Ode To Joy
Posted by Michelle Moquin on August 13th, 2012
Good morning!
I watched 60 Minutes last night as I do most Sundays. The Romney/Ryan interview was first up and in my opinion was a waste of primetime TV time – a lot of feel good fluff, empty promises, and no substance. I didn’t watch the entire interview – perhaps it got better?
However I did pop back in and watch what I thought was simply wonderful. I have written and posted quite a few articles on the Congo, and none of them have been good news especially when it comes to the lives of women and girls.
Last night however, I was delightfully surprised by a segment that was originally aired back in April, but I never saw it until now…a segment about the Congo that for once put a smile on my face:
Joy in the Congo: A musical miracle
(CBS News) “Joy in the Congo” seems an unlikely — even impossible — title for a story from the Congo, considering the searing poverty and brutal civil war that have decimated that country. Yet in Kinshasa, the capital city, we found an unforgettable symphony orchestra — 200 singers and instrumentalists defying the poverty, hardship, and struggles of life in the world’s poorest country…and creating some of the most moving music we have ever heard. Follow Bob Simon to the Congo to hear the sounds and stories of the Kimbanguist Symphony Orchestra.
To learn more about the Kimbanguist Symphony Orchestra — including how you can help – click here.
The following script is from “Joy in the Congo” which originally aired on April 8, 2012, and was rebroadcast on August 12, 2012. Bob Simon is the correspondent. Clem Taylor and Magalie Laguerre, producers.
Beauty has a way of turning up in places where you’d least expect it. We went to the Congo earlier this year, the poorest country in the world. Kinshasa, the capital, has a population of 10 million and almost nothing in the way of hope or peace. But there’s a well-kept secret down there. Kinshasa has a symphony orchestra, the only one in Central Africa, the only all-black one in the world.
It’s called the Kimbanguist Symphony Orchestra. We’d never heard of it. No one we called had ever heard of it. But when we got there we were surprised to find 200 musicians and vocalists, who’ve never played outside Kinshasa, or have been outside Kinshasa. We were even more surprised to find joy in the Congo. When we told the musicians they would be on “60 Minutes,” they didn’t know what we were talking about but, still, they invited us to a performance.
We caught up with them as they were preparing outside their concert hall, a rented warehouse. As curtain time neared, we had no idea what to expect. But maestro Armand Diangienda seemed confident and began the evening with bang.
The music, Carmina Burana, was written by German composer Carl Orff 75 years ago. Did he ever dream that it would be played in the Congo? It wouldn’t have been if it hadn’t been for Armand and a strange twist of fate. Armand was a commercial pilot until 20 years ago when his airline went bust. So, like ex-pilots often do, he decided to put together an orchestra. He was missing a few things.
Bob Simon: You had no musicians, you had no teachers, you had no instruments.
Armand Diangienda: Yes.
Bob Simon: And you had no one who knew how to read music?
Armand Diangienda: No, nobody. Nobody.
Armand’s English is limited. He preferred speaking French, Congo’s official language.
Bob Simon: When you started asking people if they wanted to be members of this orchestra, did they have any idea what you were talking about?
Translation for Armand Diangienda: In the beginning, he said, people made fun of us, saying here in the Congo classical music puts people to sleep.
But Armand pressed on. He taught himself how to read music and play the piano, play the trombone, the guitar and the cello. He talked a few members of his church into joining him. They brought their friends which brought more problems.
Translation for Armand Diangienda: We only had five or six violins, he said, for the 12 people who wanted to learn how to play the violin.
Translation for Armand Diangienda: So they took turns, he said. One would play for 15 or 20 minutes at a time. That was very difficult.
But more instruments started coming in. Some were donated; others rescued from local thrift shops — in various states of disrepair. Then it was up to Albert — the orchestra’s surgeon — to heal them. He wasn’t always gentle with his patients, but they survived. Armand told us that when a violin string broke in those early days, they used whatever they had at hand to fix it.
Bob Simon: You took the wire from a bicycle?
Armand Diangienda: Bicycle, yes.
Bob Simon: The brake of a bicycle, and turned it into a string for a violin?
Armand Diangienda: Yes.
Bob Simon: And it played music?
Armand Diangienda: Oui.
And with every functioning instrument, more would-be musicians poured in. Before long, Armand’s house became a makeshift conservatory. Armand was the dean. Every room, every corridor, no matter how small or dark or stifling was teeming with sound. Outdoors, the parking lot was a quiet spot to practice the viola.
