BACK TO THE FUTURE
By Eliot Osborn

    Way back in 1978, when we made our maiden voyage by tugboat along the coast of Belize, a Troubador performance was largely a musical odyssey (with liberal amounts of free-form clowning). With its ability to cast an immediate spell over both player and listener, music was ( and still is ) a brilliant way to establish some sort of commonality where there was none. Over the last 10  years,  as our focus has turned toward the specific (supporting grassroots AIDS education efforts), Troubador performances have morphed into something more dramatic in nature, with music and clowning taking on a more introductory role. Street theater has proved to be a very provocative way to initiate the somewhat awkward dialogue AIDS education requires. While we continue to tinker with our approach, we feel that we now have developed an effective model to dramatize the principles of HIV prevention, or, for that matter, almost any educational objective.
  
    As pleased as I am with this genesis, being a musician at heart, for several years I have been thinking about a more musical method to address a specific topic like AIDS. With considerable help from veteran Troubador and board member Stuart Leigh (currently in Ethiopia working on a five year plan for upgrading the use of media technology in the school system), we have designed a model that we hope to breathe life into in March of 2003. With the assistance of Africa Obota, a media oriented group who hosted our August '01 trip to Benin, Stuart and I hope to begin traveling to as many secondary schools as we can and, using a laptop and a microphone, to make digital recordings of songs that the students have written and perform acappella.

    At the conclusion of each session, we will have each group of students sing the chorus of a song that will have an HIV prevention hook, such as, "I will protect myself". At the conclusion of our trip, we will use the same approach to record instrumental and lead vocal tracks, using pop musicians that Africa Obota collaborates with in Cotonou, the capital city. At this point, in order to control costs, we will then return home where we hope to generate a CD of the songs the students have written for sale to our supporters here. At the same time , using the hook and the tracks mentioned above, we hope to fashion a hit-single that Africa Obota has the ability to release through the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health and several TV and radio stations they have access to in Benin. The idea is that all of the students who sing the hook will have a feeling of ownership in both the CD and its message, as well as considerable excitement about being on the airwaves all over Benin!