Blog Contributor:
Peter Griesar
Apr 17th, 2009 12:39 PM UTC
By Peter Griesar
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ONE is turning to its community of artists, friends, members and staff for their top picks on creative works that have enhanced their knowledge and understanding of the richness of African culture and arts.
Today we have recommendations from South African singer-songwriter Vusi Mahlesela, ONE Chairman Tom Freston and me, Peter Griesar, ONE’s creative development manager.
If there is something that has influenced or inspired you in this way, please leave a note in the comments of this post. We’d love to hear from you.
South African singer-songwriter Vusi Mahlesela recommends:
Bela Fleck, who’s now inspired me to want to learn to play the banjo, traveled all around Africa tracing the origins of the banjo. He made a beautiful documentary called “Throw Down Your Heart” that chronicles his travels throughout our continent and introduces all the amazing musicians he met along the way. He also made an accompanying record, “Throw Down Your Heart: Tales From the Acoustic Planet, Vol. 3 – Africa Sessions,” released in the beginning of April. Visit his great new site to find out more about the film, to read reviews, and to find a screening of it near you. Enjoy it!
“Throw Down Your Heart”
ONE Chairman Tom Freston recommends:
There is a fantastic new series on HBO, “The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency” which takes place in Botswana. Just started. With so much imagery of Africa about war, famine, and pestilence…this series, which stars a great Jill Scott, is the flip side….set in an upper middle class African town, a booming country, with schools, working professionals, etc. Check it out. Sundays at 8pm and 10pm.
“The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency”
And this one is from me:
A week before my first trip to Africa I picked up Ryszard Kapuscinski’s novel “The Shadow of the Sun” on a recommendation of a friend from Senegal. Written by a Polish journalist, the book conveys the fascinating history of post-colonial Africa set through stories from the author’s 40-year career covering the Continent. I finished the book on the trip and left it with a new friend in Mali who has since passed it along to another friend.
“The Shadow of the Sun”
-Peter Griesar
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Aug 1st, 2008 9:35 AM UTC
By Peter Griesar
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Just when you thought the summer concert season was over, we’ve got some exciting news about an upcoming rockshow that ONE members won’t want to miss. In fact, it’s a show that’s got ONE’s name all over it.
The www.musicbuildstour.comONE Music Builds Tour will be launch later this month, bringing top-selling bands Third Day, Switchfoot, Robert Randolph and the Family Band and Jars of Clay to a city near you. The tour will kick off in Detroit on August 21st and wrap-up in Denver on October 12 and include 23 stops along the way.
This isn’t just going to be a typical rock concert – ONE’s going to be a big part of the show too. Just to name a few of the special things being planned, there will be videos featuring ONE in between sets focusing on three of ONE’s most exciting initiatives: ONE Sabbath, the ONE Campus Challenge and ONE Vote ’08. We also plan on having two booths that will ride along on the whole tour where concert-goers can sign up and learn more about ONE and our issues.
We see this tour as a big opportunity for ONE members across the country to get together, have some fun, hear some great music, recruit new friends to the effort and add some noise to the fight against extreme poverty and preventable disease.
We’re still hammering out other details and ways we can bring as much attention to ONE as possible (can you say limited edition concert t-shirt?) and we’ll keep you up-to-date as the tour gets set to kick off in Detroit. For now, be sure to check out the ONE Music Builds Tour site, www.musicbuildstour.com, for more info about the bands and a full list of tour stops.
-Peter Grieser
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Feb 13th, 2007 1:30 PM UTC
By Peter Griesar
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Recently I had the pleasure of speaking with old friend and record producer John Morand (Cracker, Sparklehorse) about the ONE Campaign and found out he was already a member. He’s been looking for ways he could help, so he put me in touch with a few great bands with whom he’s been working.
One of these bands, Mint, was kind enough to share one of their new songs, “Your Shopping Lists are Poetry.” Enjoy!
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Dec 19th, 2006 11:00 AM UTC
By Peter Griesar
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A few weeks ago I blogged about my trip to Mali and how clean water projects are positively impacting the lives of people in the region. I also shared some of the beautiful music I heard while there. Mali is considered the birthplace of the blues, and this soulful West African nation has produced many artists whose enchanting music has achieved international popularity.
The fabled city of Tombouctou lies at the edge of the Sahara desert in the largest region of Mali, also called Tombouctou. Originally founded over 900 years ago around a reliable clean well, Tombouctou was historically a major center of desert trade and the peaceful meeting place of many different cultures. The Niger river winds its way north into the Sahara and passes within a few miles of the city. Straddling the Sahara desert and the Niger river, Tombouctou has long been known as where “the camel meets the canoe.”
On my last night in the mysterious city of Tombouctou I had the pleasure of listening to the music of Troupe de Khalia. These musicians were so gracious to let me record their performance to share with ONE members. For this week’s podcast, please enjoy this new song from Mali to you.
Happy Holidays and best wishes for 2007.
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Dec 5th, 2006 11:00 AM UTC
By Peter Griesar
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I recently had the privilege of visiting the beautiful West African nation of Mali. I was there with DATA and ONE to advance a visit by the runners from Running the Sahara to an Africare/USAID irrigation site just west of Tombouctou (Timbuktu to Americans) in Goundam, Mali.
The project is a great example of how increased water access can make a difference in so many lives. Just one water pump is providing irrigation to grow food for the more than 30,000 people in the area, and it has created a surplus of food which is sold elsewhere to benefit the community and help put children into school. The pump is providing enough stability for the community to grow and diversify their opportunities.
While in Tombouctou, I went to visit the municipal water supply. The deep well and water plant had been built decades ago, but only in the past decade had the price of water come down to where the availability became universal. Now that it is, people in the community told me the change was dramatic.
I visited a local school full of healthy young children engaged in class. In fact, 168 of them in just one classroom! Without clean water many of the children, especially the girls, would spend the day fetching water from the river 6 miles away. Water which could make the whole family sick. But with clean water this is now a place of hope.
Our last night in town we made friends at dinner with the mayor of Tombouctou. When the discussion came around to water, he spoke proudly of his city’s accomplishments. He also offered his support and gratitude to the ONE Campaign, and put on a ONE wristband to show it.
While we ate a delicious meal of rice and vegetables, a local musical group, “Troupe de Khaira”, was playing live and enjoying a large audience dancing under the stars. The troupe played great music and were so kind as to allow me to record them performing and to share a song with ONE members for this week’s podcast. This song comes direct from Mali to you. Enjoy.
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