CITYFOLK MONTHLY - December 2006

Even by the grim standards of modern Africa, the central African nation of Rwanda has seen more than its share of misery. The Republic of Rwanda is a poor rural country, with an estimated 90% of the population engaged in subsistence agriculture. It is also the most densely populated country in Africa—8.6 million people shoehorned into an area slightly smaller than the state of Maryland. The country is best known internationally for a brutal civil war in the early 1990s that included the horrific 1994 genocide of nearly 1,000,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus documented in the film Hotel Rwanda.

Rwanda is a land-locked country bordered by Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The capital is Kigali, a city of almost one million people. A former colony of Germany (1895-1918) and later Belgium, Rwanda gained its independence in 1962. The population is split between two major ethnic groups, the Hutu (84%) and the Tutsi (15%), and Islam is the country’s fastest-growing religion.

The preservation and dissemination of traditional culture, arts and music face special challenges in an environment like Rwanda, where the median age is 18 and the life expectancy just longer than 47 years. Folk culture depends on oral transmission, with one generation passing its artistic legacy to the next, and oral transmission depends on elders. There are no elders in Rwanda; only 2% of the population is older than 64. It also depends on unbroken communication between the generations, and that also no longer exists in Rwanda, as an entire generation of young adults has been wiped out by AIDS.

Despite its troubles, however, Rwanda has a long history of traditional music and dance, which really can’t be separated. The most famous tradition is Ikinimba, a dance that tells the stories of Rwandan kings and heroes. The dance is usually accompanied by percussion and stringed instruments, including the inanga, an instrument something like a lyre that has been played by a number of prominent Rwandan musicians.

Traditional songs, which described not only epic battles and hunts but also more mundane pursuits like cooking roots, were historically accompanied by the solo lulunga, a harp-like instrument with eight strings. Social and celebratory dances that were more community oriented generally featured percussion ensembles with six to 10 members.

Before the civil war, Rwanda was home to such popular bands as Les 8 Anges, Imena, Nyampinga, Impala, Les Fellows, Abamarungu, Ingenzi and Los Compagnons de la Chanson. These bands played a local rock style that blended a variety of African sounds with reggae and zouk from the Caribbean. Many of these musicians moved to Brussels and Paris or elsewhere in Africa when the war began, but the domestic music scene is gradually coming back together.

Jean Paul Samputu, who will appear with his dance and percussion ensemble Ingeli (pictured above and at right) at U.D.’s Boll Theater February 1, has been hailed by Afropop Worldwide as “the first Rwandan musician to establish true international visibility.” A survivor of the 1994 genocide—though he lost both parents and four siblings—Samputu has recorded 10 solo albums, the most recent of which is Testimony from Rwanda (2004). He won the prestigious Kora Award for Best African Traditional Artist in 2003.

Samputu’s music is a good introduction to the modern interpretation of the traditional music and dance of Rwanda. His sound blends elements of traditional styles from the several regions of Rwanda, with soukous, Rwandan 5/8, Afropop, the music of the pygmies (the Twa people), rhumba, Jamaican reggae, gospel music from the U.S. and music from neighboring Uganda, Burundi and the Congo.

Anthology of World Music: Africa—Music from Rwanda, released in 1999 by Rounder, is an informative and accessible survey of the unvarnished traditional roots of modern Rwandan music. Field recordings made in the mid-1950s for UNESCO, these cuts illustrate Hutu, Tutsi and Twa traditions, with a variety of solo and group vocals and instrumentals played on shepherd’s flute, the thumb piano (likembe in the local parlance), stringed instruments and various kinds of drums.

Ralph Stanley with President & Mrs. Bush

If you need another reason to go see Ralph Stanley in the double bill with Larry Sparks at the Dayton Masonic Center on January 20, consider the latest notch in his belt as the most significant historical figure in bluegrass music today. The legendary bluegrass singer and banjo player was honored for his lifetime contributions to American music on November 9 when he was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President George W. Bush in a White House ceremony. The National Medal of Arts--the highest award given to artists by the United States government--has been awarded annually since 1985. Previous recipients of this award from the field of country music include Roy Acuff, Earl Scruggs, Doc Watson, Bill Monroe and Eddy Arnold.