But even this was an oasis compared to what was on the other side of the walls. The Congo is, after all, a war-torn country — has been for 60 years. This is where most of the musicians live, on unpaved streets with little in the way of running water, electricity or sanitation. The musicians don’t get paid for playing in the orchestra. Some work in the market, selling whatever they can. Very few people in Kinshasa make more than $50 a month or live past 50.
Sylvie Mbela’s life has gotten even more demanding since she started in the orchestra 17 years ago. She’s got three kids now. There are no daycare centers in the neighborhood, so the kids are always with her, never far from her fiddle.
But when she turns from mother to musician, she says she has left this planet. She is not in the Congo anymore.
For years, Sylvie and the orchestra played on but only in Kinshasa — no one outside the Congo knew anything about them until 2010. That’s when two German filmmakers made a documentary which was shown in Germany. It so inspired musicians in Germany, they sent down instruments and then themselves to give master classes.
For more information on the documentary “Kinshasa Symphony,” click here
Opera vocalists Rolf Schmitz-Malburg and Sabine Kallhammer came to teach technique and diction. And if you ever questioned that music is the universal language, watch this a German-speaking teacher tutoring a French-speaking African how to sing an aria in Italian. But when Rolf and Sabine moved onto the full choir it wasn’t so easy.
Bob Simon: Were they pleased to see you? Do you think that they said, “Oh, how wonderful we have two white people here to teach us how to play music”?
Sabine Kallhammer: They had experiences with other white people, so I can really understand that they were careful, and a little shy. But they really were open to learn.
At times they weren’t sure what they were learning or why. What was this all about? The exercises are designed to loosen you up, the Germans explained and, after a while, they did.
Sabine Kallhammer: And then they started to sing for us, and then we were, like, ah–
Sabine Kallhammer: Their faces change when they do their music.
Sabine Kallhammer: I mean if you live in Kinshasa there is no culture life here, so these people have to find a way to go to some other places. Making music is one way to go on a trip, a cheap trip because you can just close your eyes, they do that very often and they are somewhere else.
Rolf moved onto the next class. That’s where we met two tenors, brothers Carrime and Valvi Bilolo. They live in the countryside, 10 miles from Armand’s place. They took us there. The boys’ parents, two brothers and a sister share a three-room blockhouse. Carrime and Valvi certainly had to learn the importance of harmony growing up here, so by the time they met Armand, harmony was second nature.
Bob Simon: When did you join the orchestra?
Bob Simon: The 8th of November in 2003.
Carrime Bilolo: Yes.
Bob Simon: Why do you think you remember the exact date?
Carrime Bilolo: Bon c’est la naissance pour nous -[Well, he said, it's like a birth for us in this symphony orchestra, so it's a date we can't forget.]
And this is how they get to rehearsal. Six days a week, 90 minutes each way. Some would call it a trek. For them, it’s a commute. When they get downtown, the last stretch is on a bus. What keeps them going? The music, always the music.
Sabine Kallhammer: They come here every day. They sing, and they go home. It’s really amazing.
Bob Simon: It’s pretty difficult to relate to that, isn’t it?
Sabine Kallhammer: Yeah. Yeah. I don’t think that anybody would do that with this conditions, in our country, no.
The boys and the choir have quite a repertoire now: Bach, Mendelssohn, Handel and, of course, Beethoven. The week we were there, the orchestra was rehearsing Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Not exactly starter music, but Armand was determined to take it on and, like a good general, he reviewed all his troops.
The choir, OK. The strings? Not bad. But the full orchestra? Not quite.
French horns, he said, “You’re hitting it too hard…”
“Be mindful of the echo”, he told the string section.
Finally, it all came together and on the night of the performance, in this rented warehouse, Beethoven came alive. It’s called the Ode to Joy, the last movement of Beethoven’s last symphony. It has been played with more expertise before…but with more joy? Hard to imagine.
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Readers: Talk about a man who had nothing but a vision, and didn’t let anything stop him from achieving it. I find that so inspiring.
To my readers in Iran: I read about the quake, I HOPE you and yours are safe. My condolences to the friends and families who lost their loved ones.
Peace & Love.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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August 13th, 2012 at 10:43 am
Hi Mischa, I love stuff like this, have to watch vids when I return, can’t wait…thanks!
