Archive for September, 1997
Day 40 – This journey is only the beginning
Posted by Musical Nomad in Daily Blog on September 6, 1997
We set ourselves the impossible task of reflecting on the last six weeks in the space of a few hours. As we have been doing all along, what follows are the immediate impressions of all members of the team. We will continue to add to this site over the coming months.
GARY – Project Producer
I am now sitting on a clay wall at a Kazak equivalent of a service station on highway A351. The ammenities consist of six well equipped yurts in which some of the team are happily drinking chai. As I gaze across the hot, dusty plains I have a little time to reflect on this complex and wonderful journey. As the Project Producer and as a composer and musician, Central Asia has held a deep, undefined fascination for me. When I devised this journey last year I had certain key objectives. One was the relationship with the internet audience and another the use of new digital technologies in harsh and remote environments. I had chosen Central Asia because my travels here in the past had been so special. The people are warm and welcoming and the music here was always a revelation. I had been particulary inspired by the natural landscape and ancient cities which are still to be fully discovered.
It has been thirty eight days of remorseless activity. We have endeavoured to bring you daily, an episode describing each 24 hours, in text, pictures and sound. (Video for the internet would have added too great a pressure this time round – some of the high quality broadcast video we produced daily may end up on the site retrospectively).
The journey has been a rollercoaster ride – technically and creatively. There have been low points, of subteraenean proportions. Particularly when the communications failed early on yet the music carried on and we could not get it to you. There have been many high points though. When musicians, unknown to us and the rest of the world have astounded us with their emotion and virtuosity. See Raushan and Aygul the two virtuoso of Day 4.
The four person team have ploughed on regardless. In unforgiving heat, across great distance, through disabling illness and against failing technology we have ceaselessly transmitted. Another part of the R&D aspect of this project was to break down traditional production roles. This project was not about specialist team members but about four people making something happen. All members of the team have written, all have produced and directed the artists, all have helped with the organisation, all have given way beyond what was expected.
The great music and the sense that every night we must send the story has driven us onward. There has been little falling out and only a few heated arguments. Often these resulted from the problems associated with team writing. Having all contributed to Jan’s story the occasional misplaced personal opinion produced ‘interesting’ discussions. On the rare occassion when the team split for the writing a special perspective resulted. See Day 20 Shaykh Kushkarov.
There are many things I would change as producer of the project. I think for example the physical journey has not been fully represented. I now write this for example, passing through a police checkpoint on the outshirts of the Almaty region in Kazakstan. It is about 42 in the shade, there is a strong easterly wind and there are dust clouds billowing off the dry mountain slopes. We have brought you wonderful musicians sometimes to the detriment of saying where we are – and we have been to some special places. We have travelled a total distance of 5660km (3516 miles.) Taking off the single 700km internal flight gives some impression of the amount of road travel we have done. Fifty percent of the roads were not fit to travel on and this has taken it’s toll. For example, after a fourteen hour drive on potholed tracks to sit down and produce our episode was nigh on impossible. This has been one of the remarkable parts of this journey.
Equally remarkable has been the meetings with people. Most have been musicians but I always saw them as people. To me the special moments have been the unspoken ones. The look they give you when they know you are doing something special with them. As the Kazak Museum director said on Day 4 ‘Let the music and musical instruments be the bridge between the peoples of the World…You are the ambassadors and I wish you success”. Beyond the video and audio recording it has been the description of the immediacy of the internet that has captured everyone’s imagination here. People young and old have seen the importance of this world’s network. It’s not about ‘web pages’ and fancy gimmicks, it’s about global sharing – the musicians of Central Asia wanted so much to share their music. Shoberdy Bakshy of Day 16, would not stop playing – he wanted to sing about us all day. Afterwards he offered me to be his student before force-feeding me vodka and grapes.
At this point it would be easy to wander ‘nomadically’ into philosphical pomposity. We have tried in this project to keep that to a minimum. The people we have all come into contact with are real and they create and exist regardless of the West and it’s technology. But we are on the precipice of a period when broadcasters will facilitate instantaneous, interactive sharing of culture and ideas – to finally break down the barriers of politics and nationhood. ‘The Musical Nomad’ has proven this genre has relevance to many other societies. It has also proven, if only in one key example that interactivity in this medium is very special (See Mail 16).
