6 weeks away from the Netherlands, part II

Well, I must say that this delay bothered me a lot. First of all The staff wasn't nice at all and treated us like sheeps, didn't give us the right info, never told us that the plane from Casablanca to Abidjan was not going to wait for us, made a fuss about getting only part of our luggage (i just needed Kabouter's stroller and nothing else). But what botherered me even more was the fact that we had planned a whole day for rehearsal in Abidjan, since we were also playing with local musicians....At the end of the day, it was nice to get some rest at the hotel especially after our stay in Montpellier. Kabouter made friends with few kids ;-)

So, eventually, we took our plane to Abidjan, I met a long time friend, Fabrice with whom, I once went to a concert we will always remember: Michael Jackson at Toulouse Stadium. I was 16 then and we had a blast. It was quite bizarre to run into him opposite from Toulouse (from a mediterranean point of view) on the 25th of June. And we were both going to perform in Abidjan. Life is so unpredictable. Well, we got to Abidjan, I was thrilled to show my friends my beautiful country and eat Excellent ivorian food with them.
here, Fire tongue and Julien at "le réservoir" one of Abidjan finest maquis(restaurant)

I'll post pictures of the perfomances in another message. But I would just like to say that it was simply Wonderful to be performing for the first time in the city where I was born. My sister Nicole, my dad, my cousin Salimata, my dear friend François-Romain, childhood friends that I hadn't seen for years, friends of my siblings.....I am so grateful....Thanks be to The Almighty one.
Here, François-Romain and Kabouter at my sister Nicole's. I am sorry, but the computer I am using now is not mine and refuses to modify the pictures from my hard drive. You going to have to bend your neck ;-(


Kabouter and her cousin Charlie.


After the shows, after taking my friends every place i could in Abidjan, after having enjoyed its full flavor, I left for Bouaké, my real home town. My father, Amina and I took the bus instead of the car. It was my father 72 nd birthday...Life is wonderful...I love my dad and couldn't bring him any better present than a day with his grand daughter. He had bought all kinds of bananas, cookies and just found it hilarious to see Amina gulping them.

It was hot, the trip was nice though and Kabouter was so curious about everything, I loved it.
We got to bouaké, somebody picked us up from the station, I was thrilled... My daughter is not two yet, and We've already been here twice. I still love Bouaké. It's not easy to post pictures of the war devasted city even though one can sense the renaissance.Sorry for not sharing, I'd like to find old pictures first and postthem together so you can see.
Kabouter immediately felt home
And her Grand-mother became her best friend in no time.


And her cousin Antoine was delighted to take care of her.


We had a great time with cousins, aunts, people on the streets.


Kabouter became friends with this cool little boy. This very spot they are playing at used to be our playground when I was visiting with my cousins. In the back ground, my dad and my uncle Moussa are clacking.



BTW, did I tell you that my mom had had this strange feeling and wasn't comfortable with us taking the car to Bouaké? hence why the bus...She had insisted so much that eventhough I found it completely irrational, I followed her will but regretted it when, right upon entering the Highway with the bus on our way back, we had a flat...Try and picture it. And to make things even more exciting: My phone was down so I couldn't reach my nephew who was meeting me at the station in Abidjan. It was getting late, I hadn't carried Kabouter's stroller....







....


To be continued....

6 semaines loin des Pays-Bas, 6weeks away from the Netherlands, 6 weken weg van de Nederlands

May, the 28th, we take the car to St-Omer, north of France. The traffic Jam only few kms away from home make us come back and postpone our departure to the following morning. We leave on the 29th and I've warned my cousins like Millions of times: I don't want to stay home hanging, doing nothing. Well, they took the message seriously and took us there

Le 28 Mai, nous décidons de partir en voitur epour St-Omer, chez les Ch'ti. Les bons embouteillages Hollandais nous font renoncer et remettre notre voyage au lendemain. Départ le 29 après avoir bien prévenu mes cousins: hors de question de reter à la maison à ne rien faire. Le message fut pris très au sérieux


They're smiling here...wish I had recorded them screaming while flying between trees

Là, elles ont le sourire, j'aurais bien aimé enregistrer leur cris entre deux arbres.

