Since the Sunday night concert at Wits University went so late, we got so sleep in today. At 10:00, we boarded the bus for a tour of Pretoria. We started at Freedom Park, which is built on a hill overlooking the city. It is a series of memorials, museums, and walking trails that cover the hilltop. A park guide brought us through the sites. There was a Vietnam War memorial-type wall of the names of all the people killed in South Africa’s eight wars and conflicts. There was a circle of standing stones, one from each region of the country, surrounding a steaming central stone circle. This was a spiritual site dedicated to fallen South Africans and we had to remove our shoes and cover our heads before visiting it as a sign of respect.

We had lunch at Huckleberry’s restaurant, which served very large portions. The breaded mushrooms and roasted chicken were especially good. While waiting for food, we went to the adjacent park to test out some playground equipment which is probably banned at home.

Then we went to the Voortrekker monument, which honors the Boers who retreated from British rule from the coasts to inland areas. They traveled in covered wagons and seemed very similar to the people who traveled the Oregon Trail. The monument itself is a marble atrium on top of another hill decorated with friezes of the events of the treks. There were great views from the top of the monument of the surrounding garden, game reserve, and Pretoria. The final ride took us to the government buildings in Pretoria. We saw the presidential building, which was where Francois Peinaar (Matt Damon) met Nelson Mandela in “Invictus.” Finally, we drove past the US embassy (not McDonalds, the real one). It is a very ugly building, especially when compared to the other embassies on the Embassy Row. After a dinner that was definitely not fast food, we did our laundry, and went to bed, exhausted from the long day. We can all agree that we’re having a BLAST!

Half the group woke up at about 7:45 at the game reserve to go on the first 9:00 Safari. We ate breakfast and got ready by 8:45. Our driver was named Johannes and he really knew what he was doing. He got us really close to the animals. The first animals we saw were two giraffes, one male and one female. We saw them eating a bush on the top of the hill. Johannes got us about 20 feet away and we got some great pictures. We then went to the predators part of the reserve where we saw lions and cubs. They mostly just laid around and yawned and we got some more great pictures. Johannes then drove us out of the lion part and into the plains. The first animals we saw were Spring Boks. We also saw ground squirrels, antelope, wildebeest, zebras, impalas, and many types of bugs and butterflies.

After seeing all of these animals in about 2 hours, we went back to camp and played on the playground and had impromptu photo shoots until the other group, who went at 11, got back. Cathy and Marcy arrived and the whole group went to a Braai with lamb and amazing bread.

We were then sent to have an hour of rest which I ended up enjoying thoroughly. When the hour was over we had about half an hour until we had to go to a freezing rehearsal with Ms. G., Cathy and Marcy, and the monkeys. We had dinner inside the lodge. We then got ready for bed and eventually all went to sleep.

Mike was enthusiastic about “next generations” who embraced old time music from both traditional and innovative points of view. Two young players on this year’s festival are perfect examples. FRANK FAIRFIELD makes his first Washington, DC appearance. Hear him play “Nine Pound Hammer” like an old timer from the past on youtube.

ADAM HURT’s‘s elegantly innovative clawhammer style has made him a young star in today’s old time music scene. He’s won just about every significant contest, but more importantly brings a style all his own that still beautifully embraces the tradition.

TONY TRISCHKA’s contributions to banjo from minstrel sounds through contemporary bluegrass styles have influenced thousands of players from Bela Fleck to Steve Martin. His new TONY TRISCHKA SCHOOL OF BANJO continues the thread of exploring and teaching.

CHEICK HAMALA DIABATE plays the ngoni from his home country of Mali along with the banjo and guitar. A beautiful singer, composer and griot, his music will mesmerize.

What are Cathy & Marcy up to banjo-wise?
Cello Banjo, Tenor Banjo, Five String Banjo, Melody Banjo- we love them all and are practicing some new tunes/songs as well as our parts for the BIG BANJO ORCHESTRA, which will include TONY, CATHY, MARCY ADAM & hopefully even a BANJO BASS from the late 1800′s restored by Kevin Enoch.
Here’s a fun youtube video of Cathy & Marcy in BANJOLAND for all ages.

