This is a talk with Jahsun, who plays the drums and is a former member of Jah Cutta and Determination and current member of the Ark of Infinity and Ora and Founder of Kalmunity. Kalmunity performs every Tuesday evening at Kafé Sablo. Kalmunity’s 3 rd year Anniversay is on March 3 rd, 2006. www.kalmunity.com

Q: What is Kalmunity?

A: Kalmunity is first a concept of reflection, of our community that we live in and the communities that live around us. K A L M is a wordplay for community but also that ‘calm’ is a crucial element for community building. Sitting around a table and really hearing someone’s difference can’t be done with a lot of excitement, anger and anxiousness. It can only be done with a certain calm, patience and a willingness to hear something in its entirety before responding to it - so we can respond properly as opposed to cutting someone off. That’s what the name is. That’s what the people behind it are pushing for. We reflect that through what we do which is art, which is musicians, poets, dancers, singers, poets, chanters, lyricists, actors, engineers, producers. We work with all of these people to reflect our community.

Q. How does Kalmunity function?

A. It a concept that I came up with to network with people who can reflect their art and get feedback so that the community feels reflected within their art... finding a place for us to get together. That’s how it started, by me finding musicians, poets. Being a drummer and a long-time musician in this city, having musician friends, I ran the idea by them, if they were into this idea of creating an arts-based community reflection concept. It’s going to be like life is. Where nothing is planned and we use the means around us to create harmony. We do this through the musical notes - we improvise. I call up people I think would suit the area and what we are going to play. It’s like a musical cheffing. After knowing the musicians, what styles they play, its like what flavors I would like to blend. I ask people if they would like to play and perform a Kalmunity.

Q. Since it is called Live Organic Improv, I presume there is little rehearsing.

A. There is no rehearsing. It is 100% improvised, like life. It is a reflection of life.

Q. What is your role in Kalmunity?

A. I am the drummer and the founder of the idea and I want to keep the idea alive with people. Keep it fresh. You want to know about the practicals of it and that’s not what we are about. That’s why I’m there, to remind you that it’s not about the practicals, it’s because of the essence that we are there. We use practical tools around us to show the essence. I call the musicians, I organize the gigs, I book the gigs. I am more the spokesperson because I’m bringing the concept forth, but many others represent and are spokespeople for Kalmunity. Definitely, I am the drummer, timekeeper and essence keeper.

Q. Why have you created such a group?

A. It was opportunity and Kalmunity was something that was needed in the city. I went to poetry shows, concerts, art events and I looked at things that I thought were missing and tried to create a balance. There were voices that were not being heard, connections with audiences that were not being made, a lot of the arts were off-standing, but there was no art out there that was fully sharing and engaging the people supporting this art. There’s a lot of art we go and see and say, wow, this artist is incredible, but it’s because of their personal expression. When you have art that comes from a personal place but envelops the community we live in, that’s the kind of artists we need. I found there wasn’t a balance and that is what Kalmunity is trying to do, find the missing things.

Q. You mentioned the group was about seventy people...

A. And growing. We have been doing this for three years now, with people from out of town, some have come and left, new people coming in, it’s always growing. We let the numbers grow, but in the city, we have about thirty to forty people that we rotate and do different shows with, that we don’t have to workshop the concept with them. Within the workshop that we do, the Kafé Sablo night, which is our laboratory and our home, we are open to bringing in younger talent, people who have never tried it before and who need to express themselves. On those evenings we discover talent, share with the community, create a space for voices, for opportunity.

Q. What was the largest number of people you have had at an evening?

A. About five hundred. At Kola Note, four sets of four different groups of musicians, like four shows. At Sala Rosa, we had five hundred people at our New Year’s Eve party, all improvised.

Q. What do you feel you are achieving with this type of musical improv group?

A. We are digging up talent that ANR’s ( link between the artist and the label ) and record companies would never look at. We have great talent in this city. The community can come and hear honest, real performance, real expression. We are getting better at communicating with each other through the language of music, through vibrations. We have better musicianship, the skills of improv. Living with what you have around you and doing the best with that, that is a big skill. We are playing by ear, the old school way of playing music. We should learn to write, read music but not to forget that we have ears. It’s the new school of jazz, that’s what Kalmunity is. Not jazz as the form of music, but the approach towards music. We are not doing anything new, but it feels new in the city. If you look at Motown, Stacks, all those groups, the Funk Brothers, they got together and created a sound of their own, created the Minneapolis sound, the Chicago sound, the Philadelphia sound. Created by people who said, we realize what we have, let’s put it together and support each other, so we can be self-sustaining until people discover our sound. We are old school, bringing the life back into live music. There are groups that perform live but they are not playing live music, they are performing something recorded. That base player, or drummer, or guitarist could be thinking about the crappy hotel room they are in. They are not fully present. With Kalmunity and the improv, everyone has to be fully present at all times. That creates an energy that people generally do not get to see. Open, vulnerable and very talented, all at once, and all for real, one hundred percent. That energy, that live experience is what people come back for.

