In 1998, there was someone named Rob in Arcata, California. He wanted to give me a guitar, but I said, “No, that won’t work.”
Then I was finally given a guitar when I went to Vermont in 1999. When we arrived in Vermont I was playing the guitar, and they said, “You should take this guitar with you.” I said, “I won’t be able to carry it.” I refused because I had so much luggage. They said, “We will get it in the plane for you.” I said, “Alright, let’s see what happens. Chances are, it is going to be left behind.” They said, “No way.”
They woke up very early in the morning, and wrapped that guitar up very well, and then the put it in the car. We drove from Vermont to New York City, and when we arrived there, I realized, “That guitar is emerging from the car! How am I going to carry it?”
I went inside, and they helped me to carry everything to the scale. They told me, “Hold onto the guitar.” Then we put everything else on the scale, and off it went. Then I was left holding the guitar, and I came back here with it.
Once I had it here, I played it very often. Then I gave it to my younger brother, the one who broke his leg. I saw that he was suffering because of his leg, and he used to play guitar. Then I gave it to him.
By that time I had two guitars, which wasn’t necessary. Because when Duncan came, he brought me another one and said, “I am giving you this guitar.” I thought, “Can I refuse it? It has come all the way from the United States, just like that.” Then I put it in the house.
Tony, from California, is the one who gave me this one. He said, “You should take this one.” At that time, I was doing a recording project with him in San Francisco. There were some young men who had their own studio who were recording me.
On the day that I played, I only needed two and a half hours to finish everything. I recorded an album with eleven songs, called “So Far Away.” Yes, I played “So Far Away.”
Tute Chigamba plays “So Far Away,” from the unreleased album So Far Away
So they edited it, and they made the master, but until now, they haven’t burned any copies. All of those songs that I played there, and they only burned four copies. Then I took one of them with me. I said, “I would like to play it while I am by myself at home.”