Accroc' branches or "I believe I can fly"


We had a wonderful time, we ate some of my Uncle Maurice Home-made-Paté, took a walk where The English made history few decades ago and enjoyed th evillage quietness.

On a passé un très chouette moment, on a mangé de paté fait maison par mon oncle Maurice, on a marché là où les anglais ont fait l'histoire il y a qqs décennies, on a profité du calme du village






Then, in Paris we went to See Tony Allen reaheasing. Kabouter danced and danced and danced again. I was speechless. We saw
my friend Stéphanie and family, recently moved from NYC to PAris, her son Jules who is also Kabouter's fiancé. ;-)

Puis à Paris, nous sommes allées voir Tony Allen répéter, Le petit lutin a dansé à n'en plus pouvoir. je suis restée sans voix.... On a vu son fiancé de New York, Jules, et toute sa famille. Ici, sa maman, ma copine Stéphanie





Kabouter got to meet creative people all along the way. She's blessed. In Montpellier she saw Zitoune and Thomas a.k.a Stone Black & Rachid Data


And most of all, she got to spend time with our loved ones: Tia Pakita, Papou, Swann-Ly and Lluna, Vovo...
Et surtout, elle a eu l'occasion de passer du temps avec nos proches: Tati Pakao, Papou, Swann-LY, lluna, Vovo






Back to Paris again where after few rehearsal sessions, we got ready to fly to Abidjan where we (Julien of The Afrorockerz, Firetongue and Myself) were expected for the final of a jazz festival in Abidjan.We'd already been on the road for three weeks... A lovely surprise, my brother Cyril was in Paris too

Puis retour sur Paris où après qqs répétitions, on s'est préparé pour Abidjan où nous(Julien des Afrorockerz, Firetongue et moi même)étions attendus pour clôturer le festival "émoi Jazz" au Music'all. Cela fait déjà trois semaines que nous sommes sur la route. Délicieuse surprise, mon frère Cyril était à Paris également.



Well, that's one of the funniest part of our trip. My Godmother, always ready and willing to help her Goddaughter out of the inevitable setbacks of her bohemian life is taking us to the airport where we'll be catching the 7:30 pm flight to Casablanca where we'll catch the connection to Abidjan. We've known this times and details for more than a month now. My collaborators are in a cab and want to know what terminal we should meet at. First time I open my e-tickets to realize that the so well known details of our flight had changed during the night. We're just missing the flight. I can hardly believe that. After few calls and a nice talk with a lady at the desk in the airport, we find out that the agency in Abidjan had made a mistake.had I checked properly I could have found out but.... Anyway, we catch the RIGHT flight which is only 2 hour late and get to Casa



yes, indeed, we're in a hotel here. No no, we haven't changed plans. Told you our plane left Paris @ 9:30 PM instead of 7:30. And since we were catching another plane from the same company. We thought it was OK. But The Company had decided to leave us (20 passengers) behind.....

To be followed....

• Il est quelle heure chez toi?
16h04.

• Mai rime avec ?
riai

• As- tu embrassé ton canari ce matin ?
il s´est envolé

• Ou vas tu tout à l'heure?

nulle part, je viens de rentrer de deux semaines dans un autre chez moi, alors je profite de celui-ci.

• Ecris cette phrase sur le blog de la dernière personne qui t'a laissé un commentaire:
"En mai , après la pluie le beau temps".

• Attention, on remonte dans le temps que fesais tu le 05/05/05 ?

Jogging,, piscine, écriture de textes pour l´album Holy Warriors et petite visite parisienne à ma copine/soeurette au gros bidon

• Au prochain coup de telephone réponds par "à l'huile" (si si t'es cap !!):
Heu, en Hollande, là, ils vont pas comprendre.Mais je veux bien essayer.


• Donne nous le lien internet n°5 de tes favoris:
en ce moment c'est celui-ci... ;D
Bon, en meme temps, vu la fréquence à laquelle je bosse la guitare, je pourrais tout aussi bien ne pas le mettre dans mes favoris....
http://www.zentao.com/guitar/guitar-lessons.html

• Le dernier film que tu as vu au cinéma ?
Slum dog millionaire.

• Compte jusqu'à 3 et fait ce qu'il te plait.

• C'est terminé!