As the global network becomes more transparent, faster and reliable may this project be seen historically as one of the first to venture into this rich seam.
I pull into the outskirts of Almaty. The traffic increases and the noise and pollution take hold. This is day 38 and a flight back to London beckons. It is impossible to identify change in oneself. I hope I, like all the music we have seen, am constantly changing. When the events of the past 6 weeks settle and I have quality time to reflect perhaps then I will notice change. This has been fast and furious – images and sounds surface occasionally.
As a composer I know my music will be influenced not neccessarily by the style but by the methods of the musicians we have met. As a human being I have been touched so many times by generosity and innocence I now feeled compelled to aspire to these qualities. The van pulls up outside a grey Russian hotel – another episode to produce. I think I will miss it all.
Jan – Musician
It seems an impossible task to try to sum up our journey using words, so much has happened that cannot be conveyed verbally. The three countries of Central Asia that we have visited are remarkable for their diversity of people and ways of life. We have barely been able to get a flavour of the place, and yet in some ways we have had some profound experiences. It has been a recurring feature of our meetings with people that we have been accepted, welcomed and drawn into houses and families. Trust, tolerance and hospitality, particularly towards visitors is so pronounced that you cannot fail to be moved by it.
Ways of life are constantly changing all over the world. As they do so the music and culture that is associated with them changes too. It may be preserved in an artificial form, or it may die out completely. We have seen evidence of both these trends in Central Asia. We have also seen abundant evidence of vibrant, living traditions transforming and adapting to new environments. Munadjat Yulchieva (Day 7) is a good example. A nationally renowned figure she has managed to stay faithful to her musical tradition whilst raising the profile of maqam music.
There is a marked distinction between the cultural life of the cities and the rural areas. Even in the pre-Soviet times cities were centres of culture where musicians gathered, the same is true now. Uzbekistan with it’s great cities has preserved the court music tradition even though the courts are long gone. Some musicians retain the link with the original tradition, but there is little space for them now. Abdurahim for example one of the countries most highly esteemed musicians no longer makes a living through music and has become a businessman. Many are leaving the country for America and Israel. Even though there is something of a revival in national music (as a symbol of nationhood) this will not sustain the tradition. Musicians however are endlessly creative, and change comes about through a process of adaptation. The less fashionable Kashgar rubab has been superseded by the Tar from Azerbaijan. Perhaps a new tradition will arise out of the same feelings that inspired the shash maqam.
In the rural areas the picture seems somewhat different. Musicians play a more integral role. In Kazakstan and Kyrgyzstan which were largely nomadic musicians still sustain an aural tradition which is part of everyday life and life events. Many great musicians are farmers or labourers who are partially self sufficient. Money means little to them and many seemed perplexed by our fees for recordings. The western distinctions of professional and amateur do not apply here. Music is too important to be exploited for money. As the rural ways of life continue so the music has survived alongside it. The hospitality often being inseparable from the music. Malika Askarova (Day 25) is a good example of this. She does not consider herself to be a musician and yet she is able to affect a listener in an extraordinary way. She did not understand why our contracts and fees were necessary. There was a sense that music is a gift which should be given freely, Malika was not the only musician who gave us this impression.
It has been through the attitudes of people that Central Asia has made it’s mark upon me. Whatever the external appearances or current economic situations of the countries, there is still a feeling of a great ‘civilisation’. I mean this in the sense of an internal process of development. A cultured people and not just people with a culture. Many of the musical genres still retain a philosophical and reflective content. These themes reflect a view of life and an attitude towards people that are quite different from those I am used to. The physical and the metaphysical are constantly intertwined in art as in life. The art forms often have a delicacy and subtlety which is deceptive. “The art that conceals art” – always hinting at a greater mystery beyond.
Central Asia is a wonderful and fascinating place. I hope that our reflections serve to wet the appetite of other travelers. Our journey was not a survey of the area, more like an account of some almost random events. Like any supposedly random events they have their own logic and they tell their own story. We will meet again…
PAUL – Audio and Video
Invited to be the video and radio producer for this adventure I was both thrilled and anxious. What an opportunity. New lightweight digital cameras, together with digital sound recorders and world-class stereo microphones are powerful tools. This equipment offered a window on a little known culture. But what to record ?
I rose before dawn to capture the stunning architecture of Bukhara and Samarkand. The colourful markets and bazars, the vast steppe and the towering mountains, all providing the cultural context for the music.
