Bits and Pieces

Princess Anne

9/24/12 -Save the Children had an event to celebrate the arrival of Princess Anne, who is their patron – it is a British charity and Nigel was introduced to her.  Many school children performed, as well as a local performance company, the Barefeet Theater. They will also perform at the big advocacy event he has been working on for months, which is on 10/16/12.

Princess Anne and Marc Nosbach, Director Save the Children Zambia

Barefeet Theatre

Barefeet Theatre

Last Saturday (9/29/12) we went to a market at a local church that takes place only once a month.  It was much better than the market we went to at Arcades, which is every Sunday.  There was amazing produce, herbs, food, used books, crafts, and of course the usual mass produced masks and animal figures.  We met a local sculptor, Clarence, as we were admiring his work.  We have been looking for fabric to cover up the really disgusting couch we have.  No luck yet…. We did buy Nigel an eggcup in the shape of a hippopotamus!  Also on 9/29/12 my nephew got married in Incline Village.  I sure did miss my family that weekend, knowing they were all together and I was so far away.  It was wonderful to get lots of pictures though- it was a lovely wedding.


 

Market food merchants

Clarence and his sculpture

 

Thursday night (10/4/12) we went to a wonderful concert at the Government Complex, which has a very nice theater for live performances. (And, it was air conditioned!)  We saw a Zambian band the Sakala Brothers,


 


























 and then the headliner, Salif Keita, a very famous Malian singer.  

Salif Keita

  He is an albino and was ostracized when he was growing up in his village in Mali.  He is a direct descendant of the founder of the Mali Empire, Sundiata Keita. Because he had royal heritage it meant that under the Malian caste system, he should never have become a singer – that was for people of lower castes. He is 63 yrs old now, and has achieved much success, particularly in Europe and in France where he lived for a while.  In fact, the concert was sponsored by The Alliance Française de Lusaka and the French Embassy. 

His band uses a lot of traditional instruments such as balafons (a xylophone made with dried gourds), djembes (a goat skin covered drum/large bongo played with the hands), and a kora (a 21 string lute-harp type of instrument built from a large calabash cut in half and covered with cow skin).  They were fantastic to see and hear; and of course there were guitars, saxophones and other modern instruments.  My camera isn’t good enough to get great photos at a venue/performance like this, but I’ll post some of the pictures anyway!