I completed this tour in North Africa and Italy while I was still teaching full time at Woodberry Forest School. The tour fell beautifully on my spring break, and I took a break from teaching private lessons. The tour started in Florence, where we were hosted by the consulate general. (The picture is of the view from the balcony in Florence) While we were in Italy, we performed in Colle Val D’Elsa, Modena (at Pavarotti’s conservatory!), and Bologna. In North Africa, we performed at the Theatre Municipal in Tunisia and did a master class and performance at The University of Sousse Institute of Music.
Off stage, Kantara is the craziest band I’ve every worked with. We had raging food fights, danced in the streets, had spitball wars, and wrestling competitions. Before the tour, I thought that music would be the common thread, bonding me to the Tunisian musicians in the band. In reality, I think it was a shaving cream battle that endeared us to each other.
Kantara plays Arabic-Applachian music with the goal of encouraging positive communication between American and Muslim people while pioneering a unique sound. Check out the website kantaramusic.com.
This picture was taken on our free day in Milan.
The beautiful cathedral in Milan.
Smart cars were all over Italy. They never failed to make me laugh.
We arrived in Tunisia during the "green season". I was surprised to see sheep and green meadows in North Africa.
A view from a roof top cafe in Tunisia.
Brian looks good behind Riadh's desk at the conservatory.
We performed at the Municipal Theatre in downtown Tunisa. The interior was extremely formal and we were shocked to see that the stage was decorated with bales of hay! I guess they wanted to bring out the "Appalachian flavor" of the group. Brian helped the stage crew remove the hay before we performed. I also got a kick out of having a make-up artist paint a new face on me. I hardly recognized myself at the end of the ordeal. It was also hilarious watching my husband getting made up.
We took this picture after a house concert for the American Embassy in Tunisia. We wanted a good group photo, but we didn't really get anything professional enough. We must have taken a hundred pictures of the band that night but someone was always goofing off, making a face, smacking someone, or not looking at the camera.
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