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| Travel to Kenya for Cultural Exchange While some of their peers are lounging at the beach this summer, a group of Berklee College of Music students and alumni, and Newton North and Needham High School students are using the break as an educational opportunity. The students will participate in a cultural exchange program in Kenya (June 24 – July 15) through local organization Global Youth Groove (GYG), whose mission is to transform the lives of youth through music, where they will teach, perform, study Swahili, learn about traditional Kenyan music, instruments and dance, and be immersed in Kenyan culture. The program is spearheaded by Berklee staff member Sam Lutomia, co-founder of GYG and co-founder of Acacia in Kenya, a fundraising effort that provides support for girls education. The GYG group will spend two weeks in Kakamega, Western Kenya, teaching music and giving workshops at the Matende Secondary School, founded by Lutomia's father Francis. They plan to bring a full ensemble setup – including donated guitars, bass, violin, alto saxophone, clarinets, drums, and keyboards – on which the students will teach and perform. The students will also give presentations in their fields of expertise. Berklee film scoring major Dave Chapman's demonstration of music production software using desktop gear will give people without access to recording studios the tools to self-produce on computers. Making technology more accessible, the group will bring eight MacBook Pros, donated by the college's IT department, loaded with GarageBand and ProTools. At the end of the trip, the laptops and instruments will be given to a community center in Kakamega, allowing talented local youth to continue developing their skills. Lutomia explains, "Unfortunately, we can't leave the laptops at Matende School because of security. The school is still struggling to buy windows and doors for their classes, which is the case for most public schools in Kenya." They also plan to visit other schools and orphanages in the area and will perform at the Kenya Schools and Colleges National Music Festival in Kakamega, June 29-July 2, an annual school music competition. GYG includes students from Kenya returning home for the trip, and students from the US making their first trip to Africa. "I am really excited because students from Berklee and local high schools get to come to my country and have a little taste of my culture, " says Nairobi native Wambura Mitaru, who studies at Berklee on a full Africa Scholarship. "It allows me to share a part of my life that is close to me - my home. I hope to learn from both worlds and see musicians interacting and having a great time speaking the universal language of music." The group will also spend time in Nairobi meeting with Berklee alumni and other musicians, giving workshops, and performing in concert. After returning, the students will give a public presentation in Boston where they will perform, speak about their experiences, and show a documentary produced from the trip. Global Youth Groove Members Berklee students, alumni, and staff Sam Lutomia of Framingham, MA, trip leader, staff member, Public Safety Dave Chapman of Scotch Plains, NJ, student guitarist Fifi Mbabazi of Kampala, Uganda, student vocalist Jason Sibi Okumu of Nairobi, Kenya, student vocalist Wambura Mitaru of Nairobi, Kenya, student vocalist Annette Oduor of Nairobi, Kenya, student pianist Aaron Colverson of Gainesville, FL, alumnus violinist, project coordinator Sagit Zilberman of Modi'in, Israel, alumna saxophonist Newton North and Needham High School students Jake Rosenberg of Newton, MA, drummer and keyboardist Max Gordon of Newton, MA, guitarist Marina Miller of Auburndale, MA, flutist Ali Campbell of Needham, MA, vocalist Berklee College of Music, for over 65 years, has evolved to support its belief that the best way to prepare students for careers in music is through contemporary music education. The college was the first in the U.S. to teach jazz, the popular music of the time. It incorporated rock n' roll in the 1960s, created the world's first degree programs in film scoring, music synthesis, and songwriting, and, in recent years, added world music, hip-hop, electronica, and video game music to its curriculum. With a diverse student body representing over 80 countries, a music industry "who's who" of alumni that have received 200 Grammy Awards, Berklee is the world's premier learning lab for the music of today – and tomorrow. write your comments about the article :: © 2011 Jazz News :: home page |