RHYTHM GRIOTS: A Documentary Proposal
presented by Tony Vacca, founder and director of World Rhythms™
(griot - in African culture, a tribal oral historian, poet, mediator, and musician)
Over the course of the 20th century, Americans have become a more diverse multi-culti people. We have gone from being predominately white and rather intolerant of "others" to being predominantly a population other than white Europeans. In a sense we've grown to be more like the world around us. We, all of us, are getting closer, we are literally living in greater proximity to a much greater diversity of human beings. This proximity begins the process of greater intimacy with one another, and most definitely requires an appreciation for our treasure of diversity if we are to live and flourish together. Our project is about African and American musicians building common musical/cultural ground for their respective worlds. We want to use our collaboration to demonstrate not only how we create ways of working together, but as a model for cross-cultural possibilities.
RHYTHM GRIOTS will be an hour-long video documentary chronicling a unique exchange between American and Senegalese musicians. It is based upon the five-year collaboration and friendship between Afro-Pop superstar Baaba Maal, his master talking drum player Massamba Diop, and American born percussionist Tony Vacca. Rhythm Griots will tell the story of how their music creates a multi-culti common ground between the many people of their respective homelands, and the power of this music to help build a global community.
This documentary will follow Tony Vacca and the other American members of his World Rhythms™ ensemble. We'll see the musicians rehearsing, creating compositions together, and in performance at sights throughout Senegal's capital city of Dakar. We'll see their arrival and departure, we'll visit the homes of Massamba Diop and Baaba Maal. Of special interest will be the on going exchange between the American and Senegalese musicians, as they teach each other, as they use the many African sources and sensibilities which set the stage for much of American jazz and rock music, and as they apply what they know to find common ground.
We'll be in the land of the Wolof, Fulani, Serer, and Sarakole peoples. Senegal itself is a land of many traditions, and the confluence of cultures is an essential part of this journey. The treasure and challenge of so many traditions and peoples finding common expression in music is at the heart of the purpose of this trip. It's a model for the possibilities and profound effects of building a global community through music, one person at time.
In this documentary we'll see these musicians search for ways of making effective exciting music together. We'll watch them try to solve the aesthetic and cultural dilemmas that will inevitably arise, and witness how they help themselves and each other. National and international issues of race, identity, culture and history will play a part in their efforts to work together. Presiding over this scene will be Baaba Maal, whose invitation to Senegal set all of these forces in motion.
As part of the World Rhythms™ commitment to school children on both sides of the Atlantic, they will be visiting village, city, public, and religious schools in Senegal. Throughout the journey, they plan to be in touch, on-line, on a daily basis with students in schools all over the United States, sharing their cultural adventures. Personal interviews with the musicians and with students will be shared across the miles.
The members of the World Rhythms entourage will travel to Goree Island, just off the coast of Senegal. Goree was the sight of departure for many West Africans into the chains and horrors of slavery that awaited them in the European colonies of the "New World." This trip will give the Americans an opportunity to address in a personal and visceral way, aspects of their own history and culture that their music and their diverse ethnicity illustrates. It's one thing to think of such matters.... it's something else to stand together on the soil of Goree Island.
In addition to concerts with Baaba Maal, the World Rhythms™ entourage will be going to neighborhood dance parties, block parties that take place in the small side streets of Dakar's many neighborhoods. This will be a very up-close-and-personal experience, and provide a good look into the contemporary city versions of celebrations and ceremonies that have always been an essential part of African societies.
Phase two, Massamba Diop's visit to America: A five week tour with World Rhythms™ in the Spring of 1999. This final chapter will bring the journey full circle. Jointly, Massamba and World Rhythms™ will perform in concerts throughout the US, and will visit schools, doing hands-on workshops and performances with elementary, middle school, high school and college students. Of special significance will be visits to their partner schools who joined in with the on-line outreach program during the trip. There will be discussions about the music, about the cultures of America and Senegal, about issues of race, and the challenge of finding common ground while remaining true to who we are. All participating schools will receive a copy of the documentary video and a special video featuring Senegalese students as educational tools and points of reference for future projects.
BIOGRAPHIES
BAABA MAAL: Imagine it's 1975. The West African Nation of Senegal has just regained it's independence from France, and along with many of it's neighbors sets out to redefine it's place in the international community. Social, political and economic changes test the resilience and integrity of Senegal's many peoples. Tradition is set against innovation, the young can't grasp the values espoused by the old, and city life seems at odds with the traditions of the village.
In this charged climate Baaba Maal travels from his home village of Podor to the capital of Dakar to form his Daande Lenol Orchestra. The group's name means "Voice of the People," and his music combines ancient traditions and values with a hot contemporary sound. Baaba Maal studies at the Conservatory for Music in Paris, and tours literally around the world. Then he again returns home to apply what he has learned, using his distinctly Senegalese voice and his powerful pan-African attitude to address and unite a global community. His Daande Lenol Orchestra reflects this approach in that it contains players from many of Senegal's diverse ethnic groups.
He speaks of respecting elders, working together, and being "true to your word," and unites young and old, city and village with his music. Baaba Maal is much more than the Afro-pop superstar that he has become. He is a voice of reason and national pride, a voice for tolerance and awareness, a voice for cooperation and compassionate embracing of common ground.
MASSAMBA DIOP: One of the first members of Baaba Maal's band some twenty-two years ago, Massamba is the "Tama Doctor", the rhythmic soul of Daande Lenol whose job it is to lead the entire band and the audience into a irresistible, spirited dancing mode. He plays the tama drum, or "talking" drum, which speaks in the cadences of the Wolof and Fulani language. Everyone who has ever seen Baaba Maal's band in concert remembers Massamba Diop; his smiling face, his inviting presence, and his incredible playing. Massamba has spent a lifetime playing the tama drum, and takes his place among generations of his family before him who have done the same.
TONY VACCA: My work as a drummer/percussionist is organized around the power of the drum and its music; how it sets the stage for our storytelling, and provides a means of building strength and courage in the context of a global community. Rhythm is our heartbeat. It's the cycle of life that embraces us, and the sound of a slow drum that accompanies our pain. It's the first cadence of speech and song. Rhythm is a story in sound that reveals our imagination, and celebrates our power. It's the multi-culti common ground of the human family.
Since 1993 my production company, World Rhythms™, has organized the details of making this work possible and successful by coordinating the schedules of the many musicians involved, and facilitating the visas and travel arrangements for our international projects, including aspects of his work with Baaba Maal and Massamba Diop of Senegal.
This current project RHYTHM GRIOTS builds upon my five year long friendship and collaboration with Baaba Maal and Massamba Diop. Over these past five years I've traveled to Senegal twice, been part of several live concerts and television specials with Baaba Maal and his group, Daande Lenol. During that time I've worked and studied with tama drum master, Massamba Diop, and I've hosted four tours that brought Massamba to America. Each one has been an artistic and financial success, and each one has elicited such strong responses that Massamba has become a permanent member of the World Rhythms™ ensemble.