The Clemency-clef Project
Timbuktu-UK Choir Exchange
The Clemency-clef Project
In 2017 we founded our first peacebuilding-through-music project.
To build tolerance, understanding and compassion, and to bridge gaps between cultures and religions, we partnered a Christian German brass orchestra (Lazarus Posaunenchor), a Catholic West African choir (Saint Martin de Porres) and several Muslim and Baye Fall musicians and recording artists based in Toubab Dialaw, Senegal.
The music repertoire was in part handcrafted by the genius of an American-French composer and musician based in Berlin, Nickolas Morrison. Morrison took traditional Senegalese rhythms and styles and recrafted them to suit the German brass choir (Posaunenchor) instrumentation and sound, allowing room for the collaboration and co-performance of the West African choir and Muslim and Baye Fall musicians as well.
The tour’s other repertoire included traditional Catholic, Christian and Muslim pieces (and some jamming!) founded in each groups’ cultural and religious backgrounds. The Senegal-based tour had three stops in 2018, the Ndem Daara (Ndem), the theatre at Sobo Bade (Toubab Dialaw) and the Blaise Senghor Center (Dakar).
As international travel opens up again, funding is being sought for the second stage of the project. It is envisioned that the West African choir and Muslim and Baye Fall musicians travel to Germany. The four-part musical entourage hopes to perform across Germany, bringing with it increased tolerance, understanding and compassion for others.
Update: Saint Dominique’s, the host parish of the Saint Martin de Porres choir, has recently established its own brass band (!). We hope to add them into the mix and make this project a five-part entourage!
You can learn more about the Clemency-clef project on its website.
Timbuktu-UK Choir Exchange
This Exchange was envisioned by the “anarchic soprano & musician”, Heidi Heidelberg. Her vision was to establish a partnership and exchange between an UK-based choir and the Choir from Timbuktu featured in the Sahel Calling Project and the Sahel Calling film and CD perk.
Due to security and access issues, however, this wonderful vision has not yet manifested. Stay tuned for updates!
Have an idea for a peacebuilding-through-music project? Want to collaborate with us? Bounce some ideas off of us? Need some contacts? Email us at info@sahelcalling.com