Q. What is your philosophy to music? Have you an ideology?

A. My ideology is that we all have a voice and it is all valid, everyone deserves to be heard. Whatever I can do in my community to make the unheard, heard, I will work on that. Until these voices are heard and listened to, then we won’t be able to move from the negativity that we are in - how we box people in. I want the truth to come out, the truth that there are a lot of stories that haven’t been told, that everyone can walk on an equal plane.

Q. Where do you want to go from this point with Kalmunity?

A. We need to spread the word of Kalmunity and for that, unfortunately, we need a product. We love it to be a live experience that you have no choice but to get off your backside and go see it. It’s real, and to treat everyone with the most love and respect we can. With Kalmunity, getting into production, getting into what we would sound like recorded, to keep that organic sound, finding ways of doing that. We have a lot of studio offers to work with the collective, but we need to find a way of working that we are not under pressure of an industry. We are not making music for an industry, we are making music for people, that reflect people. We have to develop a live show and shape a studio sound that reflects us, a way to work in the studio that we can feel that energy. That’s what drives the improv - we feed off the crowd. It’s a live thing.

Q. If I wanted to do something with Kalmunity, read, sing, play, how do I go about it?

A. First we have a book that people sign up on. We go through the book and pick out two or three names and try to integrate them slowly into what we do. We have a workshop on Monday, the night before the show, which is not a practice but it is a language course of why we do what we do. We get together, we describe the improv language that we use, we share the pieces, we talk about them, see where people are coming from, so that we are on the same page when we are playing music. We don’t have time to understand a person in their entirety but the art that we are sharing, we can work that to have a deeper understanding. Sometimes we talk all night, and the next night is a magical night that happens. It’s a workshop, although sometimes we talk about world issues, or someone comes in troubled and that sparks a discussion. Sometimes it’s a musical night, trying things out.

Q. If Paul Martin, our Prime Minister, asked to recite a poem with Kalmunity, would you let him?

A. (A big guffaw) That’s the oddest question I have ever heard. He would never want to do that with us. I am almost tempted to say yes just to see how that would blend. I don’t think he would be interested. What I know of him, he’s not my type of guy.

Q. Is there anything else you would like to say?

A. I hope that Kalmunity spreads to people’s hearts and they understand that it’s more than a group and that it’s one hundred percent improvised because a lot of people swear that we are rehearsed, because most jam sessions are not that put together, not that song oriented. We are not a jam session. Kalmunity is live organic improv.

A postscript note: Kalmunity is always looking people to join the collective other than singers, poets and musicians. People such as sound editors, recording editors, film editors, manager/publicist, visual artisits, for shows and backdrop scenery, live sound engineers, recording studios are welcomed.

Lady Katalyst is a multidisciplinary street artist with a back ground in dance,poetry, and sound production. She is a featured poet with the Kalmunity Vibe Collective and her style is a fusion of jazz, hiphop and dub poetry.   She watches channel zero Are you making close personal relationships with people who own their darkness? Do you own your darkness or does your darkness own you? Block you up inside one brick at a time. You keep asking why is she alone? Pretty girl walk Pretty girl talk Pretty girl smile Pretty girls don't always feel pretty. A longing, a desire, a fire burning Fueled by the soul I keep saying I will try, but I am not sure I know how History repeats, defeats, beats itself down A pattern is placed over the map of my life I cannot make it stop by standing still Still standing still? Standing still...still? Seeking security, stability, someone to watch over me But will the one I choose need watching Can I trust myself to trust him? Can I trust myself to select one worthy of trust? Can I trust myself? Disfunctional lifestyle. An empress not quite in-car-nate. A living memory of men marching onward making mats of their mates While a recycled crown sits in their hand in the shape of a beer can and words of love are being pushed through words of hate. A tear, a sigh, sorrow swimming out from in begins be what we see as; "Real love. I'm talking 'bout that real love. Someone to give my heart to." It can't be love without that desperation. It can't be love without that struggle. It can't be love without that daytime drama, soap opera, talk show craziness. Beautiful intelligent wise warriors watch whispering warnings; "Beware she watches channel zero."