Malawi Music Project

Just wanted to send everyone a quick Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!! I’ve been really busy these past couple months so its been hard to keep this thing updated, but I wanted to assure everyone that I’m happy, healthy, and had a great holiday season here in Malawi.
During the week of December 12-18, myself and five other volunteers put on the Second Annual Malawi Music Project. This was, without a doubt, one of the coolest things I have EVER done, and was definitely the highlight of my service here so far. Based on applications from kids all over Malawi between the ages of 13 to 23, we selected 19 students to attend the camp focusing on instrument building (using locally available materials), music theory, creativity, dancing, voice lessons, as well as how music can positively affect your life and the people around you. The group of kids had various talents/interests, but overall really enjoyed the camp and learned a lot. They even got to take home their very own homemade banjo they built during the camp. I will try to post photos with this update, but it might not work. The first day/evening we were very happy to welcome our special guest, Peter Mawanga, who is a very well known and respected professional Malawian musician to welcome the kids to camp. He was even kind enough to bring some recording equipment and lay down some tracks and make CD’s for the kids who were brave enough to sing their own songs on the first night. This was absolutely incredible for those kids because you have to remember that these kids all come from various villages and are very poor, then all of a sudden they are hangin’ out with one of the most famous Malawian musicians ever, getting pointers from him, and HE is recording THEIR SONGS FOR THEM. It would be like me going and hanging out with Eric Clapton for a day and playing my songs for him. (Amazing, but very intimidating) Regardless of the intimidation, the kids that played did great and each got to take home a CD with all the tracks on it. Anyway, during the first few days, we split the kids up into three bands who were each assigned a Peace Corps volunteer as their “band manager”. The goal was that each band would compose at least one original song with an important message and perform that song at the end of the camp in a sort of “Battle of the Bands”. I got to “manage” a great group of kids and was very impressed with their talent and attitude towards the project. It was so great to get to know them each individually and as a group and see them open up and become comfortable enough to share who they really are and bring their various contributions to the song. (Most kids here are very shy, so this was very quick progress) We also had plenty of classtime to teach them about music theory and were able to expose them to a great deal of diverse music they had never listened to before. Each PC volunteer also brought something unique to the camp and taught the groups different skills or gave them advice/ideas in order to help them achieve their desired goals with music. Our group of counselors (PC volunteers) worked wonderfully together despite our different musical interests/talents and we all stayed busy through the whole week. (And even found time to jam with each other and the kids after hours!) The camp was one of the most rewarding experiences not just of my time here, but of my entire life and I am very excited to be in charge of planning the camp next year. It was so great to get the message across that music can benefit you as a person even if you aren’t making money doing it. I tried to explain that for me, music is something that helps me through even the hardest times of life. NO MATTER WHAT I can always turn to music, and there is no better feeling than when you fully express what you feel inside through song.
So, all in all, it was a super successful week thanks to all the hard work of the kids and of course the PC volunteers as well. We set the bar pretty high for next year, and I will be looking for ways to fund the camp starting soon. Hopefully with a year to plan and fund raise we will have an even better camp at the end of this year!!
Gonna post this first, then try to upload some pics...