Native to Cameroon, Cecelia and her friends joined my compartment. They played like teenagers, loudly talking and singing. These girls were not so easy to deal with. For starters our cabin had two vacant seats, not three. Within about two minutes they managed to kick out some very tired looking Italian guy to make room for their friend........................
After seeing the way they handled themselves ejecting some poor sleepy guy from our compartment, I tried setting some ground rules while offering them water, gum etc, we got off to a good start and were set for a crazy eight hours or so. We shared jokes and insights into our cultures and traditions, basically turning our compartment into a small party. After explaining a little about my World Music recording project and offering to record someone if anyone would like to sing, the train slowed, I tried to quieten the conversation in an attempt to make a recording. For a while all three girls went crazy singing over the top of each other, having fun laughing and just being silly. I noticed Cecelia wanting to calm down her two friends… she had something she wanted to sing. Finally, a brief stop at a small train station, it was now 2.15 am and it was dead quiet.
I asked Cecelia if she was ready to sing something for me. She obliged with joy and chose to sing a short passage from a childhood song her grandmother would sing to her while they would work in the fields planting crops. Her sweet voice opened our hearts to her delicate sound and rich heritage of Cameroon.
Another magic moment captured ….. “Gloryland”.
( Gloryland is from the debut album "Global Inspiration" by Gavri ).
Download it oniTunes.