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From YouTube: Artist Interview: Bill McCrossen
Description
During COVID-19 restrictions, Bill has been writing new music for the ngoni, a traditional African string instrument. In August, he will perform this new work for the Boulder Vista Village Mobile Home Park alongside fellow musician and neighbor Laura Jahanara Magnus. Creative Neighborhoods: COVID-19 Work Projects was launched by the Office of Arts + Culture and Create Boulder: https://boulderarts.org/public-art/creative-neighborhoods/covid-19-work-projects/
A
B
Okay,
well,
my
name
is
bill
mccrosson
and
I
am
a
professional
musician,
mostly
bass,
upright
bass,
some
electric
bass
also,
I
work
all
the
different
jazz
clubs
and
different
restaurants
and
clubs
that
have
live
jazz
concert
venues.
I've
toured
playing
all
over
the
world
with
some
of
the
biggest
names
in
the
music
jazz
scene.
B
C
B
Here,
that's
a
whole
nother
story:
it's
been
a
godsend
to
connect
with
with
these
instruments
and
this
music.
I've
always
been
interested
in
this
particular
type
of
music,
which
comes
from
the
region
of
west
africa,
known
as
burkina
faso
is
one
of
the
countries
and
cameroon,
mali,
senegal
gambia
that
whole
region
has
similar
instruments.
The
kamala
ngoni
is
a
translation.
B
In
the
simplest
terms,
it
means
a
young
person's
guitar.
You
know
how
everyone
plays
guitar
in
this
country.
Every
every
other
person
has
picked
up
a
guitar
and
played
some
bar
chords
or
some
power
chords,
and
they
think
that
they're
jimmy
page
all
of
a
sudden,
what's
kind
of
like
that.
With
this
instrument
to
a
certain
extent
because
of
the
tuning
they
have,
they
have
a
very
ancient,
deeply
spiritual
religious
ceremonial
purpose
initially,
but
I
believe
it
was
around
the
60s
or
the
70s.
B
It
started
to
make
a
little
bit
of
a
transition
with
a
different
tuning
so
that
almost
anyone
could
pick
it
up
and
they
would
sound
beautiful
if
you
just
if
you
just
started
playing
with
them
as
you'll
hear
in
a
little
while
here
they
sound
beautiful,
but
to
actually
get
in
involved
with
playing
with.
You
know
what
you
hear
from
the
influence
of
listening
to
some
of
this
music,
which
I
have
my
whole
life.
B
I've
always
been
interested
in
different
kinds
of
african
music,
so
it's
much
different
than
most
of
the
jazz
or
brazilian
music
or
weird,
improvised
music
that
I
play
so
anyway.
That's
the
story
with
that.
I
I
have
a
couple
of
different
groups
that
I
play
with.
One
of
them
is
the
clarissau
brazilian
jazz
quartet
right
now
we're
doing
a
month-long
residency
at
nocturne,
jazz
club
in
denver
on
wednesday
nights.
It's
my
first
indoor
gig
with
social,
distancing
and
marine
mask
or
on
stage
it's
a
little
challenging,
but
that's
one
of
the
groups.
B
B
Well,
fortunately,
for
miraculously
some
of
the
the
pandemic
money
that's
been
coming
in,
and
unemployment,
it's
really
helped
quite
a
bit
because
everything
came
to
a
screeching
halt.
Obviously,
when
you're
a
live,
performing
professional
musician,
all
the
places
that
were
hosting
music
before
this,
obviously
can't
I
mean
there's
no
question
about
it.
It's
like
we
don't
want
to.
I
think
the
governor
said.
No,
you
know
no
no
live
music
or
you
know
it's
just
starting
to
come
back
a
little
bit.
B
Now
some
of
it's
been
outside
gigs
we've
stayed
afloat
a
little
bit
doing
some
live
stream
stuff.
There's
a
performance
based
in
lafayette
called
the
muse.
It's
an
amazing
performance
space
and
we've
done
a
bunch
of
live
stream
concerts
daring.
We
get
some
donations
from
that,
but
it's
not
like
you
know
like
we
used
to
so
again.
It's
we're
just
getting
by
with
what
we
can.
D
A
E
B
A
A
B
B
B
So
I
was
playing
one
of
these
instruments
that
not
made
by
my
friend
johanna,
but
I
was
playing
for
the
kind
of
like
the
cooldown
period
for
this,
this
yoga
and
movement
thing
and
as
we're
packing
up
my
my
friend
johanna
just
had
been
going
to
the
mailbox,
I
think
and
was
like.
Oh
my
god,
I
I've
been
praying
to
meet
someone.
Who
knows
these
about
some
of
these
instruments.
I
make
them
and
I
live
like
right
around
the
corner.
B
I
was
like
what
you
got
to
be
kidding
me.
It's
just
like
the
the
odds
are
literally
completely
astronomical
to
they're
such
an
obscure
instrument.
You
know
in
this
country
specifically
to
find
someone
who
lives
like
within,
like
a
few
minutes,
walking
distance
who
actually
makes
them
is
just
astounding.
