Alternate Vision

We sipped on pinga. He wants to take off for the summer, to do something off-beat before committing to a steady job, most likely policy related,and a relationship. We spoke of month long drumming classes in Guinea, nomadfests, mastering the piano, learning to sing, finishing the album, teaching English in India maybe. The conversation drifted to ethnomusicology and the lifestyle of an ethnomusicologist. The thought of traversing the globe to study music in its cultural context is all too appealing, especially for a former music major like himself. But beyond academia, what career is there for an ethnomusicologist? Is it mostly research oriented? Our thoughts drifted. Some makossa hit came on at this point. I explained to him why my favorite part of makossa is the energy and the guitar. Its infectious. Makossa which stems from Cameroon, has inherent similarities to Kompa from Haiti it seems - both have catchy upbeat african rhythms with an emphasis on electric guitars and synthesizers. And then ofcourse the jazz, soul and latin influence. I asked him, if you had but two chances to go back in time, where would you go? To which he responded, "17th century. Village in Africa. To watch my Haitian ancestors get enslaved. And then maybe to watch the Pyramids get built." Its my favorite question to ask people. And then he left me with a news paper article on oil companies promising scholarships to hometown graduates.