June 3- 9, 2004

music

Making Time

JOURNEYMAN: South African-born Mogauwane Mahloele will end his PFP residency with a concert on Saturday.

Philadelphia Folklore Project's Musicians-in-Residence program gives artists the opportunity to focus on their art.

by Mary Armstrong

The Philadelphia Folklore Project stays busier than the proverbial one-armed paperhanger, intrepid in its mission to document and advocate arts and culture. So why would they decide to add Musicians-in-Residence to their workload?

"That's easy," answers Debora Kodish, the folklorist whose vision founded PFP almost 20 years ago and whose energy remains a major fuel for it today. "We were tired of helping artists whose talents were undeniable to apply for grants then see them not get funded because the panels had no references for judging traditional arts."

So PFP has designed a program that channels funds to support three folk artists per year. Those chosen have a group planning/brainstorming session to develop ideas on how to achieve their goals. "We try to figure how to explain to the world what the artists are doing. Usually that means help with writing — grant proposals, web articles." Kodish sums up the PFP aim: "To give folk artists the support they deserve, the time off to really work on their art without the pressure of another full-time job to support it."

The first year's theme was women in folk arts. Klezmer trumpeter Susan Watts was among the participants. The result was a recording that featured not only Watt's highly refined trumpet but her mother Elaine Hoffman on drums. The duo performed the exclusive Hoffman family klezmer repertoire the two had inherited. Judging by the overpacked CD-release party for I Remember Klezmer at The Point earlier this year and the brisk sales, the PFP residencies have the potential to be life changing for the musicians involved.

Philly native John Wilkie, a master of African drumming, and Tito Rubio, an extraordinary flamenco guitarist from Spain, were both able to make music the center of their lives thanks to residencies with the PFP.

For Wilkie, the position meant he could spend more time behind the drums. He is currently the music director for the Kulu Mele Dance Ensemble.

The PFP residency allows Rubio time off from his day job as a stonemason to explore the rhythmic connections between flamenco and Middle Eastern styles with masters of the latter, like drummer Joe Tayoun and oud player Roger Mgridichian.

Mogauwane Mahloele of Mamelodi, South Africa, is a master builder and player of instruments from a surprising number of African cultures. He now lives in the Philadelphia area, where he has his own studio and a workshop for instrument building. The son of a traditional dancer, he grew up with the music of his BaPedi tribe.

A tradition-bearer does not lightly abandon his home. But in his student days in the '70s Mahloele took part in the black consciousness movement which urged the end of apartheid. "During that time, if you were very active, the police would come at 4 a.m., burst into the home to look for people," recalls Mahloele. "The police came looking for me. The interrogations were very bad. They would torture almost any information out of you."

Thus Mahloele's sojourns began in Swaziland, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. "I've been in most of the African countries," he recalls. When it became apparent that living free in South Africa was not going to be an option anytime soon, he left for Germany. More wandering finally led him to Philadelphia where his traditional playing and instrument building has won him much respect.

"I want people to know me as a traditional artist, despite the fact that I can play with any jazz artist that there is." Collaborations with renowned artists Byard Lancaster, Khan Jamal, Hugh Masekela and the Art Ensemble of Chicago prove the point.

"I had to figure how to get my name out there," Mahloele says. He opted for his own studio and label, and when he couldn't find sufficient space in the city, he looked beyond, finally settling for a fixer-upper in Yardley where his family shares an address with the Dikoma Aesthetics studio.

Mahloele enjoys teaching others how to make the instruments and about some of their uses. As in his residency with Spiral Q where he taught drum building, sharing the knowledge with a community of sympathetic souls is more effective in promoting understanding than working in isolation on instruments for sale. Not that he'll stop working at home entirely. His preschool-age son already has a keen interest in building and playing with his dad.

Mahloele's goal for the PFP residency was to go back to South Africa for the first time in 27 years. He hoped for a quiet return, but his niece arranged a small press contingent to meet him at the airport. He was invited to play in a festival on New Year's Day for more than 60,000 people. For the first time in nearly three decades he was able to sing in his own BaPedi language without having to offer translation. Best of all though was waking up in the morning and hearing that language all around. "It was like heaven."

The sound of the marketplace and songs of the vendors will be the core of one of the compositions Mahloele will record at Indre Studio, to bring this year's PFP residency to a close.

Mogauwane Mahloele will play with Tito Rubio and John Wilkie, Sat., June 5, 7:30 p.m., Indre Studios, 1418 S. Darien St., $10, 215-468-7871, www.folkloreproject.org.