In a great effort of will I recorded a static video of most of our musicians – the shot that records for a digital eternity, how you play the dutar or the Kashgar rebab – somebody might want to know! Other shots show those characterful faces and gnarled hands.
There are no plans to show any of our 30 hours of video or to broadcast any of our 25 hours of stereo audio. That seems a terrible pity. Sadly there is little room in broadcasting these days for stories of people and their music
I hope one day this material will surface, perhaps on TV or radio, perhaps in new media? The DVD ROM looms on the horizon.
This has been the strangest contract of my 30 year career – writer, cameraman, sound recordist, AV producer & director and guitarist – I have given everything I know to try to do justice to all these roles.
Unexpected roles included unloading an aircraft and riding a nomad horse across the Kazak steppe.
It’s been an experience. I would like to share that experience. To tell a story.
I’ve thought a lot about the people we’ve met, some old, “the last of my kind” like Ari (day 12), some young like Aygul (day 37). A poem emerged. I’ve never understood how a poem grows, Ted Hughes told me poems are like animals with a life of their own – this one doesn’t bite.
MUSIC SURVIVES THROUGH USE
Paul Balmer ©1997
Old men carry treasure,
The gift of centuries.
Young men burn, with voices unheard.
The tradition must live
In both their houses.
Rhythm is the fuel of the dance,
The heartbeat, the maternal flame.
Mothers sing and children learn,
Stories are forever.
The voice, the pen, the computer,
They all have their moment.
A melody bends to the needs of men,
Words are re-invented.
The chant continues
For birth and death.
We are all just vessels,
Tomorrow’s dust.
KATHRIN – Organiser and Photographer
It is very hard to summarise the journey now. The last 38 days have been an explosion of the senses. It has been an emotional journey and even though I have been very ill for the past week this has not deterred my enthusiasm. The people of Central Asia are passionate and have a tradition and culture that captivates me.
After two months of organising this most complex project I expected some ‘moments.’ The best times were when everything came together and the names of the musicians on the paper turned into real people, and real experiences. All those sleepless nights were then worth it. Meeting a such wide range of special people made the everyday organisation and bureaucracy a wonderful adventure.
There have been a few organisational mishaps. More to do with the region than anything else, and most were not serious. Things ran remarkably to plan considering the amount that could have gone wrong!
No one could have thought though that Jan, Paul and Gary would have to unload the whole of the plane at Tashkent Airport (See Day 6). That the expected ensemble at Baysun had left for Tashkent the day before we arrived (See day 16) – after a long days drive from Bukhara instead of staying in musicians homes we slept in a derelict ‘daja’. Transport unpredictably ranged from luxury mobile homes to rust-on-wheels, from 1950s high wheel base army vehicles to limo-like Volga’s.
The most important aspects of our musical journey have been to explore the countries and to meet the people of Central Asia. As the project’s chemical photographer I wanted to capture those fleeting moments when people connect with other people. The cultural context, past traditions and their instruments are other images I photographed. I believe as a team of very different personalities we’ve been able to achieve a great deal although it seems that there has never been enough time to explore further and in more depth.
I was the only member of the team able to communicate directly with the musicians (through Russian & German). Having been previously introduced I could, as well as open doors for the team communicate on a much more personal level. After the usual formal three hours of recording and interviewing, the musicians were more relaxed and were happy to share more about themselves with me.
One example of this occurred in the ‘Town of Masters’ (Day 33) when I met Tolegen, a kobuz maker. We talked about music, ancient rituals, nature and compared the komuz with the cello, which is my instrument. He said he would make me a special kobuz. A day prior to our departure, he hitchhiked to Almaty to offer me a ‘Shamanistic’ kobuz he had made. He then promised to make me an instrument which he wanted me to play. I will return soon to see him again.
Other special memories included my encounters with Raushan (Day 4 and Day 32). She gave me a brief masterclass on the kobuz and offered me one of hers. My encounter with Barkut in Bishkek (Day 28) was also personal as he came to see us on our return from Issyk-Kul and gave me a temir komuz (Jew’s harp). He had made it on the day we met.
There were many other countless situations when I walked away with much more than I was allowed to give, the people of Central Asia have been so generous and interested to share with us, this will be unforgettable for me.
