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Garth Prince
WINTER NEWSLETTER 2013

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In This Issue:
My first Artist in Residence
When more than 230 Elementary students sing my African tunes

Meet local (and international) African Author

Edmonton-based award-winning childrens author, Tololwa Mollel

Becoming Canadian
After four years in Canada, I am finally starting to consider myself

THE GARTH PRINCE NEWSLETTER

WINTER 2013

Recent Achievements
I remember a quote from when I worked in the corporate world Awards are not the most important things, but they certainly let you know youre heading in the right direction.

Cultural Diversity in the Arts Award

The City of Edmonton established this award, through the Edmonton Arts Council, to recognize artists from all parts of the world who enrich Edmontons cultural scene. I am happy to inform you that this award, to me, comes with a $7500 payment! This will recoup about 75% of the costs related to releasing my first album.

Music Awards Nomination

My debut album has just been nominated for: Best R&B/Soul Recording in the 2013 Edmonton Music Awards. Unfortunately there is no World Music category.

Alberta Small Towns Rock!

I have had a great opportunity to improve my winter driving. My most recent shows have all been out of town. I was in Barrhead, Wainwright and Days/Strome. All the concerts were sold out. My band and I had a great time together. SMALL TOWNS = BIG WELCOME!

About Our Live Show

Great show last night. Very enjoyable evening. Denis Chalifoux (audience member) Super Entertainment! Barrhead Arts Council It was a very enjoyable night of African music. THE RIGHT ANGLE Custom Framing and Design (Concert Sponsor)
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An article from The Barrhead Leader the towns local newspaper.

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THE GARTH PRINCE NEWSLETTER

WINTER 2013

In the summer of 2012, I received an invitation from Jan Selman, drama professor at the University of Alberta. She was working with Tololwa and a few other professional actors and a musician on ADISI Storyhouse. This is an ongoing story performance/theatre series based on Mollels books and stories. I was asked to work as composer and African music consultant on From Lands of the Night, Tololwas new African tale soon to be published. This venture started the working relationship between Tololwa and me. It also introduced us to our current accompanist, Karen Porkka, who was part of Storyhouse. Tololwas story performance project was a major inspiration for me.

Meet a Friend, Mentor and Partner in the Arts Tololwa Mollel

In the months that followed, Tololwa and I started to explore possibilities. My vast experience with African folk music, and his stories: a perfect match. We then collaborated for a summer program at Edmontons Africa Centre. When it came time for me to do an Artist-in-Residence, I knew a Story Performance would be the best way to introduce students to Africa. I asked Tololwa to partner with me by coming in and doing the narration at the concert with the students. They were absolutely thrilled to meet not only an African musician but also an African author, all in the same week!

Subira Subira
A book by Tololwa Mollel
I chose this story as the concert theme for my first Artist-inResidence because I simply love the song Subira Subira which you can find right at the back of the book. Story and song have always been such great partners. It was my great pleasure to strengthen that bond for this story and performance. Tatu finds it hard to get along with her younger brother Maulidi. Her quest to turn him into a better person leads her on an enchanting adventure that includes meeting a mysterious spirit-woman and a lion! My 3-year-old daughter attended the concert and I took the time to read her the book after she saw the concert. She hasnt stopped singing Subira Subira since!

THE GARTH PRINCE NEWSLETTER

WINTER 2013

Resources for You

Jambo Bwana
Translation: Hello Sir. How are you? Very fine! Foreigners, you are welcome! In our Kenya, there is no problem. E-mail me at info@garthprince.com to get a free mp3 version, which I sing as a draft. This enables anyone to learn the song, whether you use sheet music or not! You can also substitute Kenya with Africa.

ARTS & CRAFTS: SHAKER BRACELETS! Supplies: Pipe cleaners, bells, assorted beads Instructions: Hand out one or two pipe cleaner(s) per student. Students can adorn their pipe cleaner(s) with bells and beads as they please. Help twist the pipe cleaner(s) closed around students wrist. Wear the bracelet(s) when performing an African song!
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THE GARTH PRINCE NEWSLETTER

WINTER 2013

Becoming Canadian eh?

Artist-in-Residence
After years of concerts and workshops for schools across Canada, I planned my first complete Artist-in-Residence program. The basic structure of the initial program: 1. Teachers receive music and arts & craft instructions ahead of time. Students start to learn the lyrics and melodies before I arrive. 2. When I arrive, I spend the week introducing movement and African performance techniques. Our goal is to put on a concert at the end of the week. 3. My accompanist and fellow musician Karen, and Tololwa as storyteller and story performance writer arrive later in the week. We introduce the African story well work with. Students learn how the music they perform will complement the narration done by Tololwa at the concert. Changes for future programs: We have since introduced the option for schools to bring in Tololwa as storyteller and story performance writer for the whole week as well. This enriches the experience for students and creates more opportunities for engagement with the story. Tololwa gets students to know the story inside out, through a bit of storytelling on their part, under guidance. He then leads them to create their own sound and dramatic effects for performance. He does this while Garth works intensely with students in alternate groups. My most memorable moment: After the concert, a parent came to me with tears in her eyes. She said: We only see the dark side of Africa on television. If only we could see more of the beauty the children showed us today! Our students thoroughly enjoyed working with Garth, and even though the concert is over, I can still hear students singing the songs in our hallway! Mr. Sheldon Durstling, a teacher at Lynnwood Elementary.
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After four years in Canada, I am starting to think of myself as Canadian, not African. I love my roots, but there are things about this cold country that make me feel right at home. I think these are a few hints that I am internalizing rather well: 1. Based on the response I get from new acquaintances: (Apparently) I now sound like I was born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta. (I do however typically learn accents rather quickly. Some guess its because I speak for a living and my music background makes me more sensitive to inflections in language). 2. The big change for me is going from I to we. I am referring to my family, my band and the team of professionals I work with. In complete isolation I could certainly say, I am from Africa, but since the good people who I refer to in my introductions and who always surround me, are all from Canada, I find it better to say: WE are from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. 3. I have been to an NHL game and a curling game. Does that count?

THE GARTH PRINCE NEWSLETTER

WINTER 2013

Next Issue: Meet the band

Building a band that plays African music in Edmonton Alberta has been one of the best challenges I have endured Okapi Jambo is the result. Meet some talented Canadians and find out how they learnt to play African music.

African Proverb.
If you want to go fast go alone. If you want to go far go together.
Something Personal: I unintentionally lost more than ten pounds in the month of January! I think it was a combination of adding vegetable juicing to my diet and frequent upbeat concerts. I must say I have no complaints about losing the weight, but I certainly dont want to lose any more. These Canadian winters have made me quite fond of my flab!

Garth Prince is an Edmonton based, Award-winning African singer. He is originally from Namibia and moved to Canada in 2008. To receive a digital version of Garths newsletters (only four per year), please submit to the mailing list on Garths home page at: WWW.GARTHPRINCE.COM Prince Garth Music a.k.a PriGM: All Rights Reserved

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