Summit Marks Malidoma Finale
Michael Moon Bear has been told he has the wrong skin tone to play the djembe, a traditional West African drum.
He said that is like saying of Yo-Yo Ma, who is Chinese and one of the world’s top cellists, “What is that man doing playing the white man’s music?”
“Essentially I’m a white boy from Spokane,” Moon Bear said. “I’m not from Africa nor do I try to be from Africa but I have tremendous respect for the culture and a direct link to the culture so that I can play this music as respectfully and authentically as I can.”
Six years ago Moon Bear brought the West African worldview to Spokane by forming Malidoma, a traditional drum and dance group. Last year Moon Bear produced the first annual World Music Summit, showcasing global music from players who reside in Spokane.
This year’s summit will mark Malidoma’s final performance. Moon Bear said life experience and spiritual intuition tell him to close the curtain on Malidoma. It’s time to concentrate on his personal life and the World Music Summit, which still achieves his goal of dialogue and diversity in music.
“(The World Music Summit) is a great way to introduce culture to people in a way that is not threatening,” Moon Bear said.
Moon Bear found his groove young as a self-taught percussionist. Three years ago he began studying under Mamady Keita, a djembe master from Belgium.
While studying under Keita, Moon Bear adopted his mission to preserve the West African tradition in music.
“If you don’t preserve it, what do you have? That is like someone taking you to China and taking (away) your language, heritage, everything about you. You would still be a functional human being but that would be a horrible place to be,” Moon Bear said.
Moon Bear became a teacher for Keita’s Tam-Tam Mandigue drum school on the West Coast.
Moon Bear uses Malidoma as a lens to view the West African mosiac. Before he formed the group, musical dialogue in that context was sparse and venues to play in, even more so.
This kind of limited exposure to world music caused Moon Bear to open Moon Shadow, a store that sells music and art of the traditional peoples of the world at 2 N. Howard.
Moon Shadow was first cast 11 years ago out of Moon Bear’s living room when he discovered how difficult it was to find hand drums in Spokane.
Since opening Moon Shadow, Moon Bear has performed and taught drum music and helped produce shows for other musicians. To him, that is the real success in his work.
“That’s how I get paid. I don’t make much money, but I get to do so many other things,” Moon Bear said. “If you want some food to eat you have to till the field; nurture it. That’s the way I run my business.”
The World Music Summit allows Moon Bear to pursue his goal of raising cultural awareness through two of the most universal ways to communicate, music and dance.
“When you go to another country you don’t know the language, but you understand what is being said in the music,” Moon Bear said.
“With the summit I want to bridge the gap, to show people in Spokane, `Look, this is what people in West Africa do.’ Open your ears to the world around you instead of your eyes.”
This sidebar appeared with the story: Malidoma to perform both nights of summit Isamu Jordan Staff writer The second annual World Music Summit begins this weekend at The Met in Spokane. The shows start at 7 p.m. both Friday and Saturday nights. Tickets are $12 in advance, $15 at the door and $20 for a Summit passport for both nights. This weekend marks the final performance for West African drum and dance group Malidoma. Malidoma is a name from the Dangara people of Burkina, West Africa. Translated, it means “make a friend of a stranger.” With a combination of high energy drumming using traditional instruments, dance, interactive singing and elaborate costuming, Malidoma promotes cultural diversity in the Northwest. Malidoma will perform both nights of the concert. The Friday night roster includes Vandana, the Angus Scott Pipe Band and the Coeur d’Alene Marimba Band. On Saturday night The Celtic Nots and the Holy Temple Church of God in Christ Gospel Choir will perform. Vandana incorporates classical North Indian dance and storytelling in an ancient form called “kathak,” which means, “to tell.” Megan Black, who has studied kathak dance since 1980, is joined by Ross Kent on the sarod, a 25-string lute-like instrument, and Marco Zonka, who plays Indian tabla drums. The Angus Scott Pipe Band, formed in 1955, is one of the oldest pipe bands in the Northwest. One of the group’s first performances was at Fairchild Air Force Base, where these musicians have played regularly ever since. They have also performed at two world’s fairs, the Seattle World’s Fair in 1962 and Expo ‘74 in Spokane. William Thomas, pipe-major and director of the Angus Scott Pipe Band, was founder and sole instructor of the Shadle Park Pipe Band from 1958 to 1978. He has also performed as guest soloist with the Spokane Symphony. The Coeur d’Alene Marimba Band, now called Coeurimba, play dance-contagious music on large wooden xylophone-like marimbas. The songs they play come from the Shona tribe in Zimbabwe, and represent sacred music as well as songs of celebration, both ancient and contemporary. The Celtic Nots use constantly varying instrumentation and a hearty sense of humor to entertain crowds with their brand of traditional and improvised Celtic music while the Holy Temple Church of God In Christ Gospel Choir will unify their voices with soulful spirituals that are both calming and revitalizing. Tickets are available at Moon Shadow, Auntie’s Bookstore, and Ramblin’ Rose and Journeys in Coeur d’Alene. There is also a compact-disc recording of last year’s World Music Summit, available at Moon Shadow, Auntie’s, 4000 Holes, Little Nell’s and all area Hastings stores. For more information, contact Michael Moon Bear at Moon Shadow at 624-7573.