Day 39 – Home again
Posted by Musical Nomad in Daily Blog on September 5, 1997
This journey has resulted from a team effort. The technical back-up we have received from ‘civilised’ UK has been second to none and we would like to take this opportunity to thank a few people (I am sure we missed a few).
Technical Thanks
For the BBC Multimedia Centre
Marc Walker has been an angel. Working well beyond sensible hours he finally got us connected and made himself ill in the process!
Neil, Charlotte, Victoria, Judy (Music on Earth) and of course Danielle have provided much needed support, battling against the odds
In the early days Steve, Laura and Martin helped get things off the ground
For LiveWire
When the going got tough and we struggled for a link with the outside world the LiveWire team worked especially hard to make thing happen
Special thanks to Tristan for the late nights calls and
Howard for personally delivering a working system after a 18 hour journey (See Day 13)
Day 38 – This journey is only the beginning
Posted by Musical Nomad in Daily Blog on September 4, 1997
We set ourselves the impossible task of reflecting on the last six weeks in the space of a few hours. As we have been doing all along, what follows are the immediate impressions of all members of the team. We will continue to add to this site over the coming months. Please continue to send Emails and we will endeavour to answer them.
JAN – Musician
It seems an impossible task to try to sum up our journey using words, so much has happened that cannot be conveyed verbally. The three countries of Central Asia that we have visited are remarkable for their diversity of people and ways of life. We have barely been able to get a flavour of the place, and yet in some ways we have had some profound experiences. It has been a recurring feature of our meetings with people that we have been accepted, welcomed and drawn into houses and families. Trust, tolerance and hospitality, particularly towards visitors is so pronounced that you cannot fail to be moved by it.
Ways of life are constantly changing all over the world. As they do so the music and culture that is associated with them changes too. It may be preserved in an artificial form, or it may die out completely. We have seen evidence of both these trends in Central Asia. We have also seen abundant evidence of vibrant, living traditions transforming and adapting to new environments. Munadjat Yulchieva (Day 7) is a good example. A nationally renowned figure she has managed to stay faithful to her musical tradition whilst raising the profile of maqam music.
There is a marked distinction between the cultural life of the cities and the rural areas. Even in the pre-Soviet times cities were centres of culture where musicians gathered, the same is true now. Uzbekistan with it’s great cities has preserved the court music tradition even though the courts are long gone. Some musicians retain the link with the original tradition, but there is little space for them now. Abdurahim ( Day 8 ) for example one of the countries most highly esteemed musicians no longer makes a living through music and has become a businessman. Many are leaving the country for America and Israel. Even though there is something of a revival in national music (as a symbol of nationhood) this will not sustain the tradition. Musicians however are endlessly creative, and change comes about through a process of adaptation. The less fashionable Kashgar rubab has been superseded by the Tar from Azerbaijan. Perhaps a new tradition will arise out of the same feelings that inspired the shash maqam.
In the rural areas the picture seems somewhat different. Musicians play a more integral role. In Kazakstan and Kyrgyzstan which were largely nomadic musicians still sustain an aural tradition which is part of everyday life and life events. Many great musicians are farmers or labourers who are partially self sufficient. Money means little to them and many seemed perplexed by our fees for recordings. The western distinctions of professional and amateur do not apply here. Music is too important to be exploited for money. As the rural ways of life continue so the music has survived alongside it. The hospitality often being inseparable from the music. Malika Askarova (Day 25) is a good example of this. She does not consider herself to be a musician and yet she is able to affect a listener in an extraordinary way. She did not understand why our contracts and fees were necessary. There was a sense that music is a gift which should be given freely, Malika was not the only musician who gave us this impression.
It has been through the attitudes of people that Central Asia has made it’s mark upon me. Whatever the external appearances or current economic situations of the countries, there is still a feeling of a great ‘civilisation’. I mean this in the sense of an internal process of development. A cultured people and not just people with a culture. Many of the musical genres still retain a philosophical and reflective content. These themes reflect a view of life and an attitude towards people that are quite different from those I am used to. The physical and the metaphysical are constantly intertwined in art as in life. The art forms often have a delicacy and subtlety which is deceptive. “The art that conceals art” – always hinting at a greater mystery beyond.
