A VOICE FROM
THE WILDERNESS
THE ADVENTURES OF MARK DIFLORIO
SUMMER 2002 TO WHENEVER
MARK’S LATEST JOURNAL ENTRY:
This entry posted from: HOME : Seattle
on Saturday, December 22, 2007, at 8:41 AM.
Hi friends
Tonight is the last night of the tour. Tomorrow morning we check out of the hotel, perform and teach at The American School in Kinshasa and then leave for the States in the evening. Of course we will travel for almost 24 hours flying for 7.5 hours, Kinshasa to Paris and then 10.5 hours, Paris to Seattle. I can't wait to get home and hug my wife. Kinshasa has been fantastic. We've had our most successful concerts and workshops here as well as possibly the best meal.
As I write this it is Wednesday evening, Dec. 19. We arrived in Kinshasa, The Democratic Republic of Congo, on Saturday, Dec. 15 by crossing The Congo River from Brazzaville. Brazzaville and Kinshasa are the closest capitols in the world. As we arrived on the embassy speed boat we were met by the energy of a city that has almost 9 million inhabitants. From the port to customs we crossed a fenced in loading lane with men carrying heavy bags of flour and huge burlap sacks full of 10-12 boxes of things. They were loading the big blue ferry that looked like it had seen better days. We got through customs with ease as the expeditors in every country have been helpful and efficient but as soon as we pulled out of the port we were in the middle of a road incident where someone was hit by a car. A concerned and seemingly angry mob began to form as they stopped 2 cars that were possibly the ones that hit the pedestrian. We inched by, honking our horn, and watched as the victim stood up and the crowd kept on swarming and buzzing. The African people have the ability to quickly form into a crowd and sometimes, as in this case, it can be alarming.
Soon after we arrived and checked in at the hotel we were off to a gig. The trio, minus me, performed at the graduation for an english school owned and run by the embassy. We then performed at The Protestant University of Kinshasa which has a nice campus and friendly students.This performance set the bar for Kinshasa. There was a medium sized but mighty crowd who just adored us. We came out playing strong and they loved it, listening, clapping and cheering. We closed the concert with what turns out to be an African favorite, Iko Iko, and we had the students dancing on their desks and asking for an encore of the same song. We signed autographs and took photos for almost an hour after the concert and it ended only because we insisted on leaving. Back to the hotel for some rest and then to a jazz jam session at local club named Ibizza. The club had some talented jazz musicians and we had a good time sitting in with the band. As the night moved on the audience was itching to dance and the band turned to playing groovier music and at one point in the evening when the electricity went out for a solid twenty minutes the drummer and percussionist jammed while the crowd danced to the light of cell phones and candles.
We finally had a morning off on Sunday and after talking with Lilla I stayed in bed until lunch. Everything in Kinshasa is very expensive because the city and country produce almost nothing. Everything is imported and we are paying the price. Of course our per diem from The State Department compensates for the expenses and we have plenty of money to eat well. That evening we performed at The U.S. Ambassador's residence for a welcoming and receptive audience. The usual shmoozing where we met, Alexis, a Congolese hip-hop artist who is part of the embassy's program on preventing aids and Katya, the embassy Public Affairs officer and her husband and Jeff, who became very gracious hosts on every night of our visit. They entertained us for 3 nights having us to their home for 2 dinners and taking us to possibly our best meal in Africa at a Teppanyaki style restaurant.
Monday morning we went to The Arts Institute of Kinshasa which is the only arts school in Central Africa. They have no instruments at this school and as the electricity was out on this day so we performed in a very hot room with no air circulation. We have done our share of sweating in Africa and I have worn enough deet that it's possible that I may be better off with Malaria!?!? Someone in Guinea told us that there is a %100 chance that we were bitten by a mosquito carrying Malaria. Keep on taking that Doxycyclene! The workshop was good. We worked hard, sweat tremendously and to our surprise encountered the first African musicians that played the acoustic bass. Something new every day. We played, they played, we played together and after photos and thankyous we had some refreshments with the director and teachers of the school. They told us how they have no resources and as we aren't able to give them equipment and resources we offered many good ideas about finding support for the school. We had the evening off and went to Katya and Jeff's house for some Tex-Mex and margaritas. Their house is very comfy and with 3 cats and 2 cool kids, Beecham and Hannah, we were beginning to feel the pull of being close to home.
Tuesday morning we began the first of 2 workshops with local musicians. Kinshasa has some great local musicians many of whom can play jazz. This was a great workshop with very attentive and curious musicians that really seemed to soak up what we had to offer. We had a big concert planned for the evening with a video presentation of local artists presenting songs about AIDS prevention and King Kester (a well known singer) as an opening act. The amphitheater at The French Cultural Center was packed with a solid thousand people and they were pumped up after King Kester. We came out playing hard and immediately the crowd reacted to our energy with clapping and cheering. It turned out to a great concert and the last concert of the tour. We had a concert planned at The Kinshasa University for tonight but the teachers are on strike and therefor the concert was cancelled. The concert being cancelled wasn't the worst news as we are tired and very very ready to come home.
Today we had the second of two workshops with the local musicians. We spent the day playing together and then explaining some jazz fundamentals such as form, blues changes and soloing. This was the deepest workshop we have had in Africa and it was satisfying for all involved. There were four drummers at the workshop and we all had nice connection listening to, sharing with and teaching each other throughout the day. With the final concert cancelled we had the night off so Katya, Jeff and the kids brought us to a nice restaurant where we had a Japanese chef cook us a seven course meal on the grill right in front of our eyes. It was both entertaining and delicious. This is Teppanyaki.
It is my last night of the tour, my last night in a hotel and my last night in Africa. I am thrilled to be going home as the depth of my missing Lilla is almost overwhelming. This tour has been incredible. It is dream come true for me to travel the world with music and reach people deeply with my self expression. This has been a goal of mine since I began pursuing music seriously and to achieve it after so many years is thrilling. The guys in the band have been incredible as we have played music well together on the whole tour and managed to get along well from start to finish.
I'd like to thank the local staff in Kinshasa, Bob Keith, Katya and Jeff, our drivers and all of the eager students. A huge thank you to Alexis at Jazz at Lincoln Center and the U.S. State department for organizing this tour, supporting jazz and keeping us safe. And of course my wife Lilla. We've been apart for 4 weeks and in our emails and conversations she has encouraged me to be present with every experience while here and also to come home to her so we can be together. I love you Lilla.
Talk to you from the States...Mark
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