introducing Binta Mbye

My new Gambian name! Last night we had a staff appreciation party at the Country Director's house, celebrating the success of another Pre-Service Training of our new volunteer crop, saying farewell to our doctor and welcoming me -- namely, through my naming ceremony. Traditionally the head is shaved, so today I went out and chopped my hair to truly take on my new name of Binta Mbye. Binta is the first daughter of Mohammed, so I have a lot to live up to! But last night it was a mock-shave -- note the razor in the picture. Video of the event is below and on my YouTube channel. Juliana did a pan around the room so you can see all their faces (and what hams they are -- I love it!).




Thanks to Kathy, Teri, and the Alaska Legislative Information office I had Alaskan pins to give away (I'd observed my staff loves pins, so this was the right gift): the state flag (most popular), state flower (forget-me-not --- they loved it!), moose (not to be confused with the Wolof word that means 'cat' -- hilarious explaining), and a little blue pin shaped like the state (award for most confusing). In addition, everyone was dressed up for Friday prayers, so the party felt extra special.

ekonting

Thursday night I went to another concert at the Alliance franco-gambienne. Keloumake from the Casamance region of Senegal was in town, playing three traditional instruments of The Gambia and countries in this region (Mande music). The kora (video demo) is the upright harp-like instrument (below), the ekonting (video demo) is a what Béla Fleck calls the original banjo (right), and bougarabou are West African drums usually played in a set of three. The ekonting player is Fula, wearing traditional dress and facial scars. He was so entertaining, playing it behind his back, kneeling down to the crowd and always thoroughly enjoying himself. I shot HD video files, but connection speed is too slow for upload to You Tube, so you just have to hear them rocking out on these traditional instruments on a lower quality video. :)  It's anything but unplugged - very fun!

kora

Mr crowd-pleaser!

Youki is my new favorite sparkling grapefruit fizzy beverage.

I continued my musical escapade today, going to the Bakau market again with a few Peace Corps Volunteers, one an aspiring ethnomusicologist who has quite a collection of recordings he'll be presenting at the Scottish Embassy tomorrow night. (The Scottish Embassy is neither Scottish nor an embassy -- it's a bar. But the owners are a Scot and a Gambian. Discuss amongst yourselves.) Anyway, he hooked me up with a balafon maker, who in turn will hook me up with a balafon teacher. I played around a little today on the one resting on two stools below. You play it with low notes on the right and high notes on the left, so a challenge! (backwards from piano or shona marimba that we play in Homer).

balafon

drums for sale!

working on the kora gourd

kora making

Here's a link to a balafon video.

Note the Gambian flag painted on the tree -- this is very popular along roadsides.