Under African Skies

I keep bumping into Africa ... or perhaps Africa keeps bumping into me.

The 60's: When I was young, my mother had an RCA recording of the amazing Miriam Makeba's "Click Song." (See my blog sidebar under "Other Resources ..." to listen to a clip) It was my favorite song! I listened to it over and over, probably hundreds of times and never got tired of the lively rhythms or the hypnotic sound of her native South African Xhosa language. Ms. Makeba was one of the first to bring the songs of South Africa to the rest of the world, and only just recently retired from a career that spanned more than half a century. A few weeks ago, while helping clean out my mom's basement I came across the paper jacket for that little record and those pleasant memories came rushing back. I only wish I still had that 45 rpm to slip inside to make a real keepsake for me.

The 70's: In college I studied art history and my favorite class was ... you guessed it! ... African & Oceanic Art. I was drawn to it's pure and primitive nature, from the delicate chi wara headdresses of the Bambara (Bamana) people in Mali, to the striking akua mma dolls of the Ashanti in Ghana, to the endless variety of masks from every tribe on the continent.

The 80's: Paul Simon's "Graceland" CD and "Graceland: The Africa Concert" recorded live in Harare, Zimbabwe brought Miriam Makeba, the Empress of African Song to pop audiences everywhere, and introduced me to the jazz trumpet sounds of another great South African legend Hugh Masekela. The songs cover a variety of musical flavor, including "Under African Skies" and the beautiful "N'Kosi Sikeleli Africa" (God Bless Africa), and the video captures the delight of the people watching this landmark concert.

The 90's: The Disney movie "The Lion King" and subsequent Broadway show kept African rhythms alive with the help of South African song writer Lebo M. Mark Mancina and others. I also discovered the forest music of Baka Beyond, a unique combination of Celtic influence and the primitive percussion of the Baka Pygmies near the Cameroon/Congo border.

From the Baka Beyond website:

The album "Spirit of the Forest" helped define the term “world music” and pushed Baka Beyond into worldwide recognition. From these beginnings, recorded in a bedroom studio and based on live jams recorded while living with the Baka Pygmies in the rainforests of South-East Cameroon, Baka Beyond has evolved into a multicultural, dynamic live stage show. “It was the amazing bird-like singing or yelli that first attracted me,” says Su Hart, Baka Beyond’s lead singer. “The women get together before the dawn to sing, enchant the animals of the forest and ensure that the men’s hunting will be successful. Song and dance are used by the Baka for healing, for rituals, for keeping the community together and also for pure fun! We try to do the same in Baka Beyond.”

The year 2007: It's no wonder that when the call to adopt was laid on my heart that I felt drawn to Africa. I feel thankful that she has called me through the gentle whispers of art and music, and not the angry shouts of slavery, apartheid, discrimination, and human rights. My nature is not one of politics and philosophy, so you won't find such discourses here. But one cannot keep a blind eye to these issues either. To quote: "Choose your friends by their character and your socks by their color. Choosing your socks by their character makes no sense, and choosing your friends by their color is unthinkable." As I do life with my new family, I'm looking forward to learning more about their culture and people, language and customs, issues and challenges. Recent celebrity adoptions from Africa has called attention to this region, and caused an sharp escalation in African adoptions. But for me this had no bearing whatsoever on my choice, and did not even cross my mind until reading about the phenomena afterwards. But I'm glad they did and that it is moving more people to consider these children.

And to Sherri Shepherd from the "View" who recently stated: "Oh, those poor babies. People used to get Chinese babies, now everyone gets African babies. It's a Louis Vuitton bag." A member of one of the web boards said it best when she responded in a letter to the network, "As the mother of a child born in Guatemala and of two more waiting in Ethiopia, I am highly offended that you would compare my children to a handbag. Children are not accessories, and anyone who thinks so would not survive the adoption process. Parents do not have their lives laid bare and go through the emotional roller coaster of adoption to be trendy. They do it because they want to be parents." Thank you! You can click here to tell ABC what you think about Ms. Shepherd's comment!