Buzz from the Field

Realizing The Third Goal, One Song At A Time

by David Bleckley

haring songs is one of the most immediate ways to engage Peace Corpss Third Goal because music is a cultural universal that somehow taps into humanitys shared experience. Music creates memories for Peace Corps Volunteers ranging from the tinny sound of the minibus drivers battery-powered tape player blaring from the dashboard to the lively festival performances in the middle of the town or village to the private moments when we hear a mothers lullaby or a counterpart singing during work. These memories punctuate Returned Peace Corps Volunteers stories, emerge on playlists and mix tapes, and forever change the way we listen to and hear the world around us. For some RPCVs, local music makes an even deeper impact on our work and inspires us to continue to connect with our host countries through music. This article explores the way two other RPCVs and I have worked toward the Third Goaland continue to work on the First Goalthrough music. Casey Dickey (Mali 200709) is a composer and musician who is rapidly gaining a reputation for his jazz and contemporary brass compositions. His experience in Peace Corps exposed him to the amazing music being performed around West Africa, and he wanted to record it to help artists share their work with audiences around the world. African music is often portrayed as homogenous and static, but Casey saw that musical diversity can exist even within a small region and wanted to demonstrate to listeners the continual changes music undergoes. In September and October 2012, he traveled to Senegal and Mali, drawing on his own

Casey Dickey

Soku player Brahima Kumare from Segou, Mali, during his recording session with Casey Dickey.

memories, the knowledge of local PCVs and the kindness of strangers to direct him to the best local performers. With backpacks of microphones, camcorders and a laptop, he recorded and documented performances spanning the musical spectrum from young instrumental protgs to Tabaski (the local name for the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha) celebrants and from emerging hip-hop artists to polyrhythmic balafon groups. The SenegalMali Project was an experiment in some ways; Casey would love to meet artists and record the music of the world full-time if he could make a career of that work. A successful Kickstarter campaign gave him some startup funds to begin the project, and he is currently selling the final recordings as a double album on Bandcamp (http://farafinamusic. bandcamp.com/). If record sales earn a profit, Casey plans to return the proceeds to the artists he recorded to

encourage them to keep sharing their culture with the world. Adam Klein (Mali 200204) is a singersongwriter and founder of the independent record label Cowboy Angel Music. During his Peace Corps service, he developed relationships with local musicians and nurtured his love for traditional Mand music. Adams country folk/ Americana lyrics and melodies draw heavily on his experiences in Mali. In February 2010, he traveled to Bamako to record a Mand album, singing primarily in Bambara while his local musician friends play traditional instrumentation. The effort was funded through a Kickstarter campaign and resulted in the 2012 release of Dugu Wolo (http://adamklein.bigcartel. com/product/dugu-wolo). The album is a celebration of both American roots and the evolution of Mand music. Documentarian Jason Miller accompanied Adam, and a video documenting the journey and the recording process is currently in postproduction. The music represents the Third Goal elegantly: sharing not only the culture of Mali but an RPCVs experience of that culture. I spent years grappling with ideas for overcoming the financial barriers to the community-driven, asset-based development work I observed during my Peace Corps service. Thinking of local music as an untapped asset for development, I realized that the economic and cultural forces of globalization could be turned upside down to create opportunities for small communities around the world to share their culture and generate

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Jason Miller

Adam Klein during his Mand recording sessions in Bamako, Mali.

Recording session, Thiaraguene Cognadji, Senegal.

seed funding for development work. The proliferation of digital music distribution helped me further develop the idea, and in 2011, I reached out to Peace Corps/Senegal to explore piloting the project there. Working closely with PCV Joshua Snyder, the project recorded music in two small villages near Koungheul, developed a copyright agreement that assigns the rights of the songs to the community itself (rather than to the individual musicians or the project) and released the first recordings in April 2013 (www.commmunityvoiceinternational. org). I incorporated Community Voice International as a nonprofit organization to expand the pilot project in Senegal and eventually to communities around the world. By building communities capacity to share their culture, I hope to improve cultural understanding and create opportunities for community members to fund local development efforts. Music creates bonds between people and facilitates cultural understanding in unique ways. Community Voice International Board Member Jim Russell (Thailand 198587) observed, As it stands now in many communities, the overwhelming amount of cultural information is one-way with movies and music and news coming from all over

the world (mostly developed country contexts) into the communities. These three examples show how the RPCV community can help culture to flow in both directions and utilize music to foster connections worldwide.

David Bleckley was a sustainable agriculture and community development Volunteer in Senegal from 2002 to 2003. He is the founder of the nonprofit startup Community Voice International.

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Joshua Snyder