FRIDAY ADDENDUM
mbira when i should have been writing this morning
did my first straight thru performance piece, good lick
FRIDAY
god help me i dont believe im doing this
i got to get this novel done and obsession
is the only thing that will do it but everyday
im giving sometHing to that mbira, apparently
i want to make music, really really
i keep trying to walk away, ive hit a trough, im not
developing in leaps now, its just a grind now
and its frustrating, i sound good to myself when
im throwing down but when i listen all i can hear
is all those misnotes, that grinding lack of grace
but im finally figuring out how to make it sound bluesy
been listening to a lot of blues piano, also note that
looking at youtube videos shows me fingering licks
but who got time for all this, i do apparently, i got
so many songs i want to steal their licks, i think the
first one will be freedom by golden gospel singers
a call and response doing the response/chorus/choir with mbira
if i pull this off, no, let me rephrase that, whatever i come up with
will work in my promiseland performance to perfection
so i am able to justify taking time to do this, once i get
the hang of it will be able to do it w/all the freedom songs
im gone, i got more to say but i got pages need clocking
but let me say this right quick, heard from bill wesley, one of folk
invented the array, responding to earlier post about fewer notes
said playing sparsely and w/restraint is the way to go, that with the
chordal multitude available its like you have unlimited power at your
fingertips but the power of restraint allows you to modulate it
and the whole bit about enhancing power thru the power of restraint
speaks to my hoodoo mystic thing and my understanding of mojo
and how i intend to use this instrument as
a magical device trancing my congregations
sparse and meditative is my goal
a confession: i bought a coke, when i get to rehearsing
oh freedom today ima be drinking jack and coke and
partaking perhaps of the sacred sacraments of jah
with oh freedom ima be channeling the blues, gospel
and the struggle, win or lose ima enjoy the ride
i know whats gon happen, ima come up w/something that
roughly sounds like it and after much frustration ima say
okay i will take that, i can work w/this
then ima refine that until its just as good
but its gon be mine, my version, my vision
my way - and in the process my mbira range will
have increased, i will have learned new tricks
i have dealt w/diversionary obsessions before
when i picked up the bluesharp, when i picked
up the kalimba, various kalimba technology leaps
like this one
in each case i have bemoaned the diversion
from getting my work done but in each case
looking back its been time well spent
that has enhanced my literary experience
and traveled me all over the world touching
crowds of follk on a level beyond language
my congregations in the house of flowers
bottomline is i really really want to make music
and this instrument will help me do it
im willing to pay my dues for that
after performance folk suggest it to me all
the time, you should do this professionally
and i have to remind them i am a writer not a musician,
i got chops but when it come to stage vs the page
the page will always win, no contest
stage is just part of my literary skill set as a pracitioner of
the afroam oral tradition but my heart belongs to the page
keep that in mind arthur over the summer
calibrate these 2 obsessions strategically
so then the reward for a good days work
will be hours of bad mbria play, such is life
no work no mbira, thats the rule
there was a storm last night, lightning bolts & thunder rolls,
my kind of weather, reminding me, i am still stormbringer
one of my names/powers in the days of my sorcerous youth, i
dont share that w/folk, sounds too much like xmen i guess and
sometimes i myself forget, but last night power was coursing thru
& today i am intoxicated w/power, best i go use some of it, best i go
clock me some pages, so this evening i can make me some music
i hear oh freedom calling me - all my love
rdoc
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