Parade of One, Inc. is an organization that promotes socially aware musical performances, with the goal of reaching audiences in post-conflict societies; it's about finding ways to simply feel the joy of music, and then interacting in new ways within that natural sphere. Parade of One’s performances emphasize a move away from the traditional, scripted role of the musician which is to record albums and give concerts. Instead, the concentration is placed on creating new and previously unthinkable ways of appreciating and enjoying musical talent. At the moment, for instance, Parade of One is working on “trying to harvest electricity from saxophones”. Sound insane? Well, sometimes ideas sound insane before they’ve been tried. Parade of One’s first project certainly did. The idea was this: one man goes on parade through Rwanda in an attempt to commemorate and raise awareness for the 15th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide and to celebrate growing peace. Oddly, it became a real collaborative and community effort and the parade has since opened up new perspectives, friendships, and ways of thinking about the ramifications of violence and war, and about the real work that goes into peace.
New York City saxophonist Jeremy Danneman is the man who started all of this. He’s also the man who went on the Rwandan parade.
PULSE: How did this happen? How did you get the idea of going to Rwanda?
Jeremy: This year instead of having a birthday party, I had a birthday parade: I actually took my saxophone and went for a parade through the cities of NYC. Friends joined me at different points along the route. Afterwards, I was thinking of other ways to parade and I got the idea of having a parade in Rwanda
And why Rwanda?
I’ve always thought of Rwanda and followed what goes on in that part of the world. I was quite young at the time of the genocide – I was in 8th grade in 1994, the time that it occurred -- but I remember it having a strong affect on me. Having learned more about it in recent years, I’ve come to see parallels between that situation and the situation that my own family went through and survived, the German Holocaust. My grandmother survived it and my grandfather fled Nazi Germany, so these things resonate in that way for me. It’s perhaps why I started researching Rwanda to such a great extent: it feels like something that we might all want to better understand rather than look over or forget. The 15th anniversary of the genocide was this year (2009) so I thought it was the perfect time to do something to commemorate that.
So how did you make your idea to parade through Rwanda actually come to fruition? You’ve gotten a lot done in a small amount of time, so how did you do that? How did it all come together?
First I went on the internet and looked for people who had been to Rwanda and I sent them emails telling them what I wanted to do, and I told them to tell me if my idea was too crazy and stupid and that if it was, I wouldn't do it. But people wrote back and said that it was a good idea. I heard from Rwandans themselves, and they were like “yeah, you should do that” and so I kept trying to make it happen. Someone helped me set up a web site and then things just starting happening from there.
It sounds like people have been very giving and helpful. That must make you feel like you’ve taken the right step somehow.
Yeah. It’s been surprising how I’ve met this whole network of people because of it.
What is it you hope comes out of your projects at Parade of One? What makes it important for you? What’s the gift?
A lot of it is bringing music to people in a new way. I think what was different between what I was doing with my birthday parade and what people usually do when they play on NYC streets was that I was mobile. And that gave people a lot of surprise, because you’d turn a corner and there was this guy playing saxophone coming at you. Seeing their expressions was really fun. In Rwanda, it was similar but on a whole other level of course. When it comes to the project itself, Parade of One, I don’t know exactly what I want to come of it: you never know until it's happening. And it's really not even about what I want. Being an improviser, leaving that question open, is what makes it so that I can accomplish anything as the opportunities come, take things as they come. But if I had to say what some expectations are, I guess I'd say simply to meet new people that I can relate to, create things with, and have longstanding friendships with.
How did the people you met in Rwanda react to your first project there, the parade itself?
The people of Rwanda were very appreciative of my performances, and I could not have felt more welcome there! When I played on the street, I attracted sometimes very large crowds of all ages, and was surprised to see that they danced to music that isn't traditionally "danceable." Usually they asked me why I was doing it, so I told them how the genocide moved me to perform there, and that usually generated applause. Of course, some people thought I was crazy or traumatized, until they spoke with me and realized I was doing what I was I doing for a good reason.
Street performances and saxophones are very unusual in Rwanda, so I certainly received a lot of attention!
What was the experience of the parade like for you?
At times, I was in such a mad rush to accomplish my goals that my main experience was often that of being in a crazed frenzy! I was trying to perform on the street, in venues, make a film, work with children, etc. All in a country where I didn't speak the language or know how a lot of the basic things work like banks and cell phones. So the frenzy of it all was a big part of the experience.
In retrospect, I'd certainly say it was a formative personal experience. It's reinforced my sense that community development is a major role of music in society. When people from different or even hostile backgrounds enjoy listening to or performing music together this helps them connect with one another. I'm now more fixed than ever in my conviction that the emphasis of my projects should be the positive impact it might have on people and communities.
Could you tell us about one of the more memorable experiences you had there?.
It's hard to decide which moment to share, but one that I'd like to relive is the first day when I played improvised saxophone music on the street for the first time in Rwanda. The location was Kimironko Market. At this point, I'd just arrived, and I had no idea how I'd be received or what to expect. It was such a thrill! The people started gathering around before I'd even finished putting my sax together, and they were so appreciative and had so many questions for me. It is in this way that I found out how much Rwandans love the pro-peace message, and how thirsty they are for music! It also reinforces my interest in improvisation. When we as musicians include improvisation in what we do, we are able to respond to our surroundings rather than recite a pre-written script. This couldn't have been more important, since I was performing in a culture that I had no experience of. But my ability, as an experienced improviser, to react to what was going on and adjust the music to my immediate surroundings came in very handy!
I also appreciated any moment that I spent performing for or with children in Rwanda, including the Rwa Makondera Children's dance group, the Muhima Primary School, and the Gisimba Orphanage. ....
