Mpingo's Fruit: Harvesting the Music Tree, Presentation by Brenda Schuman-Post

Woodwind instruments are made from Mpingo Wood, also known as African Blackwood and grenadilla. Oboes, clarinets, bagpipes, flutes, piccolos, and fingerboards for stringed instruments including guitars, are made of Mpingo. So are the highly prized sculptures made by the Makonde people. Mpingo grows in Tanzania and Mozambique, and worldwide, individuals and organizations work to conserve and preserve it. Over the past several years, Brenda Schuman-Post has taken on the task of bringing awareness to those involved in Western Classical Music of the impact that their culture is having on other peoples. As an oboist, she herself depends on the availability of Mpingo. This timber has been culled from areas in Southern Africa over the past two centuries, and its progressive depletion has created increased impoverishment among the indigenous peoples of the area.

Schuman-Post's presentation touches on ecological and environmental issues. It addresses the living conditions of the peoples caught in the wake of the destruction of their natural environment. Combining historical background and up-to-the-minute reporting, and accompanied by a video presentation as well as a hands-on display of African art work, Harvesting the Music Tree is bound together with Brenda's engaging personality and musical wizardry.

Sponsored by Core Curriculum Music Humanities and The Center for Ethnomusicology at Columbia University.