Editor’s note: This is a continuing series on Toledo International Youth Orchestra’s planned trip to Tanga. Toledo Free Press Special Sections Editor Brandi Barhite is in Africa with the group through July 9.

ZANZIBAR — The Toledo International Youth Orchestra (TIYO) visited the Dhow Countries Music Academy (DCMA) while in Zanzibar and was given a string bass to borrow.

TIYO member Cameron Morrissey could not bring his bass to Tanzania because of the cost to take it on the airplane, which was estimated to be about $5,000. He used the bass when TIYO performed at the U.S. Embassy in Tanzania on the Fourth of July-

DMCA Muecke Quinckhardt presented Morrissey with the bass — one of two basses in the country, both of which are at DCMA, she said.

TIYO Orchestra Manager Liz Villarreal said the group was thankful because East Africa does not have basses because string instruments are not part of its cultural music.

“Here it is after all of our hope and e-mails,” said Marty Morrissey, Cameron’s father who helped arrange the exchange.

TIYO is traveling on a musical mission through remote parts of Tanzania. Zanzibar is more of a tourist destination, although bathrooms and conditions throughout the island are only slightly better than the city of Dar es Salaam where a hole in the ground is common.

“It feels really good,” said Cameron when he tested out the string bass.

The bass is also being taken to the mainland of Tanzania for additional performances, thanks to DMCA.

TIYO took a tour of the music academy, which it reached via a ferry from Dar es Salaam, the capital of Tanzania. Tanga is about five hours from Dar es Salaam and the last leg of the TIYO trip.

Many of the students in the DCMA program are pursuing a career in music as an opportunity for vocational training or education, according to the school’s brochure.

Quinckhardt said the DCMA school program brings music education because increasing musical awareness of Zanzibar’s unique musical heritage is important. The brochure said the school receives many students who come for music lessons, as well as empowerment and possibly a career within the region’s tourism.

Quinckhardt said members of the school can come and borrow instruments or take lessons. The school, which is in an old stone palace, is also a place to come and practice music. The fee is 5,000 shillings for use of the instruments and space and 10,000 for lessons.

TIYO donated violins to the school to help improve its musical offerings. Quinckhardt said she would take some of them to a small village where the strings in their violins are made from bicycle brake wires.

The same day as the tour of the school, TIYO performed for the school staff and members. The concert was one of the “coolest concerts we ever had,” said Adrienne Poplawski who is a former member of TIYO and attended the trip to serve as a presenter.

The concert was under the stars on a white beach at the Mtoni Palace. Princess Sayyida Salme was the daughter of the first Sultan and lived in the palace. The Mtoni Palace Conservation Project is aiming to promote the venue as a place for weddings and concerts.

John Henry Fullen, vice president of the orchestra, said he was told this was the first string concert that some of the audience had ever seen. The sun went down so quickly that the orchestra was forced to perform in the dark with the help of candlelight and flashlights.

“I am going to have to write about this,” said Mark Minnich, assistant principal violin. “I bet there are not many people who can say they performed at a place like this.”

OPINION: We are humbled

By Brandi Barhite

Toledo Free Press Special Sections Editor

bbarhite@toledofreepress.com

Bringing music to Tanzania has been an adventure, one that has humbled us and will not be easily forgotten.

Most of us traveling with the Toledo International Youth Orchestra (TIYO) have never seen poverty so severe: hut-like homes, children on the streets, the litter, absence of traffic lights and order, mosquitoes, as well as the appalling lack of sanitation.

It would be soothing to think the locals are immune to their water and conditions. They aren’t. They develop semi-immunity, but over a lifetime, the water, the mosquitoes, which cause malaria, lead to a life expectancy of 47 years old.

While locals seem to be happy, those who know how much better it is in other countries want the same for Tanzania. I had a conversation with a hotel worker who took me to a bathroom, apologizing that this one was “not as good as the one in our rooms.” Both were bad, but I was strangely touched that he saw the positive in a very bad situation.

Sally Russ, whose is on the trip with her husband, Dr. John Russ, and his daughter, Hannah, got teary when she talked about how she has toilets in her house that they doesn’t even use. This compared to the one or two holes in a shed for an entire village.

Toilet paper and soap is a luxury in this country, even in the areas where tourism is promoted. The showers we had were a combo unit with sink, toilet and shower.

TIYO members have not complained, nor have they stopped looking out for each other this entire trip. I vomited during a rocky boat ride to swim with the dolphins in the Indian Ocean. All the children in my boat were willing to turn around without seeing a dolphin to get me back to shore. I was touched.

When I had to jump off the bus for an emergency bathroom break in a shady area of Zanzibar, one person threw me my tennis shoes so I could run as quickly as possible to the nearest hole in the ground.

Part of me knows that this group of musicians was this caring before we arrived; part of me knows that after seeing this country, we all feel guilty about complaining and not helping each other out.

When we were spending the night in Zanzibar, the electricity went out in the morning — common throughout Tanzania. We had to be up by 4:30 a.m. and it was pitch black. We came together, using flashlights, cell phones and even my lap top to leave the hotel in utter darkness.

It’s hard to know what else to write. Sometimes words really don’t exist for certain situations. It hasn’t been easy for any of us, but we keep in mind that this is two weeks of our lives. This is their country. We are leaving, but these visions will stay with us a lifetime.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 8th, 2009 at 12:46 pm and is filed under Arts and Life.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.