Friday, September 23, 2011

Africa, oh Africa

Damny: Djibouti Africa

Last night we played at the home of the US Ambassador to Djibouti. She hosted a gathering in her garden for local business leaders, service men & women, embassy personnel and of course the JRB.

We set up on the veranda and were introduced by our amazing new friend and caretaker, Omar. He remarked that America is made up of immigrants from all over the globe and that we forged a unique American art form, Jazz. You can hear in it the call and response and its pulse, the heartbeat of Africa.
In that moment I felt so blessed to be here in Africa, playing music and breathing in her sweet salted sea-breeze. I have to pinch myself sometimes, because this is such a dream to play this music here in Africa where these rhythms were forged.

We played for an hour and everyone listened and participated in some call and response. A new friend was busy sketching us as we played.

We handed out CD's to our new friends and are looking forward to seeing them all on FB. We are so lucky to meet such beautiful, charming and interesting people from all over the world. The people of Djibouti and the US Embassy here, have opened their arms to us.

Me & a mosquito bracelet

After the concert, Omar took us to an amazing French style Lebonese resturaunt. Here we met other emmbassy friends from all over the States. We had whole fish grilled in a
stone pit oven over wood embers.

Bon Appetite :)

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