I’m embarking today on a mission. A noble mission? Perhaps. A mission likely to succeed . . . ? There’s no website choice. There will be peril, yes, but there is also no choice. This is a mission All Around This World and I simply must, and will, accomplish.
The mission is to create a work of interactive audio art that fully engages young children and their families in the appreciation of people, countries and cultures from all corners if Africa. The Africa season of All Around This World classes is coming, and I’ve begun to record a fully instrumented version of the in-class CD.
This is no small venture; Africa is no small continent. In the service of AATW’s mission to provide its students of all ages a formidable introduction to the most inspiring and indispensable forms of music from whatever region we’ve chosen to “visit” that season, I sourced, translated and rearranged songs from all parts of the continent in about thirty distinct African genres. As I did with the AATW Latin America CD—soon to be available for you and your kids to spin at a kitchen counter top CD player near you—I plan to shepherd forth recordings of each of these songs using accurate instruments and whenever possible, native-language vocalists as well. For the next few months AATW and I will have our sights set on this inadvisably ambitious work. I won’t stop pressing forward until it comes to life.
