 "Photo: Thankgiving Coffee")
During a “Jam Session” last Tuesday in the Multi-faith Center, JJ Keki sat perched on a bright red overstuffed chair, gently strumming his guitar as the audience mingled, ate desserts, and bought and drank fair trade coffee. Additional brightly colored chairs and couches were arranged in a circle along with Keki’s. Extra seating was available on benches along one wall and extra chairs set up behind the couches, but the circle of couches seemed to betoken the casual atmosphere of the event.
The Jewish Ugandan, nominated for a Grammy Award in Traditional World Music, performed on Tuesday as part of a tour promoting his interfaith fair trade coffee co-op, “Delicious Peace/MirembeKawomera.” The program was sponsored by Wellesley College Hillel and the Beyond Tolerance Program Speaker Series, of the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life.
JJ Keki began the evening with an attempt to teach the audience a Swahili song. He was very warm and approachable, explaining the meanings of his songs and encouraging everyone to join in and sing or dance. One woman accompanied him on the drums for a few songs, while another girl danced in the back of the room. Many sang along, especially during the Hebrew songs, which makes sense since Hillel sponsored the event.
Before long, girls in the audience were addressing him as “JJ,” asking questions freely, and calling out requests. Some of the girls began to lead the group in their favorite songs, ranging in origin from traditional Jewish melodies to Zimbabwean songs. It was reminiscent of Christmas caroling—joyous voices singing a simple—and familiar, for much of the audience—melody together. For those who did not know the melody, it was usually fairly easy to pick up, being for the most part simple and repetitive, and those who did not know the words simply hummed along. The intonation was far from perfect, but it was a fun, relaxed atmosphere.
When JJ took the reins once more, he led the audience in “Mirembe, Mirembe.” Its call-and-response format lent itself to a sing along. JJ briefly taught the response before he began, and the assemblage then chimed in after every line, the chorus of female voices juxtaposing nicely against the deep, throaty, solo voice of JJ Keki, and blending into each other and harmonizing when the lines overlapped.
As the evening drew to a close, JJ once more performed his opening song. The audience was more familiar with the song the second time and sang out more confidently as a result. The jam session as a whole was not entirely musically accurate or precise; it was a joyous, laid-back celebration of culture and music, which is all it was meant to be.
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