Curry Family News: Term 3 Letter 45

Last week was very interesting. Homer had scheduled 5 local musical groups to come in and record music.

"Here Comes The Bride ..." As soon as you read those words a tune and a situation come to mind of a clean church, bride in a white gown holding onto her father's arm. How about this? "Happy Birthday To You ..." Those words also immediately remind you of a tune and a situation that you have experienced. Movies and radio dramas use music to set themes and moods -- low, slow, deep, pounding music warns you of impending disaster and light, playful, flowing music helps you expect happiness and peace. Music does influence our perceptions of life and situations.

Most of that response to music is learned and varies according to the culture. A Malinke person would NOT think of a wedding when he heard the strains of "Here Comes The Bride". Nor would he think of a birthday party with hats and a cake when he heard "Happy Birthday To You." It follows logically then that the deep music that sounds like impending disaster to us may not have the same connotation to the Malinke person. Even the calm, happy music may not sound either calm or happy to him.

The Bible in Living Sound, which we are producing, also uses mood music to draw people into the story and make it real to them. To fit that need, we have recently had the privilege of recording local musicians playing "mood music". We asked them to play music that would make people think of weddings, of funerals, of happiness, sadness, worry and many other situations and emotions. There were a total of 45 emotions and situations that needed to be expressed in the local music.

And did they play "Here Comes The Bride" for wedding music? No. In fact their "wedding" music didn't sound like wedding music at all to us. But it did to them, and that's what counts. We believe that using local music to express ideas and emotions will bring more life into the story of salvation through BLS and will help them understand and retain the story of the gospel.

I really wanted to get some pictures of the instruments and players. So Ashley and I went down to the recording studio with digital cameras and video cameras in tow.

Each group had been given the list of 45 emotions that would be felt in certain situations (including wedding, divorce, funeral, victory, trouble, party, light-hearted, completion, funny, lazy, holy, evil, sleepy, dream, night mare,...). They were asked to play 3 short pieces (15 - 30 seconds) and 1 long piece (3 minutes) for each emotion. Once they got started, things went quickly, with only very brief pauses between pieces. It was obvious that the musicians knew what they were doing.

One group consisted of 2 balofone players and 1 drummer. Another was 2 balofone players and 2 drummers. A third had a balofone, a calabash drum and something like marachas. I missed the group that was all drummers. One group had a small, violin-like instrument and a guitar-like instrument. That was the most unique. All were professional musicians -- meaning they are hired to play for parties, organizations ... One even missed the first recording day because they were playing for Alpha Toumani Toure, the President of Mali (popularly known as A.T.T.).

The drummer and his round, calabash drum.	BLS music recording uses 2 mono mics and a stereo pair	Close up of the balophone and the balaphone players hands, mallets and wrist bangles.
When not recording, balophones wait outside. This is a view of the bottom of the balophones and the gourds for resonation.		BLS musicians playing a sort of violin and a sort of guitar.
BLS Musician plays his special 1-stringed violin.	Homer records local musicians for BLS.	Homer records local musicians for BLS. Notice he's fanning the computer.
The drummer for one of the local groups of musicians. The drum is spherical -- apparently made from a calabash gourd.	The balaphone player and drummer in one of the local musician groups recording for BLS. Notice the sweat -- the small, dark room is very hot and very humid, with no ventilation.

One noteworthy detail -- their recording studio is HOT and HUMID! It is a very small room, in a room. It has only 1 window with double panes -- designed to see the recording technician, not to let in air. There is a single fluorescent light bulb. The musicians and Denis, who was assisting, were wet. Not just beads of sweat, but puddles and streams. I stayed inside to video for awhile and was totally drenched and miserable after just a few minutes in there. I don't know how they survived it.

I couldn't discern the difference between the emotions, but Denis assured us that they were correct. Even funerals have fast, active music. Afterwards we asked a couple of groups to listen and tell us which emotion that was -- and they knew.

Homer, Denis and the Radio Folona team spent 4 afternoons recording those 5 groups. It was quite different from their usual recording of BLS French and was a nice change of style. We believe the Bible stories will be better understood and more readily accepted with local music.

On the way back home from recording, Ashley and I followed a motorcyclist carrying 2 motorcycles on the back of his motorcycle. Now that's a real load.

And here are a couple more pictures. One is a belated picture from Caleb's 10th birthday party. The other is the thermometer in our school room. Yesterday it was 109 in there. It was only 107 outside. Needless to say, we moved out of the school room in the afternoon.

That weekend we drove up to Bamako for the Polley's farewell party and to welcome Lorance Johnson and his family to Mali. The Polleys ran into a medical emergency and ended up spending their last week in Mali in the hospital. Candace was discovered to have Type 1 diabetes. Praise the Lord, it was discovered before she had a serious incident. This situation prevented the party. But we were able to visit with them and the Johnsons over the weekend in Bamako. The Polleys left Mali on April 11 and should be in the US by the evening of April 12. May God bless them as they travel and settle down to life in the United States. Please pray for the family as they go through re-entry into American life and also follow up on Candace's situation.

Lorance and Joan Johnson, along with their 3 children Daren, Daniel and Rebecca have just arrived in Mali and will be staying in the Polley's house in Kangaba. They are the new AFM supervisors for the African projects. They anticipate staying in Kangaba until the next Malinke Project family can come out. Two Student Missionaries are staying on in Kangaba, Jennifer and Bonnie, and will be able to help orient their Career Missionaries. (That's a new twist on Career Missionary and Student Missionary relations.) Please remember them in prayer this month as they go through culture shock and attempt to make Kangaba their new home.

On Sunday we took the Johnsons on a tour around Bamako. Bamako might not be considered large in comparison to other capital cities, but to us it is huge. We showed them the major thoroughfares and several major points of interest. I'm afraid they were a bit overwhelmed by the end of the tour. We hope to come back in a few weeks and show them around again. Hopefully the second time will be a bit less intimidating.

One final bit of delightful news -- the last 150 kilometers before Bamako have just been repaved! This had been the worst section of the road between Kadiolo and Bamako with potholes so bad many cars often preferred to drive partially or wholly off the pavement. It was greatly improved and cut off at least 1 hour from our trip. We made it in just 6.5 hours this time!

Yesterday morning Jason brought his neighbor over. This man is recovering from an abscess on his right index finger, and currently has an abscess on his left palm. The entire left hand is very swollen and he can barely move his fingers. The abscess had opened the night before, and it was oozing large quantities of pus. We soaked his hand in hot and cold water -- but our "cold" water was rather warm. I advised him to soak it 3 times a day to speed up the healing process. When finished, we sprinkled some amoxicilin onto the open wound and bandaged it up. I pray that God will bring healing and relief to this man in a way that brings honor to His Name.

And so is another week of life in Mali. Never boring. Not easy. Always under the care and protection of God. May God find us to be useful tools as He accomplishes His work.