Ralph Stanley, who will appear with his band The Clinch Mountain Boys, is one of the very few figures from the “first generation” of bluegrass performers still performing and recording. The Grammy-winning bluegrass patriarch is among the most important traditional American musicians of the 20th century and a major influence on countless musicians, from Bob Dylan and Beck to Bela Fleck.

Stanley was born in 1927 in Dickenson County in southwestern Virginia, an area rich in country stringband music. He and his older brother Carter, who sang lead vocals and played guitar, learned old-time mountain music from their mother, from the radio and from records by such popular acts as Mainer’s Mountaineers and G.B. Grayson and Henry Whitter. When the Stanleys first heard Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys in the mid-1940s, they immediately shifted their musical focus to the new sound pioneered by Monroe.

The Stanley brothers turned professional in 1947, when they made their recording debut for Rich-R-Tone, a small record company in Johnson City, Tennessee. Over the course of the next two decades, the Stanley Brothers became one of the top bluegrass bands in the U.S. The Stanley Brothers played a key role in introducing bluegrass to a young, urban audience during the folk revival of the early 1960s, appearing on TV with Pete Seeger and performing on college campuses, including an concert at Antioch College in nearby Yellow Springs. The pair were inducted into the International Bluegrass Hall of Honor in 1992.

After Carter Stanley’s death in 1966, Ralph Stanley launched his career as a bandleader, with a young guitar-playing lead singer named Larry Sparks at his side.This new band had a more archaic, mountain sound than did the Stanley Brothers, and it was quickly embraced by bluegrass fans. A major attraction on the bluegrass festival circuit, Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys recorded literally dozens of popular albums during the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. A number of prominent country and bluegrass performers got their start in Stanley’s band, including Larry Sparks, Ricky Skaggs, the late Keith Whitley, Charlie Sizemore and Ron Thomason of Dry Branch Fire Squad.

Ralph Stanley’s career received an unexpected boost with the success of the 2000 film O Brother Where Art Thou?, which featured Stanley’s haunting a cappella performance of “O Death” in a key scene. Without the benefit of commercial radio airplay, the film’s soundtrack sold an astounding six million copies, topped the pop and country album charts and won three Grammy Awards, including “Best Male Country Vocal Performance” for Ralph Stanley. It was the first time a bluegrass singer was so honored.

At age 74, Ralph Stanley is bigger than ever. He won another Grammy the following year and is still recording. His newest album, A Distant Land to Roam: Songs of the Carter Family, was released in May 2006 by Sony and was just nominated for a Grammy award. An album of gospel music, titled Shine On, was released by Rebel Records in 2005.

Want to learn more?

MATERIAL CULTURE KEY INGREDIENTS: Lebanese Food in Dayton

Food is one thing that draws ethnic groups together. The aroma of traditional dishes cooking, the cultural heritage that is passed down through the generations along with the recipes and techniques, and the fellowship that comes while eating together are all things that can recreate home for immigrants, and tie all of us to our ancestors.

Sharing food traditions is one way that ethnic groups reach out to others. Those tasty aromas and wonderful flavors can build bridges of understanding. Over the last several years, various ethnic communities in Dayton have done through holding cultural festivals during the summer months, including the Lebanese.

Presented by the St. Ignatius of Antioch Maronite Catholic Church, the Lebanese Festival celebrated its thirteenth year in 2006. Originally, it began as a small event at the church, but as it got bigger it needed to be moved to another venue. The festival was moved briefly to the Polish Club before eventually coming to the RiverScape MetroPark in downtown Dayton in 2003. In the words of Marilyn Zaidain, “Every time Lebanese people get together, there is always food and always dancing,” and the Lebanese Festival is a strong example of this. The purpose of the festival is to showcase different elements of Lebanese culture for the general public, including live music, dancing, and food. The festival serves as a gathering place for the Lebanese community in Dayton and is attended by many non-Lebanese people who come to enjoy the festival as well. [The photo is of the Alhambra Dance Troupe performing at the festival].

