Thank you for your support!

We would like to thank everyone who came out on May 21st to the Gladstone Hotel to contribute to the 2011 project for Ecole St. Albert le Grand. The day was a great celebration filled with amazing performances by some of our favourite Toronto-based performers. In total we have raised (to date) $2,670.50 from the May 21st fundraiser and all of this money will go to support the projects for 2011. Our next step will be to get in touch with the school, provide them with the budget, and work together with them to plan the project. The goal will be to rebuild the latrines for the school, and to construct a new hand washing station (and connect the school to the village water supply).

We have some great video footage from the fundraiser on May 21st, and we will be posting it in the coming weeks. In the mean time, please have a look below at a few photos from the event, and please do check out these artists' websites. Each of these performers donated their time and talents for this project, and we are very thankful for their support. We would also like to extend our sincere thanks to the Gladstone Hotel who continue to be strong supporters of our project.

As well, we would like to make a special mention to the students and staff (especially Tania Brachmayer) at Glen Street Public School. They sold 500 (!) cupcakes to raise more than $300 for this project.

If you are interested in contributing to the 2011 project, please get in touch with us at love@njackobacko.com or 416.836.8951. You may also mail us a cheque to:

Valery Woloshyn

PO Box 632

31 Adelaide Street East

Toronto, ON M5C 2J8

Artists who performed at the fundraiser on May 21st (check out their websites to find out where you can see them again!):

* MARNI’S MOVE-N-MUSIC ~ www.marnilevitt.com

* SOLI & ROB with ALISTAIR ANT! ~ www.alistairant.com ~ they have a brand new show "Bungalow Bugs" THIS WEEKEND, May 28-29 at Solar Stage - box office 416-368-8031 or www.solarstage.on.ca

* THE BELLWOODS TRINITY

* MUHTADI & THE WORLD DRUMMERS ~ www.muhtadidrumfest.com ~ the Muhtadi International Drumming Festival is FREE and is held at Queen's Park on June 4 & 5

* HANNAH BURGÉ & PACO LUVIANO ~ www.musicvillage.ca

* KEN WHITELEY ~ www.kenwhiteley.com

* SAHARA SLOAN & COLIN DOROSCHUK, www.saharasloan.com

* THE MARNI LEVITTCOLLECTIVE ~ www.marnilevitt.com ~ will be performing at the Muhtadi International Drumming Festival on June 4th

* NJACKO BACKO & KALIMBA KALIMBA ~ www.njackobacko.com

For those of you who didn't make it on May 21st, here is a video summary of the work completed in 2010:

May 21st - full details!

Hello everyone, happy international labour day!

Please see our latest newsletter for the full details about the fundraiser on May 21st.

http://mim.io/b36e01

May 21st! and more about École Saint Albert Le Grand

May 21st is rapidly approaching, and we're REALLY excited about the fundraiser that is coming together! Before we get into those details, we wanted to share a bit more information about École Saint Albert Le Grand.

Number of students: 212

Number of staff: 1 principal, 3 teachers

Class size: on average 70 students per room (2 classes of 35 students with 1 teacher), about 19 boys and 16 girls per class

Source of school funding: 100% comes from school fees (no government support), 11,000 FCFA (~$23) per student per year

Now for May 21st...we're really excited! The Gladstone Hotel is generously allowing us to hold two events on May 21st.

Afternoon Family Fun - 3pm to 5pm

The afternoon features some of Toronto’s favourite children’s performers. Included are:

• SOLI & ROB with ALISTAIR ANT!, voted Toronto’s #1 Children’s Entertainers in City Parent Magazine’s 2008 Readers’ Choice Awards
• MARNI’S MOVE-N-MUSIC, integrated music, movement & yoga workshops for kids
• Story and music time with the energetic and engaging NJACKO BACKO

Everyone attending this portion of the event will have the exclusive opportunity to purchase Njacko’s first published storybook (illustrated by Bruce Parsons) entitled “Baki and the Magic Egg / Baki et l’oeuf magique” before it is formally released this summer. A portion of the proceeds will go directly to this project.

Evening of Music and Celebration - 8pm doors, show starts at 8:30pm sharp!

We have a line-up of wonderful artists who have generously contributed their time for this cause.

