I meant to post this before our final day in the archive, but alas, here we are. The work we’ve done here has been made much more enjoyable because of the music we’ve shared together. Here are some selections from the running playlist that we’ve listened to this month. Songs appear in quotes; whole records appear in italics. The person who made each pick is listed in parentheses.
Sam Cooke, assorted tracks (Ar’Darius)
Delfonics, “La la Means I Love You” (Ar’Darius)
Drake, Thank Me Later(Ar’Darius)
Fred Hammond and Radical for Christ, Pages of Life, Chapters 1 and 2 (Ar’Darius)
Diana Krall, Live in Paris (Ar’Darius)
W.A. Mozart, selected piano concertos (Patrick)
Gregory Porter, Liquid Spirit (Pete, initially, though we’ve all enjoyed how Ar’Darius has kept this on repeat)
Raphael Saadiq, The Way I See It (Pete)
Frank Sinatra, “Come Fly With Me” (Pete)
Esperanza Spalding, Esperanza (Pete)
Take 6, feat. Stevie Wonder, “Why I Feel This Way” (Ar’Darius)
Temptations, “My Girl” (Ar’Darius)
Tower of Power, Oakland Zone (Pete)
Stevie Wonder, Songs in the Key of Life, Book I (Ar’Darius)
Then, most importantly, there have been the many sundry discoveries of the archival work. We have heard music from all over Uganda, and our discoveries continue. As the fastest growing archive of East African music, well, maybe anywhere, this has been a very exciting place to work over the last few weeks. I look forward to an opportunity to return and see where it has gone in our absence. It’s an interesting place to work precisely because of how dynamic it is. Too Patrick, Aksam, Monica, Sylvia, Brian, and all at Makerere Libraries, we are so grateful to be a part of the amazing growth happening at MAKWAA!
Peter Hoesing 