Derrik's Adventure Continued

Jordon accepted the challenge. "I needed to bring lots of recording gear with me: mics, mic stands, a Mackie mixer, two good stereo mics, a DAT machine, cables, lots of DAT tapes and blank CDs. Just packing all the gear was a huge project. I had to fit everything into two boxes, along with my clothes, my looper, and a small amplifier for the violin." Senegal has a different kind of electrical system than the U.S., so he also had to take lots of voltage converters. He didn't have room for a laptop, but was assured that he would be able to use a travel buddy's Mac.

Jordan would use Garage Band, the Apple recording program bundled with all Mac computers, to record, edit, and master tracks and burn CDs for the musicians. No problem – except that he'd never learned to use it. But, hey, studying a software manual is a good way to pass the time during a long flight to Africa.

The plan worked better than Jordan could have imagined. Not only did he make numerous CDs for musicians during his ten days on the ground in Senegal, including Pape Sahko, Barou Sall, Moise Agnessa, Massamba Diop, and the Sobobade Drummers, he made life-long friendships, as well.

It was an exhilarating experience, Jordan recalls. "First I met singer and kora player Pape Sakho… I'll never forget the look on his face as he listened to a recording of his music for the first time." Once Pape started showing his CD around to his friends, other musicians asked Jordan to record them, too.

Soon, he was too busy to sleep. "I wrote music from 12 midnight until about 3 in the morning every night. The malaria medicine I was taking helped keep me awake – I was only getting about three to four hours of sleep a night."

At the end of the week-and-a-half trip, Jordan paid his new Senegalese friends for their musical contributions and brought the original compositions he'd scribbled in his notebook back home to Vermont.

It's not surprising that this musical goodwill ambassador would make the right connections to keep his African project on an upward trajectory. Even his kids helped. "Upon arrival back in the states, my daughter introduced me to her high school classmate Helen Kerlin-Smith, a recently adopted orphan from Ethiopia." The sixteen-year-old became essential to the project, contributing soaring vocals on three of the cuts in her native language of Amharic.

Jordan's stepson had introduced him to a school chum, Milad Sourial, some time before. As luck would have it, Sourial had been made music producer for a feature film called "Desert Flower," based on the life story of Waris Dirie (due in theaters next February).

The daughter of Somali desert nomads, Waris was subjected to the cruelest inflictions women can experience in that country. As a girl of thirteen, she escaped and found her way to England, where she worked as a cleaning woman. After being "discovered" by a photographer, she eventually rose far above her brutal beginnings, becoming a supermodel, a James Bond girl, a U.N. special Ambassador, and a best-selling author.

When Sourial played Jordan's CD for Dirie and the film's other producers, it helped crystallize their vision. They recently made Jordan musical co-producer. Meetings are scheduled for June to work out contract terms and budget details.

Jordan started with a high risk-idea – haul a ton of recording equipment to Africa and do a ton of trust building, improvising, and recording over the course of twelve days. Bring home the results, see what you've got, and one way or another keep moving forward.

From such acorns, mighty oaks grow. It's incredible where talent, perseverance, and good intentions – plus some well-deserved amazing grace – can take you. Just ask Derrik Jordan – or Waris Dirie.

In the meantime, the irrepressible Jordon is not resting on his laurels. He has recently accepted a commission to write a piece for the Vermont Symphony Orchestra and has just won the Shakuhachi Chamber Music International Prize for 2008.

"SuperString Theory Goes to Senegal" is available at www.derrikjordan.com.