A Week of Musical and Cinematic Entertainment
on Shona in Sierra Leone (Sierra Leone), 24/Oct/2010 17:02, 34 days ago
Tuesday evening I really needed some escapism from the world of the hospital so went to Mumba Point Restaurant with the other VSOs– they have a film club there and this week were showing “Letters to Juliet” – an big cheese-fest starring the girl from Mama Mia. It was just what I needed and we were all laughing hysterically at the cheese factor. Mumba Point is also (apparently) the only restaurant in Freetown where youcan get sushi – they fly it in from Belgium – so comes at a price. I had some rather good humous and flat bread instead. Howard and Freya shared the biggest pizza I have ever seen so I will definitely be back there to sample one (pizzas being a rarity in SL)!An SL Ceilidh (sort of)!On Wednesday evening the Ballanta Music School put on an evening of Sierra Leonean Music and Dance. This was held at the British Council and was the largest gathering of white people I had seem for a long time (until the following night– see below!) It was a brilliant mix of traditional music – ranging from a group who improvised instruments using a stool, a saw and a battered looking table (this came from slave times we were told), to a large group of boys who danced around in a circle playing a cross between a vuvuzela and adidgeridoo, accompanied by a whistle and a bass drum. They looked a bit like football hooligans and I wondered what Simon Cowell would have made of them… The best group were led by the oldest man I have seen in SL so far who had the largest smile I have ever seen and was dressed in a rather fetching outfit in the colours of the SL flag – blue, white and green. They were followed by a fantastic bunch of boys and girls dancing (some were so thin I thought they should go to TFC…) The two youngest looked about three years old but were clearly developmentally older and they were hilarious doing cartwheels and backflips across the stage (hilarious because they very cutely kept accidentally banging into one another and knocking themselves over).“Cow” for dinnerBefore the show Becky and I got something to eat at the British Council– we were offered some cous-cous. Becky asked if there was any meat in said cous-cous; we were told that, yes, there was “cow” with the cous-cous. Becky asked if they would kindly take the cow out of hers’. I said, yes I would love to have some cow with my cous-cous. And very nice it was too!How the other half live….Thursday evening and all British Nationals in SL had been invited to IMATT (the British army base here) for a concert put on by the Well Cathedral School choir. We got all dressed up to go out and had a lovely evening. I felt like we had been transported back to Oxford– the choir girls were those Oxford preppy types with crazy hair all over the place and terribly posh voices (I’m allowed to say this because I live in Oxford….). They were amazing singers and musicians though and I had tingles down my spine as they sung The Flower Duet (the BA advert music).There was also a flautist (who has just been made principal flautist for the British National Orchestra), a trumpeter, a saxophonist, a number of pianists and a girl who hula-hooped to some African drumming.The evening was held in the Officer’s Mess so I also got some military chat and met a really nice RAF regiment couple who have just arrived. IMATT is in a fantastic location up the hills overlooked by the American Embassy. They have a beautiful outdoor pool and a gorgeous view from the balcony of the Mess (not that I’m jealous ofcourse…) All in all it was a thoroughly nice evening – a Very British Evening. (Margaret and Roger – I also met Anthony – Roger’s counterpart here in SL – so it was great to finally meet him!)