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Facts About Rwanda (from the website Parade of One)
Rwanda and the Rwandan Genocide
Rwanda is a landlocked country in East-central Africa. Because of its hilly terrain, it is also known as the "Land of a Thousand Hills." With over ten million inhabitants, it is the most densely populated country in Africa. Most of the people are subsistence farmers, and three quarters of them live on less than $1.25 a day. The capital is Kigali, and the people of Rwanda speak one language, called Kinyarwanda.
In the late 1800s, Germany began the process of colonizing Rwanda, but Belgium took over during World War I. Both colonizing forces exploited the Hutu and Tutsi ethnic distinctions to weaken the indigenous people and assert their own power. Tutsis were made into the governing class, while Hutus were subservient. The Roman Catholic Church, also complicit in the ethnic divisions, ran the educational system, and created two different programs, one for Tutsis and one for Hutus.
On July 1, 1962 Belgium granted full independence to Rwanda. Though the colonizers left, the ethnic divisions they exploited continued to simmer. The backlash against the ethnic hierarchy would continue for decades, and the effects are still felt today.
In 1990, the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF,) a rebel army composed mostly of Tutsi refugees and Hutu political dissidents began it's invasion of Rwanda from neighboring Uganda. This marked the beginning of the Rwandan Civil War, with France backing the Hutu dominated Rwandan government and the USA backing the RPF.
On April 6, 1994, an airplane carrying the presidents of Rwanda and Burundi was shot down in Kigali. To this day, blame is still being passed around about who was responsible for the attack. What is certain is that the assassination of Habyarimana, who'd been president of Rwanda from 1973 to his death in 1994, was a major event leading up to the genocide in which nearly a million Rwandans were killed. The murders were carried out mostly by regular people with machetes, without regard for whether the victim was a combatant, man, woman, or child. Rwandan radio stations announced where victims were hiding and encouraged militias to attack. In addition to murders, there were hundreds of thousands of rapes, exacerbating an already dire HIV epidemic.
Finally in July 1994, the RPF led by now President Paul Kagame won the Rwandan civil war. Since then, many of the people responsible for war crimes have been imprisoned, but many more live free, even in the same neighborhoods as the relatives of those they killed. Rwandans are just trying to get along with one other another the best they can and not focus on past ethnic divisions. In fact, now they try to use words like Hutu and Tutsi as little as possible. They also have severe poverty and an AIDS epidemic to conquer. Rwandans have been remarkably successful in maintaining an ever-growing, but still fragile peace.
Currently, tourism is the fastest growing sector of the Rwandan economy. Gorillas and other primates are the main attraction, highlighting the natural beauty of the country. Many visitors, though, are not as interested as they could be in what might be learned from Rwanda's recent history.
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EXCERPTS FROM JEREMY'S BLOGGING FROM RWANDA. And you can find out even more at (www.paradeofone.org) or write to Jeremy directly at Jeremy@paradeofone.org
…Soundcheck for Goethe Institute gig today proved to be a lengthy procedure, for the usual reasons. The sound engineers were a little late, and there was some general dilly-dallying. I decided to practice some clarinet while I was waiting around. A young woman in a headscarf was reading from a piece of paper nearby and started to wander in my direction. When she got really close, I stopped playing clarinet, and her reading came to a sudden halt. She looked at me annoyed, and signaled with her hands that I was to continue playing while she read, so I launched into Odessa Bulgar, an old klezmer tune, and she started reading very dramatically in French. I then started playing an old Doina as she continued to read. Though I don’t understand French, I appreciated the way her voice adapted to the peaks and valleys of the music. When we finished, she introduced herself as Natasha. Her theater group was rehearsing in the same building that I was soundchecking. She was preparing for a trip to Beirut, where she’d be reading this piece for a theater festival of french speaking countries. (Rwanda is in fact doing away with French in favor of English, but it is still widely spoken.) Eventually she would be performing it to musical accompaniment, so she thought she’d practice with me. I much appreciated her spontaneity and character. Her English was nearly perfect, but she said she could never write in English, because she’s too much of a perfectionist. We established that she’d be acting in Daddy’s next film, and it was quite a mystery to me that I hadn’t already met her. She then dropped the name, “Kiki” and said, “I think you know her right?” It turns out I had met Kiki in Brooklyn just a short while before I departed for Rwanda. It was at the Blue Marbles fundraiser to open an ice cream shop in Butare (www.bluemarbledreams.org) Kiki is the theater director at the National University. And sure enough she showed up to the gig that night.
… The gig drew a couple-few hundred people of all ages, and a good mix of Rwandans and expats. The entrance was free to make it accessible, though the location was hard to reach without a cab, probably hurting the turnout among some of the less well-to-do.
… I think the American musicians among my readers will understand when I say I was not so crazy about playing tunes like Blue Bossa and Chameleon (these are songs many of us have played way too much,) but it was a trade-off. I played the old jazz tunes with them, and they played the old Rwandan hits with me. The music was much appreciated, and an event of this kind and scope is extremely rare in Rwanda. I particularly appreciated playing clarinet with Sophie, the Inanga player. I also enjoyed starting off the evening with two lengthy unaccompanied saxophone pieces. Some people told me afterwards that it was their favorite part.
…Today, I recorded some inanga and clarinet duets with Sophie. It was a nice day, and we recorded outside. I’m hoping this can be an interesting sample of some of the music I’ve made in Rwanda, though it’s just one of the many different styles I’ve played here. I also had several social appointments. With my departure being tomorrow, I have quite a lot of goodbyes to make. I received a text message from Emmy today, asking if I could give him some money before I left, and I agreed to meet him tomorrow and help him out. I feel that I owe him a little for his role in the film....
read more at www.paradeofone.org