• The interlocking rhythms, magical melodies and infectious joie de vivre of NJACKO BACKO & KALIMBA KALIMBA (Anne Lederman, Bwana Moto, Celina Carroll, Chip Yarwood, Joaquin Nunez Hidalgo, Roberto Riveron)
• Canadian roots music legend KEN WHITELEY,
• HANNAH BURGÉ & PACO LUVIANO, dynamic and captivating jazz duo
• up and coming opera star SAHARA SLOAN with “Men Without Hat’s” founding member and classical composer COLIN DOROSCHUK
• 2011 Harry Jerome Award winner in entertainment MUHTADI and his group THE WORLD DRUMMERS
• the rhythmic melodies of THE MARNI LEVITT COLLECTIVE (with Terri Segal and Valery Woloshyn)

Finally, here is a slideshow that Peguy has compiled showing photos from the projects in 2010. Enjoy!

The instruments are ready!

Greetings everyone!

Peguy sent us a few photos last night of the new instruments that were made for the school, and we wanted to share one with you. We're so excited for the students! The instruments include a toum and kak (the two drums), a keu (also known as an African telephone, slit drum, or kri), cow bells, kalimba, zaa koua (the harp), bamboo shakers and bamboo guerro. We're looking forward to seeing some video footage in the coming months of the students practicing with their teacher.

Please stay posted for more information about our fundraiser coming up on May 21, 2011!

All the best,

Njacko and Val

Project 1 has wrapped up, school is about to begin!

Hello everyone,

We're very happy to let you know that work on the first project has wrappedup! From the photos below, you can see that a lot of work has been done to replace an interior structural wall of the school, new windows and doors provided, and plastering of the school's exterior mud bricks. This was a lot of work, and we're so excited to see that our partners in Bazou successfully completed the project! And we want to thank all of you again for supporting this important work. The school and students at St. Albert pass along their sincere gratitude.

Now that school is starting, we're getting ready to work with the school to start the new music program at St. Albert. Many of the instruments can be made by the school (shakers, bamboo sticks), but we're going to help the school purchase cow bells, drums, and kalimbas. This is an interim mini-project. We'll be having our annual fundraiser on May 21, 2011, at the Gladstone Hotel to raise funds for Project #2!

Here are some photos showing the completion of Project 1:

One video showing a bit of work towards the end of Project 1:

More photos of great progress, & save the date (May 21 2011)

Hello everyone, we hope that you are all having a wonderful summer. A great big thanks to the generous few folks who have contributed over the past couple of weeks for the projects. We have enough funds to finish the first project! We are committed to working with the school for at least 5 years, and really appreciate the ongoing support that is coming from all over the community!

Please mark your calendars - our next benefit event for this project will be held on May 21, 2011 at the Gladstone Hotel. We thank the Gladstone Hotel for their amazing support for this project! More details on the benefit will be forthcoming.

We're pleased to see things take shape at Ecole St. Albert Le Grand. These are the latest photos from our nephew Peguy who is documenting the progress of the work with visits to Bazou (he lives in Douala). Without Peguy, this project would be very difficult to realize. He facilitates our communication with the Priest and the Principal of the school (we rely on his cell phone!) He is our eyes and ears and is doing an amazing job keeping us up to date on the amazing progress that you see in these photos!

Peguy also has some video footage of the work at the school, and we hope to receive that in the coming month and will share it as soon as it is available.

The focus of the first project has been to erect new internal walls for the school to divide the different classrooms. If the budget permits, some furniture will also be provided.

(...sorry for the sideways photo...I'm still learning some things about blogspot...)

As we mentioned in our last post, our next project is going to be starting in September! Starting September, the children in Bazou will be taught traditional music at school. As far as we are aware, this will be the first music program in elementary school in Cameroon.

The gentleman in the sideways photo is Bagante, and he is a very talented musician who lives in Bazou. He will be the music teacher. We're really looking forward to seeing and hearing the music that Bagante and the students at St. Albert Le Grand create together! If you are interested in contributing to this project, please get in touch. We will be funding the school to purchase their own instruments for the children to use at school.

Great progress & a new project for September!

Hello everyone, our friends at Ecole St. Albert Le Grand have been busy for the past several weeks! Here are some photos to show the progress that has been made for the first project with rebuilding the interior of one of the school buildings. The interior walls that were falling down were demolished, and new concrete block walls are being built. Work is going well, and we have sent the second half of the money to complete the project! We expect to see the work wrapped up before the end of the summer. Check back soon for more photos!

We're happy to share the exciting news that we are working with the school to start a music program for the kids. Traditional music is not taught in any schools in Cameroon, and we are working to have a new class for all of the kids. We have found a musician who will teach, and will be raising some money over the end of the summer to help the school purchase some instruments and pay the music teacher's wages. If you are interested in contributing to this project, please let us know! Email: nbacko1121@rogers.com Phone: 416.836.8951