|  | | | Massamba Diop, Baaba Maal & Tony Vacca |
The SENEGAL-AMERICA PROJECT is a cross-cultural collaboration involving Senegalese and American musicians, students and teachers. The purpose of this project is to bring the peoples and the many musical traditions of these two countries together, up close and personal, through school programs, musical performances, hands-on participatory workshops, and town-meeting discussions of music, poetry, culture and race.
This collaboration began in 1995, when American-born percussionist Tony Vacca met up with tama drum master Massamba Diop of Senegal, West Africa. Tony had been exploring the many world rhythm sources of music in America since 1972, the year he took the first of fourteen trips to Africa.
Massamba Diop had been in the band of Senegal's Afro-pop superstar Baaba Maal for over a decade before he met Tony. In fact, it was Baaba Maal who was the connecting force that brought them together; they literally met backstage at one of Baaba's concerts. Baaba's dedication to uniting the people of Africa and bringing them to their full potential is the reason he was appointed to be the Artistic Emissary for the United Nations' Development Program in Africa. These three world musicians share the same mindset of building community through music and have dedicated their careers to doing just that.
In 1996 Massamba came to America for the first of many tours with Tony Vacca and World Rhythms . Over the past twelve years, Tony and Massamba have done concerts and workshops in schools for over 380,000 students, demonstrating how they have created common ground between their two countries. The Senegal-America Project has now grown from the initial collaboration between Tony and Massamba, to include several other Senegalese and American performers.
In 1998, Tony brought a group of twelve educators, musicians, and filmmakers to Senegal for the first of several cultural exchange journeys. Using an interactive web site and email communications, they partnered with over 25 American schools, creating a unique virtual experience. The net result was that the students at these schools got a taste of Senegal almost as if they were there. During this trip a group called Gokh-bi System introduced themselves to Tony. They were from one of the roughest boroughs of Dakar called Guinaw Rail. Their music was part ancient traditional, part new city hip-hop, and all about how music, dance and storytelling can open our minds to a shared vision and common ground. Two years later they were touring in America with Tony and Massamba Diop, doing concerts and workshops at festivals, colleges, and public schools. This visit also produced CD recordings, a CNN global music feature, lasting friendships, and a promise to return.
Six years later, in 2004, they did just that. The project had grown, and now Jean Butler and her non-profit corporation, Arts Are Essential, were partners with Tony Vacca on the Senegal-America Project. Together Tony Vacca, Jean Butler, and Massamba Diop decided to offer a "Professional Development" trip to Senegal. Eighteen teachers, musicians, visual artists, filmmakers, storytellers, and global minded community-builders answered the call. They created many friends and much love, and inspired the mayor of Pikine to host a press conference and reception in their honor.
Debby Kern had also returned to Senegal with this crew, and updated the new, expanding web site that would now include teacher-created lesson plans, hundreds of photos, and journals by those on the trip. This new site, and the generous contributions by American and Senegalese "extended family," would help to encourage a whole new level of social activism for the Project.
The next level of the project's expansion began when two middle school social studies teachers (Rich Haxshi and Lenny Moitoso) involved their classes in their trip to Senegal. They kept in constant touch, and returned with stories, photos, musical instruments, and personal adventures. The students' interest quickly lead to a trip to Senegal for ten students, ten parents and three faculty members from their school, and this trip started a entire new level of social awareness and activism. From raising money to fund a new school in Guinaw Rail, to donating 1000 mosquito nets to help fight malaria, and offering free diabetes screening, this contingency from Roger Ludlowe Middle School continues going above and beyond anything we've seen before. They've created a perfect blend of committed social activism with lasting personal friendships and profound learning experiences.
This is what education is supposed to look like!
Their work/adventure/vision continues, and now a third trip, for a third group of students and parents, is planned for 2009. Stay tuned....
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