Meet the Composer
Oboist/Composer Brenda Schuman-Post Travels to Africa
The tree from which woodwind and some other musical instruments are made, grows primarily in Tanzania and Mozambique and is commercially threatened. Virtuoso oboist/improvising composer Brenda Schuman-Post was supported by Meet The Composer's Global Connections to travel to Africa to "create via improvisation, a new piece of music that would bond the people who have the trees from which oboes, clarinets, bagpipes, flutes, some recorders and some guitars are made, to the people who play those instruments."
Brenda collaborated with musicians from a remote village to create two new compositions based on their traditional music. While in East Africa, she also visited and played oboe for the African Blackwood Conservation Project, the Mpingo Conservation Project, the Mezimbite Forest Center, the Mpingo Madera Sawmill, Makode carvers, and thousands of locals and tourists.
With financial support from Buffet Crampon USA the new compositions were recorded and will soon be released on CD. Returning to San Francisco via the UK, Brenda also toured the Howarth Factory. She is the first musician ever to see in detail, the entire process from searching for and harvesting a blackwood tree, to the making of a top of the line oboe.
See and hear more of Brenda's experiences in Africa on YouTube.