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"NIGHTLIGHT"
Two recitals in Gaborone and a day of flute classes with Wissam Boustany and Jeanette Micklem, 12th and 13th February 2009
by Lauren Turner It is a hot and dusty evening in Gaborone, the capital city of Botswana, a large African country (the size of France) with only 2 million people residing there. Picture a quaint yet adequately sized music hall right in the middle of the capital city. It is a warm African evening and the music hall is alive with activity. People of all ages, races and cultures are gathering eagerly to enjoy an evening of entertainment from Wissam Boustany and Zimbabwean pianist Jeanette Micklem. It is the first concert of its kind heard in Gaborone. * * * I first became interested in Gaborone's musical scene when my parents moved there in 2001. I was just finishing high school in Zimbabwe and was addicted to music and playing my flute. Whilst in Gaborone I attended a local music course for a week. An annual event, involving musicians and dancers from all over Botswana, where you learn about different instruments and participate in workshops culminating in a public concert. Surprisingly for me I was the only flautist on this course and the only other classical instrumentalists were 2 recorder players and a pianist. This was a very different setting from Zimbabwe, where classical music is well established and there are many young flautists and other classical musicians. It is also extremely different from the music scene I have come to know and experience for the past 7 years I have lived/spent in London! I learnt a great deal about the traditional instruments of Botswana and tried my hand at few, including the marimba and the segaba (a simple mono-stringed instrument played with a miniscule bow!). There was dancing, singing and instrumental workshops, and concerts throughout the week. Everyone was wonderfully enthusiastic and humble about his or her talents, but I noticed a distinct lack of young flautists and I was desperate to find them. The classical musicians on the course were mainly made up of expatriates - many of whom only stay in the country on a temporary basis, therefore it is difficult to develop the classical music scene that has emerged in neighbouring countries as Zimbabwe and South Africa where expatriates tend to stay on much longer. There are many music teachers doing fantastic things in schools in Gaborone but they are often stretched in all directions. Not only do they teach class music, but lead after school ensembles, teach an array of instruments, oversee private instrumental lessons, prepare for graded exams and organise regular concerts!
Wissam addressing the class alongside Celine, the head of music at Maru-a-Pula It was in the summer of 2008, after finishing my music degree under the tutelage of Wissam, that I came up with the idea of a tour to Gaborone. International artists have, of course, visited Botswana before but this was the first flute and piano recital that included a big focus on the young flautists and musicians of Gaborone. We wanted them involved, learning and experiencing as much as possible. Together with Wissam and Jeanette, I started to organise a tour that would include 2 recitals and a day of flute classes in Gaborone. This would be an offshoot from a Zimbabwe tour where they were to perform in Harare and Bulawayo. We wanted the first recital in Gaborone to be the more formal one (with repertoire mentioned below) and the second to be a charity concert, involving myself and students from the classes with all the proceeds destined for a local school to buy new instruments. As many of us in the flute world know, Wissam's master classes create a vibrant forum for the exchange of ideas and long-term international collaborations, and this was the perfect opportunity. I teamed up with the local music company, Maitisong, which is led by Ros Beukes, their forward thinking and enthusiastic director, and Celine Matthee, multi-talented head of music at the Maru-a-Pula School. “Maru-a-pula” means “clouds of rain" or "promises of blessings" in Setswana, the national language of Botswana. The school was founded in 1972 to serve as a model of non-racial education in southern Africa, and it is here that Maitisong is based. The music department at Maru-a-Pula is wonderful. Celine has built up some fantastic foundations with a forty-person orchestra, recorders galore, strings and winds. Celine is actually a clarinettist but has also taken on the role of flute teacher and likens her students to “sponges, ready to absorb as much flutey information as possible!” Most of the flautists involved were from Maru-a-Pula and we decided to donate the proceeds of the concert to their music department. In Setswana, ‘Maitisong’ literally means “a place of entertainment” and, true to its name, a theatre was built at the school in 1986 to serve the pupils and the community. It is the only theatre to have been purpose built since Independence from Britain in 1966. There is also a Maitisong festival that has facilitated performances from Abdullah Ibrahim, Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Oliver Mtukudzi, as well as many other International classical artists. It is fairly safe to say that most all of the music, dance and drama in Gaborone happen at Maitisong! It has played a vital role in the community and has enriched the lives of all the children there - adding a valuable cultural facet to their education. It is this important foundation that we wanted to build on. After many months of writing