Central Asia is a wonderful and fascinating place. I hope that our reflections serve to wet the appetite of other travelers. Our journey was not a survey of the area, more like an account of some almost random events. Like any supposedly random events they have their own logic and they tell their own story. We will meet again…
Day 36 – Mad ride to music lesson
Posted by Musical Nomad in Daily Blog on September 2, 1997
I have the morning off as I’m scheduled to visit the local village school at 12 noon. I’m told that around the next hill there is a beautiful gorge, so I set off for a bit of sightseeing. Nomadmobile 4 is a fairly rugged minibus but likes to keep it’s tyres on a road. After a five minute drive the mountain track runs out and we are left with a mud path with ruts 2 feet deep. Our driver pushes on but the van is soon grounded on it’s axle. By unlikely coincidence a huge four wheel drive truck appears full of local workmen. They turn out to be a pylon crew and in fact have a mains pylon in the back of the truck. Sign language prevails as they offer a lift, so next minute I’m off sitting on the bonnet, 5 feet in the air taking plunging dives into 3 feet ditches – “when you travel you live in the moment – it might be your last”. We arrive at the gorge and I take my pictures – the pylon crew wait patiently then, believe it or not, take me back to my campsite – time has a whole new meaning out on the steppe. I’m sure they thought we were all mad.
Mali, the headmaster of the school asked us where we would like his pupils to gather. Five minutes later more than 60 of his finest, marched single file into a small, but bright assembly hall. Their ages ranged from 11 to 18 and they were abnormally well behaved. The older children stood plain faced at the back and the youngsters in the front looked slighty perplexed. This was no normal second day of term. There were ‘westerners’ with cameras and musical instruments. Above the children a poster of a famous Kazak poet looked like it had been there for a decade. The few teachers that were present stood calmly at the back and occasionally prodded any child who showed the slightest sign of misbehaviour.
I had arranged with the headmaster that we would listen to the school perform their national anthem. Then we would perform some music. They promptly broke into unison singing. A lengthy anthem with a range of voices, some decidedly discordant. At the end we applauded, something surely strange to them which provoked very little reaction. Immediately afterwards I introduced them to the team and the project. Moldira translated and the children paid attention.
Each of the team played their individual instruments. Paul a passionate Spanish melody on classical guitar, Gary a melodic Jazz piece on soprano saxophone and I played a short Irish jig on penny whistle. Kathy was too busy taking photos as usual. I sensed that this was something new for them. In the ranks quiet chatter broke out occasionally and the applause seemed genuine.I asked the school to assemble in a circle to teach them them a song with nonsense words. They began to liven up, responding to this call and response game. Once they had learnt the simple three note melody I taught them some movements which became deafeningly loud on the hollow wooden floor. This didn’t deter them from singing their hearts out.
For the finale the Nomad team gathered to play their own version of the Turkish melody that has been cropping up at various meetings on our journey. I improvised over the chords on my concert flute. I think we may have sown some seeds. Perhaps when these little Kazak children grow up one of them may have the urge to play flute.
We were then taken to a classroom to witness a music lesson. Kuan and the music teacher stood in front of the class. The children sat in formal rows. Pinned on the blackboard were pictures of various types of Kazak dombra. These seemed to serve a purely decorative function as they were never referred to. The lesson commenced with a group of children performing a Kazak song.
One by one children were called up individually or in groups to do ‘a turn.’ We began to suspect that this ‘lesson’ had been staged for our benefit. Some of the children sang and played well but we had really been interested in music teaching. The media arriving in your village is perceived as a solemn and important occasion. Was everyone briefed to be on their best behaviour? Outside school the children laughed and played and they seemed back to normal again.
Afterwards we were invited to the headmasters house for chai. In his front room we were confronted with a huge table groaning with food. We had experienced this before – heaps of fantastic home produced food that you just can’t refuse. It proved to be a good opportunity to talk to Mali, the headmaster. We discovered that his school had only been built in 1992 and he took over as headmaster in 1993. The school had been doing well but Mali regretted the lack of IT resources. We promised to send him a token desktop computer. We showed Mali and his wife around our web site and they seemed to like it. They asked if we had any images from other parts of the world. We obliged by showing the inevitable photographs of Trafalgar Square with Red Buses – they were delighted.
In the heat of the day we make a hasty decision to move camp. We leave behind Bulat and his family (our yurt neighbours) and the villagers of Kurmetui.
Onward for three hours up the Charyn River valley to a large lake and a bigger village. Who knows what awaits on the last day of a journey?
