This might be my favorite blog post yet! Don't worry, I laughed at the wood chopping. I also liked the comment about Skyward Sword. I'm watching Ken play it right now! I recently obtained my B. I am spending a year studying music and improvisation in Africa on a Watson Fellowship before applying to graduate school in applied physics. RSS Feed. I recline in the back of the moving trailer, watching thousands of stars twinkle behind the deep purple jacaranda trees overhead. A strong floral scent lingers in the late-spring air while I listen to the jazzy beats of Zimbabwean music star Alick Macheso.
Turning my head, I see an elaborate towering rock formation, dimly illuminated in the moonglow, on top of which sits a small monkey munching on something assuredly very tasty. My next stop: the remote mountainous village of Dewedzo for a week-long rain-making mbira ceremony, accompanied by music maestro Fradreck Mujuru and my new friend Eugene Seah from Boulder, CO.
View Larger Map. I laugh out loud to myself as a bump in the road tosses my body skyward a few inches. Peering over the driver seat, I see that we are in fact not driving on a road at all, but instead swerving around boulders and between mutamba trees.
M ust be getting close! I think to myself. Rising with the sun at am the following day, I see the Mujuru's village for the first time—a cluster of straw-roofed huts, a well for drinking water, a small room with a fireplace and couches, and sprawling fields overlooking the hilly countryside below.
We take a quick breakfast, water the fields, and let the cattle out of the kraal. Mujuru's home in Dewedzo, Zimbabwe. Around midday, Mujuru asks, "Would you like to come for a minute trip to collect some firewood for the banya [sacred communal gathering space]?