The menu includes a variety of typical Lebanese foods, including kafta, kebbe, garlic chicken, shawarma, falafel, chicken and rice, lubyi, fattoush (pictured here), stuffed grape leaves, tabouli, hummus b’tahini, spinach pie, pastries, and fresh mountain bread made on site. In order to make enough food, festival volunteers start cooking a couple months in advance. In doing so, they recreate, in some ways, the atmosphere of 'kebbe Sundays' in the church, which no longer happen regularly. Joan Ste. Marie remembers kebbe Sundays, where after Mass everybody would enjoy a meal of kebbe cooked by the women of the church. Now, in the months leading up to the festival, members of the church go down to the basement after Mass to help prepare the food. For example, one week they made kafta, using 200 pounds of meat to make 700-800 kafta. In helping with the food, people are not just providing labor but reinforcing a sense of community. Men take part in this activity as well, but their major contribution to the foods in the festival is the meat. The men take pride in the marinating of the meat, and they jokingly refer to themselves as the “shawarma kings.”

Food clearly plays a significant role in the experience of the Lebanese community, though the functions of the foods and the specific foods themselves have shifted over time. Joan Ste. Marie remembers that when she was little, all the women in her family would meet up on Saturday night and cook, rolling grape leaves and preparing kusha, a type of squash, for Sunday morning dinner: “This is what you did on Saturday night.” Similarly, Jim Zaidain recalls his mother telling him that on Sundays, you could not go anywhere in the neighborhood without smelling kebbe (pictured here), because everybody made kebbe for Sunday dinner. The women would also get together and make traditional bread called mountain bread for the month.

Each village in Lebanon has its own way of cooking foods to which people remain loyal even after they leave that village. One man in the community has a story about how when his father first came to Dayton, he used to write to New York with a list of what the women wanted him to buy, since there was no place in Dayton for people to buy exactly what they wanted. This was how women got supplies and spices from their specific villages. People would also go out and butcher lambs because lamb was not sold at meat markets. (There were, however, some exceptions to this. William Thomas’ parents had a butcher in the City Market who would butcher lamb just for them and drop it off on his way to work). Today, supplies and spices are easier to obtain, and many shop at Hillel’s, a store run by Iraqi Muslims, on Dorothy Lane south of town.

People in Dayton can now also get traditional Lebanese foods from Cedar Land Bakery and Restaurant, a family-owned restaurant that opened in the spring of 2006. The owners, Elias and Claire Daoud, are from Lebanon, and are helped by Claire’s sister and their children. Foods on the menu include shawarma beef sandwiches, shawarma chicken sandwiches, shish kebab sandwiches, kebbe, falafel, pita bread, spinach pies, hummus, baba ghannouj (pictured here), fattoush, tabouli salad, grape leaves, and pastries (fillo dough filled with pistachio, walnuts, dates, or other fillings).

The restaurant has several non-Lebanese customers, but it serves as a gathering place for Lebanese people in Dayton. The Lebanese community used to live in a more centralized location near Miami Valley Hospital providing a greater sense of cohesion, but people have since spread out. According to several members of the congregation of St. Ignatius of Antioch Maronite Catholic Church, what is nice about Cedar Land is that it provides a place for people to meet. They say that the church is the center of the Lebanese community, and the restaurant works like the church by keeping the community together during the week.

Want a taste of things to come?

PROFILE BEHIND THE SCENES: Partnership with the University of Dayton Continues to Grow

When Cityfolk collaborated with the University of Dayton’s Arts Series to create the World Rhythms Series in 2003, we knew it could become an important part of Dayton’s vibrant cultural arts landscape. Since that time we have presented three exceptional artists from around the world each year, providing quality arts experiences to the community that otherwise would not have existed. And while we are proud of our accomplishments, Cityfolk and the University of Dayton recognize that an opportunity exists to grow the World Rhythm Series partnership and deepen the level of participation between international artists, students and the community.

