Geerwol Festival

These are the beautiful Woodabes. I was taking these pictures as I was walking down the line to supposedly choose one man who would be my vote for the most beautiful. I couldn't pick, they were all so beautiful. They were so beautiful and haunting that when I came back I was recording a song on my friend Maman Sani's album and I couldn't help but do my own take of the Woodabes melody. Close but with my flavor in it and I think it turned out well. I'll post it when I can.

I just got back from the Geerwol festival in the North. It was amazing! We were the only western people there except one lady and there were thousands of Fulans there. There were somewhere around 400 or 600 of these guys dressed like this doing an all day and all night dance to hopefully be picked by the young ladies as the most handsome man. Seeing these guys paying so much minute detail to their clothes, the make-up, the way they danced---as well as uncles and fathers giving advice for the best dance and singing techniques was just beautiful. We have a Nigerien friend who is aWoodabe and so we just roamed around with him sleeping in a different place every night on the ground with our mosquito nets attached to the back of the truck. In the middle of the desert. We saw dunes and rocky hills and a crystal blue clear lake called lake Tabalac on the way home. It all seemed so stark and magical. How could anything live, yet thrive here where this blue lake seemed like an oasis? but here was this extrodinarily colorful festival, with everyone coming in on camel except us, to meet in the middle of tan sand for miles, no roads and be such a splash of color between the tan ground and the blue sky. It was one of the highlights of my time here.

It's been super tough to get back in the groove here but it is still feeling like my home for now. I only have a year left!