Meet Me at the Infobalie

3:15
I took a ukulele to the session today. It was a last minute decision, but I wanted to give the ladies something more to follow than English directions that didn't do any good anyways. It was... dare I say... a hit! Not only did it help to clearly explain what the class would be about (during the door to door "come to class RIGHT NOW" exercise) but it also brought steady rhythm and audible notes. I was once again surprised and grateful at how many women just said "sure!". There were some faces from last week and some new ones, and many many more children.

I was excited at the idea of more kids at the beginning...



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But at the end... it was more like this.


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So... maybe next time I'll make a rule that only kids WITH their mothers are allowed to attend. There were some older boys (8 or 9) that said they wanted to come to the class. I just couldn't say no to kids wanting music!... but when they all started playing with the pool table 5 minutes in, I knew I'd made a poor choice.

Luckily, it didn't completely unravel the singing circle. The adults paid attention as best they could while intermittently screaming at the kids in Arabic and shaking their heads at the other women with what I can only understand was "... kids these days!"

3:40
In the beginning, there were only two other women. Well, a woman and a girl about 13 years old. They both had attended last week. We started with tea, and then I planned to warm up our voices a bit. The girl was staring intently at my ukulele, so I taught her some one-finger chords and she strummed with a solid rhythm. Then we did a big group yawn... another women joined (a new one)...we buzzed our lips and flipped our tongue... another woman comes in (the teenager from Eritrea)...and finally we start singing. Here come the boys. About 4 boys came in and sang for one exercise, but quickly got bored and went to the pool tables.

We started with an "ooo" - I strummed an A minor on the uke and had them listen and sing along. They ran out of breath, chuckled at each other and to me, and then kept singing. Another woman (who I had just met during the door-knocking session) and her small daughter came in and joined the circle. Pitches weren't perfect, but VOICES WERE SINGING TOGETHER. Some of these women had never met. And they certainly had never sung together. It was a magical beginning. Smiles all around.

The definition of communication is as follows: “a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs, or behavior” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary, 2015).

It's workinnnnnngggg!

4:00
Our biggest exercise came at the end of class. I demonstrated three different sounds. "Ch ch ch ch" on a 4/4 steady beat (stomping motion), "Dum, tek, tek, tek" complete with hand motions (lap, heart, heart, heart) and finally the "Ooo". I strummed the A minor chord for 4 beats and then the F major chord for 4 beats. I sang the tonic, but encouraged others as well.

I don't know how, but they understand my intentions and chose whichever they felt comfortable with. The young girl to my left (the one so interested in my ukulele) chose a strong "CH" which encouraged the more timid ladies to follow along. Then she switched to a "DUM TEK" rhythm and the ladies carried on with the "CH". I started on an "ooo" and some women joined me. Then the girl to my left started improvising on "ooo"! The ladies kept the rhythm. Suddenly I heard another voice improvising on "ooo". Her melody line was moving around the one note that I had "given". It was the mother from last week. I smiled, gave a thumbs up and continued singing. I did a line of improvisation on "ooo" encouraging others to do the same if they wanted or continue with the steady beat.

4:15
It was music to my ears. 

I won't ever see some of those women again. I know two are finding housing and that doesn't mean it's in the neighborhood.

But the smiles and sounds that we shared were very precious and will stay with me a long while. The most magical part?... At the end of the class, every single one of those women gave me a hug. A HUG! They also were speaking with each other as they left the room... they hadn't done that before. I don't even care if they were just saying "who is this crazy girl with her crazy music?". I don't care, because they were communicating.

The communication seed has been planted and shall be watered with music and love. :)

Till next week... شكرا ....Thanks!




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