Achtung Baby Covered

This morning I was listening to Achtung Baby Covered, which is a tribute album to the band that I have liked more than I’ve liked anything, ever, U2. This seminal album, which graduated me from high school and launched one of the best songs ever, “One,” is covered by The Killers, Jack White, Patti Smith, Depeche Mode, Snow Patrol among others. The man who invented Bono, Gavin Friday, sings a version of The Fly and the performance begs the question, “did Gavin Friday or Bono sing this and every other U2 song?” This question is both sacrilegious and incredulous, because it is impossible to imagine anyone coming near to Bono. I just tried to come up with words to describe Bono and failed, he’s that….again, can’t do it.

I digress.

As I meandered through my commute, I kept the usual nuttiness at bay by going deep inside the music on my iphone. I saw but did not hear the countless young moms shouting at their kids and the teenagers cursing each other out. I climbed onto a crammed bus and navigated bodies and strollers and more bodies in tune to Mysterious Ways. It was like floating above the fray, even though I was right there in it.

It got me thinking that I’ve gotten lazy about music. Music has been central to my life. I played the violin from age 5 to age 20. Orchestra after orchestra, I’ve played every classic piece of music there is. I love opera and hip hop and of course U2. But I never listen to music anymore.

When I was 12 years old and listening to the Joshua Tree in continuous rotation, I remember being in the back of my parents’ car on a weekend trip to Bear mountain in upstate New York, squeezing my ears into my walkman to get Bono’s voice deeper inside my head. This morning, as I descended into the metro, I did the same thing. Why don’t I listen to music like this every day?

At home, we have two stereos we’re planning to give away to the thrift store. But yet we have only tepid plans to replace them. Ever since I can remember the first part of setting up my living space was designing my music listening strategy. Why don’t I do that anymore? I need music in my life.

Today was a wakeup call. As I listened to the Killers, probably my second favorite band, sing a classic U2 song in their own unique style, I know I need more music. Everyday. Surely this is a guaranteed and simple way to make life better!

Rwanda

Sometimes I think I invented Africa. I think about it daily in DC. I decorate in early modern jungle. I work on African issues. I tell tall tales to my friends and family ad nauseam. “This one time I hosted 50 people for thanksgiving dinner and we slaughtered a turkey and a goat. This one time I owned a restaurant in Gulu. This one time I drank whiskey with one of the Presidential contenders for Uganda. This one time…” It’s such a definitive part of who I am, but I don’t live there anymore.

And then I return to Africa, like arriving in Rwanda this week, and I’m reminded that it wasn’t all a figment. I stare at the bougainvillea and realize when I say “I miss bougainvillea” I remember why – it’s beautiful. I giggle at baby bananas and bodas and baby bananas on bodas.

This week I’m in Byumba Rwanda to facilitate a training on Gender-based violence at Gihembe Refugee Camp. We have staff from four of our countries: Rwanda, Uganda, South Sudan and Somalia. It’s pretty intense and productive and I’m inspired by these ladies who do this incredibly difficult work. It’s been a real boost.

But I’m most of all enjoying the everyday life of Africa that I’m always going on about. It’s so familiar and comfortable. Not boring, oh, it’s never boring here. Often times in DC I find myself saying. “The thing is you only hear about the bad news in Africa, but there’s so much good news too.” Sometimes I struggle to remember it though. And then I see the biggest smile I have ever seen in my life on the cutest five year old I’ve ever seen in my life, simply chuffed because he’s splashing about like a duckling in a borehole, playing with a plastic water bottle and I remember.

I'm not yet ready to move back, but I just picked an avocado off of an avocado tree that I had been eyeing from my hotel window. What a delight.