*sigh* Donna, I did not say anywhere that I did not take her side nor did I say that I thought it correct to pull someone over bc they have a rap sheet, expunged or otherwise, that comes up when they ‘run plates’ when they’re bored and driving around. I’m a white woman and I shift lanes, turn off streets when I see a cop behind me bc I know they can run plates and know my name, where I live, etc…and knowing what I know, well…I avoid it, that’s all I can say here.
I have more to say on a few other comments and I’ll be back later to do it.
I’m over it when people misconstrue my meanings but really did I sound at all like I (sorry, said didn’t yesterday by acc) think these particular cops were right, no. Kelly caught where I went, 2 tiny kids were involved, and I don’t see any press on that, what were the detes peeps, bc the devil is in the details. It’s not about the cop actions on that part (of the details about kids).
back later, Luv, Zen Lill, and I’m digging you all whether you understand me well at all, I dig the discourse ; ) so thank you, today and all days.
August 13th, 2012 at 3:35 pm
”Don’t use men to get what you want in life — get it for yourself.” -Helen Gurley Brown.
RIP
/SB
August 14th, 2012 at 6:52 am
Overcoming the Perils of TV Eating
When your brain is focused on your TV or computer screen but your mouth is busy munching, you can mindlessly consume many hundreds of calories’ worth of food while scarcely being aware of it, much less enjoying it. But:
If you can break this one habit, your calorie count—and your weight—are practically guaranteed to drop automatically and easily.
I discussed this simple yet effective approach to weight control with Matthew Clark, PhD, a psychologist and obesity researcher at the Mayo Clinic.
He suggested putting sticky notes on all your TVs and computers to remind yourself not to eat in front of the screen…and if you have a TV or computer in your kitchen, try moving it to a less food-centered part of the house.
If that doesn’t do the trick, you’ll need a more strategic approach. For instance…
• Keep a journal of your screen time and what you eat during it. Try this for a week—you may be shocked to learn just how much time you really spend in front of the TV or computer.
The number is not meaningless. In a recent Australian study of more than 91,000 people ages 45 and up, participants who logged two to three hours of screen time per day were 35% more likely to be obese than those who logged less than two hours per day…
obesity risk was nearly double for those with six to seven hours of screen time per day—and effects were substantially greater when screen time was not related to work!
• Next, look for patterns in your journal. You may discover that you tune in for one favorite TV show, then just keep watching—and eating—for the rest of the evening. Note your moods, too.
As Dr. Clark pointed out, when a show excites you and inspires conversation with family or friends, you’re less likely to eat during it…but if a show leaves you feeling flat, you’re more vulnerable to emotional eating.
Use these new insights to decide which shows you really want to watch and which ones you could happily skip. After all, a sure way to cut back on TV eating is to cut back on TV watching.
• If you’re home alone, you might feel lonely eating in your dining room by yourself and really want the “company” of the TV or an online community.
that case, Dr. Clark suggested fixing yourself a healthy meal and eating only that—nothing more—while you enjoy your show or connect with Facebook friends.
• If watching TV is a family activity, you may not feel comfortable banning all screen-time eating. In that case, Dr. Clark suggested keeping healthier foods on hand. Examples:
Offer up fat-free frozen yogurt with fresh berries instead of the usual high-fat ice cream…or let the family share some hummus with pita chips instead of ranch dip with potato chips.
If that won’t fly with your clan, limit portion sizes by giving each person a small serving of the snack and then immediately put away any leftovers.
• Work out while watching TV, doing simple activities so you can still concentrate on your show. Examples: Use a treadmill or walk laps around the room…do jumping jacks, crunches and push-ups…use hand weights or exercise bands.
If you are new to exercise, do your workout during the commercials and rest during the show…otherwise, rest during commercials and work out during the program.
Not only will you burn calories, but the physical activity will take your mind off food, making it easier to break the mental “screen time equals snack time” connection—for good.
Source: Matthew Clark, PhD, is a board-certified clinical health psychologist in the department of psychiatry and psychology at the Mayo Clinic and a professor of psychology at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, both in Rochester, Minnesota.
is a medical editor of the Mayo Clinic EmbodyHealth newsletter and a contributor to various books, including The Mayo Clinic Diet: Eat Well, Enjoy Life, Lose Weight and The Mayo Clinic Diabetes Diet (both from Good Books). His research focuses on creating tailored interventions to promote healthy behavioral changes.