proposals, emailing, long distance phone calls and emergency meetings our plans were given the green light. Ros sought funding from the British Council and with joint support from Maitisong it was all systems go. Wissam, Jeanette and I arrived in Gaborone to a hugely warm welcome. We were overcome with the humble generosity that greeted us. With no time to lose it was straight in to rehearsals at 8pm at night whilst it was blisteringly hot outside. Many people who attended the first recital had never heard a flute in performance before and the audience were divinely entertained by a great variety of music. The programme ran as follows: Georg Friederich Handel – “Sonata in A minor” Tarek Younis – “Rising from the Ashes” Wil Offermans – “Honami” (solo flute) York Bowen – “Sonata” Ian Clarke – “Orange Dawn” Wissam Boustany – “...and the wind whispered” (solo flute) Jules Mouquet – “La flute de pan”
The next day began with classes. There were around 10 students with wide ranging abilities from grade 3 to grade 8. The ages varied from 11 to 18 years old and they were all girls!! Not one of these students had ever been to a group master class before or worked with musicians like Wissam and Jeanette. They were incredibly nervous at first, but after a tentative start they soon got into the swing of things. Celine was particularly interested in how to motivate the intermediate student, and for us all to enjoy the passion that music brings. We also spoke together about tips for beginners: how to warm up, practice advice, working on tone quality and performance skills. The students had prepared classical repertoire, some from graded examinations. Wissam encouraged them to play from memory and even walk around the room whilst playing. The girls responded to him so well, with at least three of them reciting their entire pieces from memory, a task they undertook with apparent ease and familiarity.
grade 4 secondary school student playing Bach With the class underway I had the opportunity to teach some of the girls privately and prepare some duets with them for the concert that evening. The main challenge this presented for them was having the courage to go on stage and perform in front of lots of people. However, they responded brilliantly; full of questions and keen for the challenge, they played with confidence and musicality. In the afternoon session the girls performed some ensemble pieces, which then gave me the opportunity to coach them on chamber music. It was a chance to explore their ideas on how the piece should sound, thinking about performance skills and how the flutes balance with each other, and to consider the style and history of the type of music they are playing. Mostly I was encouraging them to be more confident, not only with their playing but with their ideas too. Alongside teaching and rehearsing, I was helping the British Council to organise radio interviews for Wissam. Any spare moment was also spent desperately trying to practise my own piece for the performance that evening! At the end of a long day of classes there was an opportunity for the audience, students and teachers to ask Wissam questions. He responded to topics from practise time to playing from memory, instruments and his own experiences. The nervous girls at the start had blossomed into confident Wissam-loving flautists and couldn’t get enough of his energy and knowledge. That evening the students all participated in a joint performance with Wissam, Jeanette and me. It was their first public performance, to over 250 people, and the ensemble music was prepared that day! It was a great success and we raised over £1200 for Maru-a-Pula.
final concert, last piece with the students Monies raised at this concert enabled me to organise instruments to be sent from London to Gaborone. Two of the girls who were involved had flutes barely in working order; it was a wonder that they could get a note out of them! Unfortunately the nearest repairer is a 5-hour drive away and it takes months to fix. Maru-a-Pula was also in desperate need for a couple of clarinets, a saxophone and an advanced flute. In July, with the assistance of Jonathan Myall at Just Flutes, we sent out 2 beginner clarinets, 1 alto saxophone, 2 beginner flutes, and an Azumi flute for a more advanced student along with a “do-it-yourself” repair kit. Jonathan also kindly included a set of fifes for young beginners! My main goal was for us to visit Botswana to inspire and develop the young flautists’ performance skills. I wanted the classic flute recital to reach a new demographic and to display its educational aspect with the students performing on stage with the guest artists. With the help of everyone mentioned, we managed to achieve this goal. There is obviously huge interest for future work with a follow up on the new instruments and students who played to us. I was excited to receive an email from Ros informing me that at the Presidents Annual Concert in December 3 of the students we met performed a piece called “Humming Birds” composed by Guru-Laasya Annadevara, which was inspired by Wissam's workshops! I hope this is a venture we can continue; there is definite enthusiasm for it. I am aiming to visit Botswana this summer and organise some small classes and hope that I can continue to be a part of the Gaborone and Maitisong music scene for a long while yet! by Lauren Turner
Lauren Turner - Biography
Lauren graduated from Trinity College of Music with a BMus (Hons) in 2007 where she studied the flute with Wissam Boustany.
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