Join the BANJOFEST fun:
July 17
Old Time Banjo Contest- 11am @ Takoma Park, MD Gazebo
Contest and mini-concert free to audience. Winner gets a Kevin Enoch TRADESMAN Banjo. Sign up in advance or at the Gazebo at 11am.
Birchmere Music Hall @ 7:30pm- full concert
July 18: WORKSHOPS @ House of Musical Traditions with Tony, Adam, Cathy & Marcy
More info on the whole festival at www.oldtimebanjofestival.com

Robbie also took the time to jam with us in the XM Parking lot! Watch the video clip at the end of the interview.

C&M – ROBBIE, YOU ARE PART OF A FABULOUS BAND, EDDIE FROM OHIO. GREAT SONGS, HARMONIES AND SPIRIT. YOUR SOLO WORK HAS FOCUSED MORE ON FAMILY MUSIC. CAN YOU TALK ABOUT ADDING THAT DIMENSION TO YOUR MUSICAL WORK?

Robbie- Hi Cathy and Marcy. I fell into family music a bit by “accident” (and there are no accidents). I had been teaching music once a week at my son’s preschool when Julie Wells, the lead singer in Eddie From Ohio, was diagnosed with breast cancer. All of a sudden, our winter tour was canceled, our future was uncertain, and I found myself wondering what I’d be when I grew up. I decided that it would be as good a time as any to try to record a children’s CD. I did, and that eventually led me to an on-air gig at Kids Place Live. I found that I really loved making and sharing music for and with families and kids. There’s a purity to it for me. It is so often less about performance and more about communication–sharing music and stories. For me it ends up being more about the essence of the thing. I still very much enjoy playing with EFO and performing my own “grown-up” solo material, but with music for kids and families there’s a lightness of being that comes with playing music at such an essential level that I’m really drawn to. By the way, Julie is fully recovered and doing well these days.

C&M – WHAT GAVE YOU THE IDEA FOR OneVoice AND WHAT EXACTLY ARE THE GOALS?

Robbie-OneVoice came about in June of 2009. I was sitting with Kenny Curtis, my boss at Sirius XM and he was saying, “so where do you want to move creatively with your show in the next year?”. Great question, right? And I told him I didn’t know for sure but I felt that as a channel that reaches anywhere from 500,000 to a million listeners per week, we had an incredible amount of power, and with that power an incredible responsibility to do more than just entertain. I wasn’t sure how to do that, but I had long wanted to play music with kids in Africa, having seen my friend (and fabulous musician) Samite do just that. Samite is from Uganda but has lived in the U.S. for about 25 years or so. He goes back and plays for kids in refugee camps and orphanages every now and then. Anyway, Kenny practically leapt out of his chair and said, “that’s what we should do–we should send you to Africa!”. I was shell-shocked. I mean, Sirius XM is a big corporation, but they don’t just send a kids’ DJ to Africa because he feels like it. The short of it is that within the next two weeks or so, a more specific idea revealed itself: to help to create and cultivate peace and cultural awareness through musical sister-school relationships between kids abroad and kids here in the U.S. Kind of like musical pen pals whose “conversation” would then be broadcast to our audience.

Talk about fun and energizing–this just lit me up! We still didn’t know how we’d do it, where we’d go, or where the money would come from, but you know, all that is really needed is to set your own intention and the rest will come. Sure enough, within a couple of weeks, I was headed to Uganda to visit with the Brain Tree school. I went with a freelance videographer, Tom Hommeyer, whom I had never met, and who donated his time and talents. It was, of course, an unforgettable experience. Upon returning I knew that I needed to continue this kind of work. It’s what I’m here for. And yet, I couldn’t expect Sirius XM to keep sending me all over the world. So, since then I’ve been working to create OneVoice as it’s own organization to support this work in the future.