Over the past year, Cityfolk has worked with representatives from the University’s Arts Series Office, ArtStreet, and Center for International Programs to develop ideas that will maximize participation from both the student population and the community. The group envisioned activities including not only musical instruction, but also lectures and discussions about issues pertaining to history, art, culture and politics. The ultimate goal is to use the World Rhythms artist residency as a way to explore connections between the arts, student curriculum, and the community at large. The first event of the expanded World Rhythms Series will be a one week residency featuring Rwandan master musician Jean Paul Samputu in January of 2007. Samputu sings in six different languages and performs a fusion of Rwandan dance and music, soukous (a rumba-like West African dance music), and Afro-beat. In addition to conducting music workshops, Samputu--who is also a respected human rights activist--will talk about his country’s troubled history and rich cultural traditions with students and the community.

Ultimately, the partnerhip’s goal is to connect all World Rhythm Series artists with a variety of participants. Therefore, in 2007-2008 the partnership hopes to produce three in-depth residencies offering the highest quality intercultural educational experiences available. Cityfolk and the University of Dayton are currently seeking funding from a variety of sources to support this exciting new work.

I grew up in a white middle class neighborhood in Lexington, Kentucky, so how the music of a black gospel singer from Louisiana became a staple of the Harris family Christmas tradition, I’ll never know. But for as long as I can remember, Mahalia Jackson’s recording, Silent Night, Holy Night, has been as important a part of my family’s Christmas celebration as my mother’s roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, the sad little aluminum foil-wrapped star that tops our Christmas tree, and the sharing of gifts on Christmas Eve.

Silent Night Holy Night includes spectacular performances of some of the most treasured Christmas songs, including "Joy to the World", "O Little Town of Bethlehem", and even "White Christmas". But it is Mahalia’s magnificent voice and soul-stirring renditions coupled with beautiful arrangements and outstanding backing musicians that make this a recording that has maintained its place as a standard since its release in 1962.

Mahalia Jackson was born in New Orleans in 1911 and after the death of her mother when Mahalia was only five, she was raised by her extended family, some of whom made extra money by performing waltzes, polkas and mazurkas at parties for the New Orleans elite. But it wasn’t until Mahalia moved to Chicago in the mid-1930s that her musical career flowered. In the forties and fifties Mahlia became known as the greatest gospel singer ever, a title many say she still holds despite the fact that she died nearly 35 years ago.

Mahalia rarely veered from her musical roots in the Baptist church, and her recordings over the years reflect her devotion to the hymns and spirituals that grew from that religious tradition. But it’s also clear that her upbringing in New Orleans in the midst of Mardi Gras and the dance halls of the French Quarter at the very time that legends like Louis Armstrong, King Oliver and Jelly Roll Morton got their start had a profound impact on her interpretation of the gospel repertoire. In fact, Mahalia’s most vocal critics were the members of the traditional black churches, many of whom felt that her intense, emotional and expressive performances were not suitable for church worship.

In retrospect, perhaps the place that this recording holds in my family tradition is not so surprising after all. It’s a common theme in the traditional arts: an artist takes the deepest part of who they are – the traditions that define them – and uses those traditions as the basis for a new way of expressing their art by combining it with all that surrounds them. The result is a powerful new form of expression that reaches the most unexpected places, like the Harris family Christmas celebration a thousand miles away by road, but on the other side of the planet culturally.

But regardless of its cultural significance, Silent Night Holy Night is a must-have recording for anyone looking to add moving versions of the old Christmas standards to their collection that stand up to the test of time.

Dorothy Lane Market logo Did you know that you can contribute to Cityfolk just by shopping for groceries and floral arrangements? You can if you shop at Dorothy Lane Market! Just take a moment to sign up for their Good Neighbor program and name Cityfolk as the non-profit organization you'd like to benefit. The Market keeps track of your purchases, and once you've spent $250, 1% of your purchases will be rebated to Cityfolk (with a maximum total donation of $75,000 to all charitable organizations). So go ahead, buy that killer brownie!

From time to time, stories on NPR, in the New York Times and in other places catch the eye (or ear) of the Cityfolk staff. These are stories about traditional music, handicrafts, ways of life...stories that deepen our understanding and appreciation for the folkways of the world. We will keep bringing as much of this to Dayton as we can; in the meantime, take a listen to this:

If you find a story that you'd like to share with other Cityfolk ENews readers, please send us the link and we'll put it the hopper for possible inclusion.

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