The past seven days have been a wild, wonderful and musically worthwhile whirlwind during which I led or was part of leading six–yes, SIX–separate recording sessions in four different locations with results that will ultimately appear on at least three different All Around This world CDs.
— Sunday, September 8th. I had never before met Jim Hamilton of Rittenhouse Sound Works in Germantown, but from the recommendation of one respected Philly musician to the next, he and his studio sounded like just the right fit for any Philadelphia recording I’d wind up doing on songs for the AATW Africa CDs. Sunday the 8th was my first foray to his basement lair. There, Jim broke out the fancy microphones and pointed them in just the right direction to capture the rhythmic excitement created by three of Philadelphia area’s top West African drummers: Ira Bond of Kùlú Mèlé African Dance & Drum Ensemble (Watch Kùlú Mèlé perform Agbekor), Richard Robinson of so many projects, such as Electric Grioland) and the unparalleled Chuck Joseph.
Observe Chuck Joseph’s notable djembe prowess:
Three songs on
— 
Tuesday, September 10th. The day began for me at 3am when I fired up skype and hoped beyond hope that the internet would be working at that exact moment in a small recording studio seven hours ahead in Kampala, Uganda. IT WAS! I was therefore, thankfully, able to connect with four Ugandan friends who spent the day recording vocals for five songs that will appear on the AATW: Africa Vol. 1 (North and East). I first met Moses Sebagabo (pictured at left), coordinator of this motley musical crew, when I visited Uganda many years ago so I could meet the Abayudaya of Mbale, Uganda’s community of African Jews. Moses was my friend and guide when I was in Uganda, and we’ve continued to be in close contact ever since, helping each other out on a variety of projects. In the studio in Kampala, Moses, guitarist and recording-engineer-to-be John Nkoola, his wife Jannipher and the aptly nicknamed, “Big David,” sang about maize in Swahili and the stars in Luganda, chanted about a frog in Tanzanian Gogo and extolled the virtues of Ugandan raspberries. Despite so many obstacles the technology worked and my Ugandan friends’ voices will be appearing on a CD player near you some time as soon as November
That’s not to say the session was easy. Far from it. We had initially scheduled the session for the previous week. In the morning on the way to the Mbale motor park to join the rest of the crew to ride to Kampala–there is no recording studio in Mbale–John was riding his motorcycle and had a head-on collision with another cyclist. John ended up in the hospital, in very serious condition.
Recording bansuri in New Jersey.
— Wednesday, September 11. My first Wednesday of classes kept me in Philadelphia so I couldn’t attend a day of recording at Kaleidoscope in New Jersey with Samir and a number of excellent musicians such as another fello named Jay, player of an Indian flute known as the bansuri. I was able to join them by Skype, though I do wish I could have been there. I’ve been hearing the results through file sharing; you’re going to love the work they did.
I got my chance at to record again in person later that evening at Jim’s Rittenhouse Sound Works with a wonderful session of North African songs led by Joe and Billy Tayoun. The Tayouns are fixtures on the Philadelphia music scene–talented, respected…dare I say beloved? :))–performing in innumerable bands over the years that have brought forth fine music from many cultures (Arabic, Turkish, Star Trek . . .). Well, I now belove them because they, oud player Roger Mgrdichian, bassist Chris Marashlian and violinist Elias Sarkar crafted beautiful renditions of “Ya Rayah,” “Arsomo Baba” and “Atas Atas” for the AATW–Africa Vol. I (North and East) CD. Meet Joe, Billy, Roger and Jim on drums in this introductory video about their current Turkish-American band, Barakaa:
And there’s more…!
— Thursday, September 12:I spent Thursday the 12th in Brooklyn with Amon and two vocalists: Ethoipian-American guitarist and vocalist Habte Awalom and New York’s preeminent Nubian-American vocalist, Alsarah.
First we sang with Habte, whose international recording successes stretch back to a series of Ethiopian hits in the ’80s. Habte performs his self-created “Ethio-American” music regularly around the U.S., singing as readily in Amharic as he does in English.
Born and raised for her eight years in Sudan, Alsarah’s family fled to Yemen to escape governmental oppression and then fled Yemen to escape civil war. Alsarah landed in the United States, and has been making beautiful Northeast African music ever since. [Watch Alsarah perform with the Nubatones:]
Alsarah graced us with vocals on two songs for the AATW: Africa Vol. 1 (North and East) CD, Ali Hassan Kuban’s exuberant Nubian wedding song, “Yo Yo Kilili,” and the recently deceased but forever legendary Zanzibari Taraab vocalist Bi Kidude’s “Suhuba Ya Dai.” Watch this jaw-droppingly wonderful performance of “Suhuba Ya Dai,” recorded when Kidude as pushing 100 years old:
Alsarah sang to wonderful backing tracks created the previous week by a band of musicians led by oud master George Ziadeh, who makes some of his very own top-level tarab. I definitely look forward to working with George again when the time comes to record AATW West Asia.
— Friday, September 13: LIBERIANS! On Friday afternoon the 13 I spent a buoyant couple hours at Rittenhouse Sound Works recording buoyant music with Fatu Gayflor and three musical Liberian friends who sang their hearts out for you, your kids, and All Around This World. Watch this video of us singing and you’ll get what I mean.
