Music Adventure Series: Guest Writer Amy Denio
Samba Drumming in Taiwan (A Musical Adventure) By Amy Denio Greetings from Taiwan. A year ago, the only reference I had to the island was "made in Taiwan." Through an uncanny sequence of events, I've gotten to know this verdant pacific jewel pretty well over the last 9 months. In September, 2006 I went to a party in a sculpture garden near Seattle and I met a one-legged French artist named Jean Paul Richon. Our meeting started a sequence of events which led me to Taiwan, to work on a project to arrange 15 aboriginal & popular Taiwanese songs with Brazilian rhythms, find a teacher to teach them to 25 Amis tribe kids (age 12-15), living here in Taipei, and produce the recording. Jean Paul enjoyed my accordion playing, and was leaving for a winter residency in Taiwan the next day, so we exchanged email addresses. A few weeks later, he wrote me to say I'd been invited to play at the Taipei Blues Festival! I flew from Rome to Seattle to Taipei & came her...