B
You
know
on
top
of
what
it
would
normally
have
different
anyway,
just
because
all
the
the
gourds,
if
I
can
show
you
real
quickly,
there
are
gourd
instruments.
This
is
what
they
kind
of
look
like.
So
there's
a
there's,
a
gourd
there's
a
skin
on
top
the
strings
right
and
she
makes
her
own
pegs.
Sometimes
she
uses
reclaimed
wood
for
the
neck
and
then
I'll
play
with
them
for
a
while.
B
And
you
know
all
of
a
sudden
they're
after
a
few
days
or
a
few
weeks,
their
their
voices,
kind
of
wake
up
and
the
instruments
just
come
alive
and
they
I
I've,
learned
to
train
myself
to
listen
to
what
they
want.
It's
not
necessarily
so
much
what
I
want
and
in
the
process
I'm
get.
I
get
a
chance
to
just
because
I'm
not
working
so
much
to
sit
on
my
porch
and
meditate
and
play
these
instruments
and
it's
it's
helped
kept.
B
My
sanity
be
quite
honest
to
connect
with
music,
that's
so
different
from
the
regular
jazz
stuff
that
I'm
doing
on
the
bass
is
huge.
So
we
figured
why
not
share
this
with
the
community.
We
have
a
beautiful
community
house,
a
room.
We
can
do
something
in
if,
if
we're
allowed
to
do
that
at
some
point,
but
we're
hoping
to
just
find
a
really
beautiful
day
and
on
the
green
of
the
vista
village
home
park
here
we
can.
E
A
B
Well,
yes,
maybe
at
the
end,
if
that's
okay,
I'll
get
your
honor
up
here
next
to
talk
about
her
her
journeys
with
these
instruments
in
the
music
and
then
maybe
the
thing
that
we
would
add
at
the
end,
if
that's
okay,
it's
just
a
little
improvisation
and
a
couple
of
the
instruments
to
get
just
to
give
you
a
little
taste
of
what
we'll
be
doing.
That.
B
A
A
A
D
A
D
So,
although
I'm
not
most
of
the
work
that
I
do
is
with
people
and
it's
important
to
actually
be
together
with
people,
because
so
much
of
it
is
happening
in
a
related
way,
where
being
together
and
really
feeling
the
energy
that's
happening
between
us
is
important.
So
I
have
been
able
to
go
a
tiny
bit
online,
but
not
very
much
so
it's
really
cut
down
on
my
performances
and
teaching
opportunities,
but
I
do
also
make
things
I'm
a
copper
and
silversmith
and
make
the
negones
and
some
other
things.
D
D
A
Yeah
I
I've
found,
although
a
lot
of
things
have
become
really
sad,
and
you
know
the
emotions
are
so
high.
It's
been
such
a
great
time
for
you
to
just
resort
to
your
creativity
and
that's
what's
been
so
interesting
for
me
to
talk
to
all
the
people
who
got
grants
and
how
they've
been
channeling
that
energy
into
their
work.
So
yeah
I'm
really
excited
to
hear
about
this
project.
D
D
I
have
a
spiritual
teacher
who
asked
me
and
the
other
people
that
are
in
the
group
to
read
sunjata,
which
is
a
an
epic
story
from
africa,
specifically
from
the
mali
general
area,
and
this
story
is
a
living
story.
It's
still
told
to
this
day.
In
fact,
I
have
a
friend
who
plays
the
korra,
which
is
kind
of
the
the
younger
sister
of
these
instruments.
It's
become
like
the
court
instrument,
the
instrument
of
the
king
and
the
queen,
and
the
court
has
21
strings.
D
B
D
So
I
actually
was
fortunate
enough
to
hear
the
story
told
while
a
quora
player
was
playing
and
then
our
teacher
asked
each
one
of
us
to
make
an
instrument.
None
of
us
knew
how
to
make
an
instrument.
None
of
us
knew
what
the
instrument
actually
looked
like,
but
each
one
of
us
actually
made
something
that
was
able
to
be
played
and
I
think
something
really
stirred
my
soul.
D
D
And
I
kind
of
envision
even
at
a
point,
maybe
at
the
very
end
of
the
performance
after
we've
had
the
question
and
answer
that,
maybe
we
would
invite
some
people
to
come
up
and
be
able
to
play
these
instruments,
because
really
the
magic
in
them
is
the
way
that
they
make.
You
feel
they
just
they
re-tune
every
cell
in
your
body.
A
E
D
So
I'm
gonna
just
show
you
the
instrument
that
I'm
gonna
play
on.
This
is
one
that
has
a
really
really
large
gourd
and
a
short
neck
and
just
six
strings.
It's
more
like
an
original
one
and
he's
gonna
play
the
the
very
largest
instrument
that
I've
made.
That
has
16
strings
and
I'm
actually
going
to
sit
over
here.
So
you
probably
won't
really
see
me
you'll,
be
able
to
hear
me,
but
you'll
more
see
him.