I had no intention of creating a recording of African music. I was in the middle of trying to finish my own CD when Kibochi came to me for guitar lessons. Six months after we started, he began bringing me lyrics for a song he had in mind about the holiday Kwanza. King Sunny Ade and His African Beats was my first connection to music from the mother land. Check out “Synchro System” for a joyful jamming good time. Paul Simon’s record “Graceland” with Ladysmith Black Mambozo was also influential in crafting the sound for this record. Playing with musicians from West Africa (The African Blue Notes) and South Africa (The Pipes, Blondie Chaplin, Keith Lentin, and Anton Fig) was educational and electrifying. I’d never spoken a word of African before I met Kibochi, but the beauty of Kikuyu, Luo, and Swahili dialects made the learning a lot of fun. That’s me (born in the U.S.A) you hear on 90% of the vocals. You can hear Kahoro’s distinct vocals on the spoken words chants and some choruses.
These recordings are like musical abstract paintings to me. From a blank canvas I’m creating soundscapes of rhythms, chants, harmonies, and improvisation to create music that traverses the language barrier. I don’t know where the songs are going. Each one is its own adventure. When I listen back to this music, it’s almost like listening to the music of a stranger. I’m still discovering who that someone is.
In 2003 Karlus completed an E.P. of African music, with Kenyan Lyricist Kahoro Kibochi (pictured right).
He has also written an album worth of songs with Staten Island and New York City school children who were directly affected by Sept. 11th and the aftermath of recovery.
The children’s song project started in the spring after September eleventh. The New York Times sponsored artists to go into schools that were directly affected by 9-11 to help children express themselves through the arts. The education department at Snug Harbor Cultural Center on Staten Island chose me to do song writing residencies at these schools. Initially, participation was in grades one through five and eventually branched out to the sixth and seventh grades as well. Staten Island, with its blue collar population, was especially hard hit by the tragedy. All the classes had a child who had suffered a loss, making it personally painful for all of them. To my surprise, most of them had never spoken to anyone about their feelings. These feelings of sadness, anger, patriotism, hope, fear, and anything else on their minds became fodder for the songs.
One morning a particular third grade class drove home the reality of our new world in crystal clear form. I always let the children pick the topic and then the song title. This class chose the title “As The World Goes Round”, and they were buzzing with excitement ready to jump right in. I asked them to tell me activities they might be doing as the world is going round. I liked the first response of celebrating with friends and family and thought to myself, this is going well. I then asked for something they might be celebrating, and a bright eyed eager child in the first row raised her hand and volunteered a birthday celebration. This is great I thought. We’ll get a rhyme for her birthday and be rolling. I turned back to the wide eyed innocent girl looking up at me and asked “when’s your birthday?” When she replied September Eleventh, the air went out of the room. A voice inside my head said she can’t be serious. Twenty seven pairs of nine year old eyes were looking at me, as unsure as I was about the next step. Gathering myself from this shock, I looked at her and asked, “So your birthday is September 11th?” She nodded yes and I thought okay Trapp, time to earn your pay. I turned back to the blackboard and wrote “Celebrating with my Friends and Family on my Birthday on 9-11. I turned back around and said “okay class - give me some rhymes for one. Hands all around the classroom shot up in the air
One morning a particular third grade class drove home the reality of our new world in crystal clear form. I always let the children pick the topic and then the song title. This class chose the title “As The World Goes Round”, and they were buzzing with excitement ready to jump right in. I asked them to tell me activities they might be doing as the world is going round. I liked the first response of celebrating with friends and family and thought to myself, this is going well. I then asked for something they might be celebrating, and a bright eyed eager child in the first row raised her hand and volunteered a birthday celebration. This is great I thought. We’ll get a rhyme for her birthday and be rolling. I turned back to the wide eyed innocent girl looking up at me and asked “when’s your birthday?” When she replied September Eleventh, the air went out of the room. A voice inside my head said she can’t be serious. Twenty seven pairs of nine year old eyes were looking at me, as unsure as I was about the next step. Gathering myself from this shock, I looked at her and asked, “So your birthday is September 11th?” She nodded yes and I thought okay Trapp, time to earn your pay. I turned back to the blackboard and wrote “Celebrating with my Friends and Family on my Birthday on 9-11. I turned back around and said “okay class - give me some rhymes for one. Hands all around the classroom shot up in the air
Film/TV
- Various Japanese Television commercials
- The American Dream is Over - An independent film by Tom Lawrence The Haunting (UPN)
- General Hospital (ABC) - "RAINING DEEP INSIDE" (WOW) was featured on its September 11 broadcast in the Fall of 2003.