Day's Diary

June 4, 2007 ~ Music of the Heart

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Debbie Bowers Kippley’s parents, Jack and Dorothea Bowers, were among those who helped to start the Pittsburgh - Blantyre Synod Partnership. Debbie’s father was a pastor in the Presbytery at that time and her mother was an educator, specializing in early childhood education. Dorothea’s heart was touched by the children of Malawi and their need for education. The Lord led her to begin a kindergarten at Domasi that today bears her name and to work to train kindergarten teachers, many of whom are still actively teaching. Last summer, God called both Dorothea and Jack home to heaven within two weeks of one another. This summer (at least it is summer in America) Debbie wanted to remember her parents with a trip to Malawi. She has brought five others with her from the church she and her family attend in Nebraska. The group consists of herself, her husband and daughter and three members of Faith Presbyterian Church. They arrived in Blantyre on Wednesday, May 23, 2007.

This is a musical group. Debbie’s husband, Kip, is a musician by training, one of the then is a music major at Hastings College and the other members of the group all sing and/or play musical instruments (some of which they brought with them – two guitars, and a flute). So they have been making music at every stop. Thursday Silas invited them to his seminar class and had them present some of their music for the class. They were very well received. In that class were two Malawian students who are in the process of producing a CD of original music. They were greatly impressed with the group and their singing and playing.

The group is very interested in Malawian music, so when I had the group over for dinner on Friday, I invited the two students to come and share some of their music with the group. It turned into a delightful evening of music and singing. Kip was particularly impressed by the two young men and their music. Even though it was all in Chichewa, there was communication as only music can communicate. Baxton and Paul, the students, had a wonderful time introducing the three college students to Malawian dance as well. It was fun. One of the songs they did was one that Baxton wrote about his brother’s death last year and about Paul’s brother’s death the year before and the need to hold on to hope and to endure in the face of death. The music of the song, Mungolimbika (Endure), communicates the sense of the song even without understanding the words. It is particularly well done and very moving. Kip prayed for them and with them before everyone left for the evening, that God would use their music to His glory.

On Saturday, Baxton and Paul went to Blantyre to meet with radio station managers to promote their CD. This is a particularly Malawian way of marketing music – take a CD but select one or two numbers to feature, meet the station manager and try to persuade him to play the songs on the station. If that works and he actually plays them, then the CD will sell. It is a very simple, hands-on approach to music. They met with five station managers and came back excited because each promised to play the CD. The test would be if they followed through and actually played the songs on the air.

On Monday, Malawians got the news that the First Lady of Malawi had died on Tuesday, May 29, 2007. She had been ill for a while but there were no details of it released to the media. With the news came the announcement of a 30 day period of mourning for the country. The announcement was made on the radio and immediately the music format of the stations changed, as they begin to play solemn music, out of respect. One radio station made the announcement and immediately played Baxton’s song about the brothers. There has been a request of more copies of the song as the day has gone on. The music is particularly appropriate for this time in the life of the country. The music is well received because it is music from the heart. We will see what God will do with two theological college students’ music that offers hope in the midst of grief and a country that is dealing with grief.