so i got off the plane in uganda to a fully yellow moon hanging in the sky like a fat opulescent apricot straining on its branch, judith and mariah took me back to their apartment just outside kampala that they had just moved into from a more crazy place, i think because they thought i would be uncomfotable there. we used their place as a base to do not very much- cook delicious food (they have a very carbohydrate orientated diet, americans would hate it even thought it is physiologically totally sensible if you live in the real non-SUV world) with things like matooke- mashed green banana-, posho- mashed plantain-, chapati, akona- ground millet, and then meat in sauce that you dipped everything in. good fish too from lake victoria, nice beer. then the twins introduced me to freddie, a radio producer for the 3rd biggest radio station in kampala, dembe FM- 'peace FM'- and i hung out at his radio station and interviewed all the big names of ugandan music, very fun and all for the good cause of my degree, some really interesting conversations, the things that are really big in popular ugandan music are ragga and reggae; hiphop is just starting to come up from the streets into the mainstream conciousness, and there is also alot of god music, and therefore interesting ethical dilemmas- should god music be played in nightclubs, which are still full of christians but christians mostly engaged in some sin or another...
then two amazing things happened. first, we went to these islands on lake victoria, me, judith, mariah, and this other guy also called ben (he is ben1, i am ben7) who i am shared an apartment with last year in london and who is also into his refugee support systems, anyhow this island was quite like paradise, purple cranes, yellow birds with huge huge feathery tails that flew by the dozen from the bushes across the beach we were on as soon as the sun turned from yellow to red, waders nibbling snails, jays diving for sardines, achingly beautiful sunsets, fire on the beach every night with various holidaying gringos, i felt a bit like a sage here and there, one night there was a big party of newcastle students our age, first big trip abroad, the fire (that normally would have silenced everyone and made me paranoid) and 'impressive' (to those who either need to feel impressed or contemptuous when meeting new people) experiences meant we could talk quietly enough that the secrets could be heard behind our words and we could slip into the night with our ideas intact, next day monkeys, a tiny village/town thing int he middle of an island with sprinting children, the next night judith gave me a masterclass in cooking on an open fire- she made it in such a way brances could be fed in to regulate exactly the temprature of the fire. i got sent to find salt in the nearest village, had almost the entire village lauging their heads off as i tried to explain salt through various hand jesters, and then they laughed even harder when they finally realised what i was after.
i also stopped smoking weed whilst i was out there, after 3 days i had a sweaty and very depressed night where everything came crashing down, then the next night, or maybe the night after that, i had a night of not euphoria but a sudden grip on my brain where all the experiences of my year in america and now uganda a bit were brought into perfect focus and i realise that i have grown up loads and changed a bit too, and that really the world is my oyster and i actually understood it as opposed to just deducing it, and i can be whoever i want to be and dictate my own social and cultural agenda, and through that make political change, and not fall for any of this paranoia nonsense and dance and i realised that really my mum, my grandma and getting j and m to canada are really the only truly important things in my life and thats fine and cool and as it should be and i got a bit worried that all my friends, alot of whom are now in long term relationships (when my band reformed when i got back all 6 other members were in or close to the big L, with cheesy gawps to prove it), would be too in love to have those 12midnight to 3.15am chats that are the things of life blood, but actually since i got back that has been the case except for sam and lizzie, who are similarly skeptical about the comfort and mindless joy of love so we have been doing those platonic all nighters that i still feel are where i am at, but anyway i digress, got over the weed, felt great, then boom i am back in scarborough and caning it in.
other amazing thing after the islands, i had heard rumours of mbira music in the east of the country, and my contact had another contact, so we had a long hot bus journey north east, where the civil war raged for 20 years until recently, got invited to a wedding, and then the next day made our way to an old wisened mans village to hear his music. wow. a 10 piece mbira/marimba/drum/vocal explosion oh my gosh something amazing, i will send you it when i have it rendered, music so full of energy, the village came out to greet and spend time with us, we drank homemade hot millet beer out of a common put through huge cane straws, shared instruments, laughed alot, there if you aren't married by 18 you are a bit wierd, if your not a parent by the time your 20 there is definitely something wrong iwth you (cos you die when you are 40), a philosophy as relevent as our 'family planning', there they lobby for existence, if there is not enough food to feed everyone people stop having so many kids according to the advice of the village elders, or people die, and that is accepted, and those who survive the day thank god and sleep easy knowing that tommorow they can have another day.
then i interviewed the singer through a translator, very candid, then they played more and for the last song i jammed the fuck out with them! yes! one of the best days of mine and the other bens life i tell you. all in the beating sun, kids eating mangoes like apples, hands on hearts, kick your shoes off and dance. after i have had 150 eyes on me, wondering if one of the two white men in the whole 50 mile radius can dance or not as i dance, i can go to any bullshit club or gig here and be the only person dancing! and thats what ive been doing a bit.
