Miscellany

Written: Saturday night, 29 October 2011

I came to terms, long ago, with the fact that I’m one of those people who live life intensely. The past few weeks, with the profound changes I’ve experienced – some a lot easier to assimilate than others - bear testimony to this.

It’s 10:35pm and I’ve just come home from a lovely gig with Wayne - a house party in Kuils River. I don’t just enjoy making music a little, I LOVE it. I thrive on it. I draw strength and inspiration from it. Very little makes me as happy as playing music in a performance context does. If I could perform every day, I’d be the happiest person alive. I also did a gig during the week, with Keith Tabisher’s trio. Very cool. It was high on a hill, with the most magnificent view in every direction. Before the gig started, we were treated to a sunset that was so splendid, we all became silent as we watched in wonder. It was a night of great collaboration. The musicians I work with inspire me immensely. I learn from them all the time, and continue to grow as a musician because of them.

A few days ago, I started teaching a few subjects to adult students, at a college in Cape Town’s city centre, the answer to months of prayers by many people. It’s a temporary post, till 6 Dec. I’ll write more about this, sometime. I teach subjects from the old matric syllabus: English First and Second Language, Afrikaans Tweede Taal and Criminology.

When I was retrenched a year ago, I had no idea it would be so hard to find employment. Our economy’s in a terrible state, with the statistics on unemployment showing little or no improvement. I wonder what the tipping point will be, that moment when our government realizes it HAS to prioritise job creation. I feel very strongly about the huge disparity between the haves and the have-nots, and it saddens me beyond words that the fat cats in parliament seem oblivious to the awful day-to-day struggles of unemployed people.

Sunday night, round midnight:
I have an extremely busy week ahead. I sat my kids down with my diary, this evening; we went through each one’s after-school activities and tried to get our three schedules to somehow fit into a seamless whole – haha! We’ll see. I have a feeling that there’ll be plenty of quickly-prepared meals, as well as late-night laundry sessions, with the unavoidable three-hour sleeps that seem to go with this kind of week. I regretted availing myself for a gig on Tuesday night, as it falls in a crazy period in our lives.

I need to sleep. Listening to Brazilian music on the laptop – aaaaah, what a treat! Soulful, soothing, lulling. I’m deeply grateful to the guy who fixed my laptop, removed the virus and installed an anti-virus programme. :-) Earlier today I found an old cassette of Bahian music, and I listened to the whole thing. Song after song took me back to Salvador Bahia……intoxicating, strangely familiar, a place I’m sure I’m genetically linked to. One day when I have spare money, I’ll take that blood test that reveals your genetic path globally. I’ve always wondered about my origins; I’m expecting to be connected to South America in some way. Or some other culture where the guitar and hand drums feature prominently and the rhythms are the ones I feel in my blood.

Singing now – Rosa Passos, “E Luxo So”. I love this song! Lovely arrangement, just enough congas, light, suggestive, rhythmical, inviting us to dance, sway, samba, samba, samba, smile, sing……! Rosa Passos does the song with so much finesse, gliding her way through the lyrics like a dancer, with her silky smooth voice, effortless, ethereal. Brazilian music! Hits me in the solar plexus, takes my breath away and always puts a smile on my face. How lucky I am, in so many ways.

Goodnight, sweet world.

:-)