Traditionally, the words have always been more important than the music. For hundreds of years the country’s greatest poets have composed songs to be sung to a musical accompaniment. This is how poems are “published” in a society where few people know how to read or write. If a poem is a song, it can be spread far and wide by being sung.

Words more important than music. Sounds like rap, hip-hop. “You got it,” said Paul. “Everything new is old and everything old is new again. Original African forms spread all over the world. Now they’ve come back to Africa to start the cycle over again.”

Fascinating, isn’t it?

That’s all for now. Back to the news. Please keep the people of Haiti in your thoughts and prayers.