Attention ce tag est sans limite tu peux taguer autant de gens que tu veux et au moins 5 coquines*
TAg réalisable qu'en MAi .

Je tague Mary

Pâques....

Oui, Pâques, c'est un des derniers évènements majeurs au sujet des quels je m'étais promis d'écrire quelquechose. Non seulement par ce que c'est ma fête préférée, mais aussi par ce qu'elle symbolise la renaissance, les promesses tenues, les mystères révélés. Ce jour là, encore plus qu'un autre, je suis subjuguée par le mystère de notre humanité. Et puis je n'ai rien écrit. Mais j'ai pensé aux habitants des Abruzes...Et Kabouter, pendant ce temps là? elle apprenait à cuisiner avec sa tante Carole.

Yes, Easter, one of the last major events I had promised myself to write about. Not only because it is my favorite holiday, but also because it symbolizes rebirth, kept words , revealed mysteries. On this day,more than on any other one I am captivated by mankind mystery. Well, I didn't write about it... But I've been thinking about the people who live in Abbruzzo...
Kabouter? well, during this time, she took her first cooking lesson with her aunt Carole



qui a de nombreux autres talents dont celui de faire sa propre décoration, tableaux compris.
who also displays a talent for decoration (including paintings)



Avant ça, il y avait eu les retrouvailles avec la famille Montpelliéraine.... On regrette de ne pas y avoir vu Mme Gourou...

Before that, We had a family reunion in Montpellier. We wished we had seen Mme Gourou



les balades à Amsterdam
Wanders in Amsterdam



à castelnou, dans les Pyrénées Orientales
in Castelnou, Pyreneans



Kabouter assortie à son vélo...
The Tricycle matches Kabouter...




Mais surtout, il y a eu de la musique, encore et encore...De la musique plein les oreilles, plein le coeur, de la nourriture pour mon esprit, de l'engrais à inspiration....Mystère de la résurrection,je remets le pied à l'étrier, je dirais même aux étriers....La vie est encore plus belle quand on prend le temps de préparer le spectacle. Et je peux vous dire que cette inspiration là ne pourra que générer un spectacle du Feu de Dieu.

But most of all, there's been music. More en more. Music in my ears, in my heart, food for my mind, inspiration fertilizer... Mysteries of the resurrection...I gave my self a boost, maybe two... Life is even more beautiful when one takes the time to prepare the show. And I can say that with such inspiration, The show will just be great.

10 minutes

I've been away for a little while, isn't it? Couldn't come back without a present.... Please; take a coffee, a tea, whatever drink is your favorite, seat down, relax, close your eyes and play that track... As they say, here, in the Netherlands, Geweldig....

1st candle...

My little Kabouter van Harlem

Chance!!!!

Bien au chaud, hésitant à enfourcher mon cheval de fer (Ninguin sô, comme on dirait chez ma mère) , affronter le froid pour aller faire un tour en ville, voir du monde et écouter de la musique dans ce petit magasin d'Utrecht . J'ai d'abord ouvert mon ordinateur . Mon ami Noreille venait de faire le lien entre le titre de ma page facebook et l'intro d'un blog.....Quelle chance, me suis-je dit....Quelle chance. De l'info, plein d'info sur LA musique que j'aime. Bon, je suis restée au chaud avec Kabouter, on s'est mis du son plein les oreilles avant d'aller profiter du spectacle que nous offre la nature.......

Bonne chance à tous ceux qui passent ici.


C'est exactement ce que je souhaite à chacun, en fait. La chance de pouvoir tirer des leçons de chaque expérience, la chance d'apprécier ce que la vie met à notre disposition...




La chance d'avoir de la beauté autour de soit. La chance de mettre ses atouts à profit,





la chance d'avoir le coeur ouvert.....
Mon véritable amour est partout avec moi. Sa discrétion n'a d'égal que son amour. Je ne crains rien.



Mais je pense à tous ceux qui n'ont pas la chance de connaitre cette sérénité. Je pense à ceux qui n'ont pas d'épaule pour ne serait-ce que poser la tête....
Je publie ici, un peu de beauté, c'est désuet, mais la simplicité de la nature me donne toujours de l'espoir. Peut-être que ça marcherait si on faisait neiger à Gaza.....