2001 – 2002
Most of the music productions of Nedland Kultur feature highly professional and often internationally renowned artists. This production was made with enthusiatic amateurs. In 2002 a choir of nursing students entered Marimba Studio in Dar Es Salaam. They wanted to document their enthusiasm, not only for gospel music and singing, but also for the idealistically founded and run hospital they represented, for their profession, and for their dedication to nursing and taking care of people..
Haydom in Northern Tanzania has since 1955 had a hospital. Now owned and run by The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Tanzania, it has historically had tight connections with Norway, not least through doctor and leader of the hospital for many years, Ole Hallgrim Evjen Olsen from Mandal, Norway. Friends of Haydom Hospital in Norway contacted Nedland Kultur, and asked for a collaboration in order to document the choir, and to make a CD that could be used to create interest and spread information about the Hospital and its work.
So it happened that one day in the spring of 2002 an excited and expectant group turned up to pose at the entrance of Mariba Studio, and then went inside to experience a recording session for the first time in their lives. The material for the album were all original compositions by the choir leader Emmanuel Laway and members of the choir, and recording engineers Keppy Kiombile and Yusuf Mirambo captured the enthusiasm of the young singers.
To assist and complement the young choir, Nedland Kultur, in addition to the technical staff of Marimba Studio, brought in two professional musicians: Anania Ngoriga and Esrom Rudala. They helped with instrumental arrangements and playing of ngoma (traditional Tanzanian drums) kalimba, guitars and keyboards, to make the sound of the album richer and more complete. When the choir was later invited on a tour of Norway, they travelled with them and accompanied them on stage too.
nedlandkultur.com 