on music in niamey...

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there is such a random assortment of music tastes here...
as i said before, there is french rap which is greatly influenced by american rap, but then celine dion is HUGE here. joe thomas, akron, and the new craze from cote d'ivoire the "couper de caler" with a dance balancing on one foot.
i have heard madonna, barbie girl, men in black, rigatone a lot
there is a stereo in the library at the cfca where we live and the boys bring it out every night to listen
souk is really big too, cheesy french love ballads
guys dance really well here
after a long day of seeing girls in brightly colored, yet conservative, pagnes all day it throwzs me when they go to the clubs less dressed than us.

we had musicians come to our performing arts class last night
two calabash players and an odjey player, a one string violin. they usually play for possesion ceremonies to call spirits for help and advice through a medium, someone who gets possesed. but they played for us in a non ceremony setting. so cool

the street kids i'm working with bring out empty powdered milk cans when we come so we can play and they dance. they have rythm in their bones
the little babies tied to their mothers backs get the rythm of everything,the swaying walk, pounding millet, dancing

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