Tag: Della Mae

Our favorite ‘grass gals, DELLA MAE, are traveling through Central Asia as part of the U.S. State Department’s American Music Abroad program.  Bassist SHELBY MEANS sent the Sitch an update on their journey and time spent in Pakistan…

Hello beautiful people! This is Shelby Lee Means, reporting from the midst of a 6 week tour of Central Asia with my marvelous bandmates, Della Mae.

Three weeks have flown by since our footsteps fell upon the colorful land of Pakistan. Our first stop in Islamabad was enchanting and chaotic. Wildly we dove in, our jet lagged eyes soaking up the scene.

Each morning we awoke at 5 am wrapped in a cloak of religion as the chanted Call to Worship surrounded the city.

‘There is a prayer right at the edge of my mouth. May my life be likened to a flame for the rest of the world, so I could light it up…’ 
–Pakistani National poet Alama Iqbal
(translation from the song, Lab Pe Aati Hay)

In honor of Alama Iqbal’s birthday, Natasha Ejaz our Pakistani collaborator and dear friend introduced one of Iqbal’s most famous folk songs, Lab Pe Aati Hay, to the ladies of Della Mae. Natasha, a tiny powerhouse performer and infectiously happy young woman sat, queen of the breakfast table, singing, smiling, and patiently teaching the beautiful tune.  The cute elderly manager of our Islamabad Inn served each musician fried eggs and orange juice, and giggled as we struggled to pronounce the Urdu language. While learning this song we felt more connected to Pakistani culture and began to respect the depth of a people so far away from our home country.

Inspired and only slightly tired out, we journeyed through villages, up mountains, and into carpet stores, exchanging songs with children and sipping chai tea with new friends. Our days and nights were filled with food, laughter, and cultural diplomacy.

One special night, the Cultural Affairs Officer for the US Embassy in Islamabad, Brian Gibel, welcomed us to his home for a dinner of traditional Pakistani delicacies.

After the meal, an evening of music and jamming commenced and friends gathered round. Before long, a voice from across the room opened our ears to an intricate melody. We heard a unique compliment, a harmony to the chorus of ‘Ain’t No Ash’. Abbas Ali Kahn, one of the dinner guests, felt inspired to join our song with traditional and improvised Qawwali melodies.

Qawwali is a Sufi vocal style, usually performed for a saint. If the saint is really feeling a particular passage of the song, he will nod his head, and the singer may perform that section for up to TWO hours. This is according to our friend, translator, and tabla hobbyist, Azfer Iqbal. If there were a saint in the room that night he surely would have nodded his head, as Celia and Abbas rendered our hearts to the song.

‘Love is a precious thing I’m told. It burns just like West Virginia coal.
But when the fire dies down its cold. There ain’t no ash will burn.’
–Walt Aldridge

Abbas did not understand the lyrics, yet the Qawwali melody he sang rang out from the mountains.

Pakistanis are a people who rise with a song in their hearts and live with a prayer at their lips.  Our first few weeks have already been transformative, and our journey has just begun.

When given the chance
We will begin to see.
We are not so different after all, you and me.

With love,
Shelby

In our latest recap from the travels of DELLA MAE, we find the group in Tajikistan on their six week U.S. State Department sponsored journey.  Lead singer and guitarist CELIA WOODSMITH describes their recent experience at a local shop run by women in this week’s Dispatch. 

Today was another heartbreaking/heartwarming day, the kind that we have experienced many times over during our travels through Central Asia. Not only was it a day off for us tired souls of Della Mae but also we were able to use our free time to travel to a shop in Dushanbe called Lamis. Lamis was spearheaded by a woman named Marina Specht in March of 2012. The purpose of the shop is to employ vulnerable Afghan refugee women who literally have no other options for work. The women range in age from 20 to about 55 and all were chosen based on a basic knowledge of sewing. All of the chosen seven have at least 4 children and had lost their husbands to war or abandonment. With some extra grant money Marina was able to rent a space, hire a professional tailor to teach them a few tricks and set the women to work making and designing traditionally inspired crafts that are alluring to Westerners.

There are far fewer Afghan refugees in Tajikistan than in Pakistan (7,000 as opposed to almost 2 million) and these refugees have a very hard time incorporating fully into Tajik culture. In 2000 the Mayor of Dushanbe issued a law forcing all Afghan refugees to move outside of the city to rural areas, and forbidding them to live in at least 15 cities. Since then, Tajikistan has only granted citizenship to 1,000 Afghani people who have been living in the country for over two decades. Many of the refugees are unable to make a living because there is no work in these rural areas. They must commute to the city, which is difficult and expensive.

Most Afghan refugees in Tajikistan are somehow able to scrape by on government aid or on NGO handouts. The women working at Lamis make about $130 a month, which allows them to take ownership of their livelihood. As we were talking to the women a few of them started crying when explaining how this shop has given them a purpose. Even though some of them don’t have a home to go to at the end of the day, working has given them a new hope. In their eyes you could see the emotional grief of war that had aged their bodies prematurely.

This was a particularly moving day, especially at the end when we gave them hugs and many of them were crying and whispering “thank you” into our ears. I honestly don’t know what they would thank us for. Perhaps taking the time to listen to their stories, and appreciate them as hardworking, strong and beautiful individuals is enough. Perhaps building these small bridges is the purpose we have been sent to Central Asia for. When enough of them are built, they will be stronger and more resilient than any one large bridge could ever be.
 

To learn more about DELLA MAE‘S journey with American Music Abroad, check out their first post for the Sitch from bassist Shelby Means.