Day 35 – as words fail Diana dies on the Kazak Steppe
Posted by Musical Nomad in Daily Blog on September 1, 1997
In 1961 there was no such medium as the World Wide Web. Had it existed it would probably have failed to announce the birth of Diana Spencer. Last night we stood in a Kazak field a thousand miles from anywhere and logged on with our daily episode. As the news of Diana’s tragic death was announced we stood in disbelief and horror. The national anthem rang out across the Kazak steppe and we fell to silence.
The morning light revealed a lone horseman tying up his horse near his yurt. I approached with a smile and shook hands. His wife and young son joined us with more smiles. I pointed to my video camera asking permission. A gesture and a nod and he mounted his horse, parading with some pride. His young son then took the reins. Eager to share something I offered him a playback of the video. One by one the family watched themselves and amongst the Kazak speech the word ‘Television’ emerged. For the second time in a few hours communications technology found a strange role.
The horseman then gave me his horse whip as a gift, no doubt to him a valuable asset. I gave him a wooden flute in return. Sometimes human understanding has it’s own language even as words fail.
My encounter with Bulat, his wife Gulja and son Almas, had to be curtailed because of our voyage of discovery to a local village. It was only a 15 minute drive from our campsite and it took us further up a scenic tributary valley of the Charyn River. As we neared the village distant snow covered peaks appeared above the wooden rooftops. Alongside each of the valley walls pine forests increased and an occasional shepherd on horseback darted in and out of the rocky outcrops. We passed a hillside graveyard and someone whistled the theme from ‘The Good, The Bad and The Ugly’, this really is the town with no name. At this time of the day most villagers are on the hillside working the land or herding sheep.
We had made the decision that this part of the journey was to be an adventure. No ‘fixed up’ professional musicians. We are in the Kazakstan wilderness and we intend to discover local musicians the hard way. We stopped and spoke to a passing ‘horse man’. Did he know of any local musicians? The driver communicated by making guitar poses and saying the words dombra and komuz. To our amazement the horseman repeated the word komuz and beckoned us to follow him. Our first conversation with one of the villagers and he seems to be a komuz player! We go to his wooden house fifty metres further down the road. He holds up his hands and says ten tenge (Kazak currency) whilst pointing towards a bucket full of milk. Moldira suddenly tells us the word for milk here is kumyz. Ah well, we thought things were going too smoothly.
A bit further down the road we decided that we need a different approach. How do you find about the cultural life of a small Kazak Village?
At that moment we passed a building that looked like a school. Children were assembled in a courtyard singing a song which turned out to be the Kazak national anthem. In every school I’ve known the head teachers have always been a mine of information regarding the parents of the children. Perhaps this would be the ideal place to find out who the musicians are in the village. Being the first of September this was the first day back at school but the headmaster had time to talk to us. He was very friendly and welcomed us. The school is housed in a new building which seems well designed. The classrooms are cool and light and everything looks well organised. The word ‘welcome’ is displayed in English above the main entrance. This is possibly because the village is called Kurmetui which means ‘welcome’.
In the spirit of exchange we offered the school a short presentation during which we would play to them and tell them a little about our project. In return the headmaster offered to allow us to observe a music lesson. He also gave us the names of some musicians two of whom are teachers in the school. It will be fascinating to see how the children respond to our music and also to some of our technology. We will meet them tomorrow at twelve. Who knows what will happen?
Within a few minutes one of the teachers came strolling down the road with his dombra. Kuan, the sports teacher, is also a musician. On the verandah of the school Kuan stood proudly in front of a small group of school children and the Nomad crew. He warmed up by roughly strumming his instrument. This gave an impression of quiet confidence. Suddenly he began to sing and everyone stopped talking and listened. He had a powerful, resonant voice.
After a short time he performed in front of our two video cameras, his headmaster and the school children. Occasionally he faltered, perhaps not used to this kind of pressure. As in electron microscopy the act of investigation changes the thing you are studying. We are now in a sensitive environment and our presence is possibly an intrusion. It has been my experience that in Central Asia and the much of the world music is often born out of intimacy and trust. Malika and Rakhimahon were good examples. Asking musicians to perform in a ‘professional’ way sometimes causes imbalance. The musicians become ‘the watched’ we are the ‘the watchers ‘. Even the school children, not familiar with cameras, began to freeze.
Tomorrow we will attempt to share.