PLEASE TELL US ABOUT 1 OR 2 OF YOUR EXPERIENCES IN UGANDA THAT HAVE INSPIRED YOU TO MAKE THE COMMITMENT TO CREATING AN ORGANIZATION THAT WILL SUPPORT THIS WORK.

Two that stand out are “The Avocado Tree” and “The Security Guard”. I’ll start with the latter. While at Brain Tree, I would gather separately with each class of kids in an unfinished schoolroom. The room had open squares in the walls for windows, a concrete floor, and not much else. The kids would come and sing their hearts out. But as each class would sing, other children would wander over from their classrooms or from the library and peek in the windows–even if their class had just been singing with me minutes earlier! They couldn’t help but be drawn to the music–in Uganda music is a very communal thing. Anyway, as at most schools over there, there was a gate and an armed security guard who, as you might imagine, never smiles and whose job is to look as imposing as possible. It’s quite noticeable since everyone else in Uganda seems to smile all the time. On my last day there I was teaching the kids “Do, Re, Mi” from The Sound of Music. They had never heard this music and were just loving it. We were going over it again and again so we could perform it for Muzzei Mukasa (who founded the school with his wife Agnes) when, out of the corner of my eye I saw the security guard, leaning in one of the open windows, mouthing the words to the song–learning Do, Re, Mi–with such intent and interest. It was so beautiful to see this tough imposing man inexorably drawn to the music. I think that’s when I realized that this music is for everyone. I know this is so trite, but the language is truly universal, not just across countries and cultures, but across generations.

Ok. Second story. I think it’s best told from the blog I wrote while I was there. This is at the end of our last day at Brain Tree . . . . They called us to the front of the school at about 5pm. The kids were all gathered and there were two holes in the ground and two baby avocado trees. To be planted in our names (mine and Tom the cameraman). Knock me over with a feather. I placed mine in the ground and filled it with dirt and watered it. The whole school was singing and cheering. They do this thing in Swahili where they rub their hands together and say “asanti asan to you” (or something like that) and clap six times. It’s their way of giving thanks to you. When they say “to you”, you are supposed to put out your hands with your palms up and bring them to your heart to receive the thanks. We did this over and over. And then we said goodbye to the kids. I choked up so many times I lost count. Some gave us colored pictures, some letters. I stood there not talking. Not even a little. There is so much to learn about living. Just as we, in the U.S., are certainly rich in ways that most Ugandans are not, they are rich in so many ways that we are not. This was not hospitality, it was love. Ugandans seem to live close to the essence of life, and while that can include violence and chaos rarely seen in our country, it also reveals itself in an outpouring of love–for people, the earth, and yes, music–that is equally rare. I think that if I can bring the richness of what I experienced and learned in Uganda to children literally halfway across the world in North America–and vice versa–then that’s a meaningful day’s work.

HOW CAN KIDS AND FAMILIES HERE GET INVOLVED, BOTH ON THEIR OWN, AND IN SUPPORT OF OneVoice?

Good question because I very much feel that this is and will be a collective creation. The more people investing their energy, the better. That said, since OneVoice, as an official organization, is still developing, the best thing to do would be to sign up on my mailing list (www.robbieschaefer.com) and I’ll keep everyone up to date on the shape of things. In the meantime, I say, SHARE MUSIC. Sing with your family, begin learning an instrument, make up a song in the car–do whatever you can to bring more music into your community and the world.

THANKS TO ROBBIE SCHAEFER for his music and inspiration. CATCH HIM THIS SUMMER LIVE, ON HIS RADIO SHOW, “ROBBIE SCHAEFER’S BANDWAGON” ON KIDS PLACE LIVE–SIRIUS XM CHANNEL 116, OR ON RECORDING. LET’S MAKE OUR WORLD BIGGER AND SMALLER AT THE SAME TIME!
Here we are having a lunchtime jam at XM’s parking lot.