Camai:Eskimo for “hello”

Camai - Yupik Eskimo word meaning “hello”, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization which began in 1986 with an Alaska performing tour across the former Soviet Union in an effort to inspire the opening of the Soviet/Alaska border. Recently, Camai changed its name to Turning The Tides.

1990′s: The former Soviet Union

After extensive lobbying by Camai in Washington and Moscow and several lecture tours with Soviet counterparts across the United States, this border opened in 1988. Coastal Eskimo families, some separated by only 2 miles of water and forbidden contact for 48 years, were reunited. Camai invited the first ever plane load of Russian businesspeople, musicians, intellectuals, students and Communist Party officials to Alaska for a massive week-long celebration featuring Russian and American Eskimo dancers, rock bands, Black gospel choirs and children’s choruses. Camai continued to help bridge Russian and American politics and cultures until the mid-90′s, sponsoring numerous student and cultural exchanges.

1990′s: The Middle East

During the 90′s, Camai successfully brought together Christians, Muslims and Jews in musical performances in Alaska and Pennsylvania. Cultural, political and religious walls were bridged by audiences singing music from the three religions with Black gospel, Islamic and Hebrew soloists and bands. Some participants, who had never before experienced social discourse across these three faiths, have continued to sing together and discuss common issues. Camai Founder and choral director, Dixie Belcher, spent a great deal of time in the Middle East, listening to the people – Christians, Muslims, and Jews – and learning about their plight.

Today: Camai is Turning The Tides in the Pacific Ocean

Turning the Tides (TTT) is Camai’s newest effort to bring together people through music – this time with Pacific peoples, to raise awareness of the state of the Pacific Ocean, humanity’s dependence on its health, and what ordinary people can do to reverse its deterioration.

TTT is beginning with an internet performance, with sites in Juneau, Alaska; Seattle, Washington; Lima, Peru and Auckland, New Zealand. This performance aims to join Pacific students, activists, native peoples, and business and political leaders to celebrate the ocean and inspire action to promote its revitalization.. The performance is seen as the first of several trans-Pacific musical events, camps, conferences and workshops that feature the interconnectedness of ocean, plants, animals and humans, and inspire practices that enhance the health of all.

Imagine…

As sites in Lima, Seattle, Juneau and New Zealand stream into view with audiences and performers waving, they are enthusiastically welcomed by an emcee. Through the ensuing chaos of waving and welcoming, and as slides of the ocean appear, the first line of Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World” is heard, sung by a children’s choir in Spanish, from Lima. The last words to this first sentence, in Spanish, are: “And I think to myself” – Juneau children pick up with “What a wonderful world” and continue the next sentence – which again ends with “And I think to myself” as Maori children join with the words “What a wonderful world” in Maori. The piece continues between the fours sites – cries of sea gulls and whales are added – and ends in Seattle. On the last note, Seattle drummers (African, Native American, Caribbean, etc.) begin drumming and are joined 15 seconds later by drummers in Juneau, Peru and New Zealand as an invitation is issued to all sites for the first dance. Ocean slides continue. (10 minutes)

So begins a proposed two hour internet performance/dance held simultaneously in Juneau, Alaska; Lima, Peru; Seattle, Washington, and New Zealand to celebrate the ocean, raise awareness about its decline, and what everyone can do to help. Proposed venues are university gyms, with pro bono university internet equipment, space to perform and to dance. Sites are projected on one wall, with changing slides of the ocean on others. Audiences and performers include children, high school and college students and adults.

Presentations of the crisis of the oceans and what Pacific peoples (particularly young people) are doing about it is presented through comedy, rap, folk, rock and hip hop vocals and bands to help build enthusiasm for joint projects throughout the Pacific.

Juneau based Camai’s Turning the Tides has joined with Lima based ORCCAMM to develop joint ocean projects through the internet and student exchange and is working with student and community activists in Seattle and New Zealand to join this project, envisioned to eventually include peoples on both sides of the Pacific.
Soon we will have much more information about Camai available online, including video, audio, and photographs….to help tell this inspiring story. Stay tuned!

January Project donates a portion of its proceeds to Turning The Tides, a cooperative effort to raise awareness about the serious deterioration of the Pacific Ocean. For further information, and for how you can help, please visit www.turningthetides.org.