Plymouth native hopes to bring music to Africa

Joe McKesson with Sarah McLachlan at the iTunes launch

By Rusty Nixon
Director of Development and Alumni Affairs

NASHVILLE, TN - A love of music and a concern for others has driven one Plymouth native to action in the fall.

In September Plymouth High School grad Joe McKesson will be leading a group of young singers to the Democratic Republic of the Congo as part of an outreach of the United Front Against River Blindness. Joe's friend Joy Becktler enlisted his aid to reach out to children in the African nation stricken with the disease.

"It's the kind of mission that you just can't say no to - you have to be involved," said McKesson. "Flies get into the eyes of these children and cause this terrible disease and this is a chance for us to use music to reach people and transform lives."

OPERAnauts travel as the entertainment arm of the humanitarian effort to the Congo where they will perform an opera, share musical exchanges with children, and offer a singing educational component in master classes, demos and workshops with students at local universities and ESL schools. They will also be performing the opera La Petite Carmen an abridged version of Bizet's Carmen, reducing the opera to its emotional roots.

"Music is such a huge part of the culture and daily life of the communities of these children afflicted with this disease," said McKesson. "We want to give these children their voice back that the disease has stolen from them. Music can be a way for them to communicate and become a part of their communities through voices and singing. Right now they are ostracized but hopefully this will be a way for them to reintegrate into their culture. We hope to give them back the music this disease took away from them."

The group will also be performing La Petite Carmen at the American Embassy in Kinshasa as part of the trip. Joe has reduced the opera to its core in the 50 minute performance. Instead of the large tapestry of Spain, bullfights and gypsies, the focus is the people and the choices they make that lead to tragedy. Carmen herself not so much a "bird of fancy", but more a woman making all the wrong choices, trying to tame a bull, which will only lead to her ruin.

"It's impactful and the story is very poignant to the people we will be performing for," said McKesson. "The idea that women have choices - by itself - is something that those in the region may never have been exposed to. We're playing at the American Embassy but we will also be doing some open theatre performances so that anyone in the community can come and see."

Joe has worked with Becktler before but this will be the first international project that he has participated in. The strife in the region isn't without its consequences to the group.

"We will have bodyguards everywhere we go - its one of the most dangerous places in the world," said McKesson. "There are always riots during elections and we will be there during their election time so we are preparing for that as well. This is very exciting for us because lots of other groups have tried similar missions to bring opera to the region and failed."

If successful Joe hopes to extend the OPERAnauts mission to this country.

"It's a kind of program we've talked about taking into say a WalMart in an impoverished area," said McKesson. "There used to be programs bringing the arts to those who aren't usually exposed to them in schools but those programs in most places around the country are long gone. This could be the only exposure that these children get to culture."

The trip is underwritten by the United Front Against Riverblindness (http://riverblindness.org/) but the group is looking for a small amount of extra funding.

"We have a documentary film crew that we'd like to take along with us," said McKesson. "And we are bringing two professional opera singers with us and we'd like to pay their salaries. We only need around $9000 more. We're premiering the opera on July 29th in Philadelphia in the Abele Library in Le Meredien Hotel as a concert to help raise the rest of the money, and of course we're happy if someone is willing to help out in any way."

To help or for more information you can go to http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1793379215/operanauts-to-dr-congo.