Building bridges with music

In his Galveston music studio on a January night, Dr. Matt Dacso mixed music that his band, Trans-Kalahari Quintet, recorded in June in Africa. 

“It's maybe just the best thing we’ve ever recorded,” Dacso said. “It's really a basic tune and sounds great. I just felt this really strong sense of pride.” 

Dacso, 43, is interim chair of the Department of Global Health and Emerging Diseases in UTMB School of Public and Population Health. The associate professor of Internal Medicine has worked at UTMB since 2011. 

He’s also a composer and a saxophonist who plays gigs in Galveston and travels to Botswana about once a year to play and record music with his Afro-jazz band, Trans-Kalahari Quintet.  

Saxophone as an outlet 

The Pink Panther lured Dacso to the saxophone at an early age. 

It started when he was about 10 years old and was already a veteran piano student. He watched “The Pink Panther” movies, and Henry Mancini’s simple jazz theme beckoned. 

“I couldn't switch to the saxophone fast enough,” Dacso said.  

He started playing it in his elementary school years, and then it took off in high school. He majored in music at McGill University in Canada and then ultimately decided to go to med school at UTMB from 2001 to 2006.  

“I've always just carried on playing the sax and playing with bands,” he said. “It always was a great outlet for me. It's a very important way for me to relax and turn my mind off—and to really build relationships and engage with friends and develop community and other colleagues through music work.” 

Majoring in music might seem like an unusual start for a medical student. 

“Oh, it's more common than you'd think,” Dacso said. “There's a number of folks that end up in the health professions that start in the arts. There's some sort of shared cerebral energy there. I think there's a part of it that's creativity and part of it that's empathy, compassion and caring.  

“People who gravitate toward music tend to express emotion through their art,” he added. “One of the core parts of healing is being able to care for others with a level of passion and compassion. There definitely are some shared neurons.” 
 

Finding time to play music has not been difficult, and balancing work and music is a natural beat.  

“You're going to have weekends and evenings when you're going to have available time,” Dacso said. “It's just about what your priorities are. For me, music was always going be a priority I liked.” 

Beyond the music, playing the saxophone has brought a sense of belonging and connection. 

“I like being in the music scene,” Dacso said. “I like playing with bands. I like being with non-medical people, you know? You get to be a part of a different community, which is important.  

“Now, when I was here in Galveston as a student, music was one of the ways that I actually got to know members of the community who were not in the health field,” he said. 
 
In college, Dacso played classical music, then he moved on to jazz. Now he plays some of both, but it depends on the gig. He sometimes plays with a jazz band in Houston. Occasionally, he plays with The Line Up, a Galveston-based band that plays dance music with classic rock, R&B and soul tunes. 

Community in Botswana 
 
After his medical residency, Dacso moved to Botswana. He worked as a doctor, but he met some musicians and formed a band. 

“The thriving arts community is so amazing there,” Dacso said. “The music is very compelling, but it doesn't really get the notoriety. People have probably heard musicians from South Africa, Nigeria or Kenya—these really populated African nations—but Botswana is so small population-wise, it's just hard for them to get their music out there.”  

Trans-Kalahari Quintet has been nominated for a Botswana Musicians Union Award. Ansonica Records, the band’s label, helps the band produce, promote and distribute their music. Ansonica released The Trans-Kalahari Quintet’s album “The Long Journey Home” in 2020. 

“They circulated it for Grammy consideration, but it didn't get nominated or anything,” Dacso said. “As I've continued to make music with the band, it's really not about promoting the band. But if there's any way in which the music that we make can bring some attention to the arts and creative community of Botswana, that's the main goal.” 

Botswana lost many people, including many musicians, with the HIV pandemic. 

“There's a whole generation of artists that were lost to HIV, and so that memory is very prominent,” Dacso said. “Many of the musicians I play with are the generation that knew people who they lost to the virus. Then they saw HIV medicines start saving people's lives.” 

Living and working in Botswana as a physician, Dacso formed bonds with the community. When one of his bandmates got sick, his family came to him with medical questions. 

“I think because I have earned some trust with music community that they felt comfortable to ask,” he said. “I don't take that lightly. That's influenced my medical practice—just being a part of the music scene.” 

Healing Arts 

One of Dacso’s great sources of pride is to see an arts community emerge at UTMB. He is faculty sponsor of the group Music in Medicine. 

“These are some incredibly talented musicians that come to UTMB,” he said. “Now they have formed little ensembles that perform in the hospital or for community events. It's just been so amazing to see that grow and start to come together.” 

Last year, Music in Medicine formed the Healing Arts Orchestra, a collaboration with the Galveston Symphony. 

“It's been very gratifying to see the university take an interest in supporting the arts,” Dacso said. “That's an investment. It’s not going to be a financial return on investment. It's going to be a return on investment in the wellness of the of our community. Because there's an outlet now for students, faculty and staff on our campus to flex those muscles.  

“And it's therapeutic.”