A Concert Of African Drumming, Dance & Song With The UMass Kekeli African Drum And Dance Ensemble
A concert of African dance, drumming, and song directed by world renowned artist Kwabena Boateng will take place at UMass Dartmouth Tuesday, 3 May, 2011 at 7:30 pm. Guest artists will include Master Drummer Abraham Kobena Adzenyah, Jamie Eckert, Wes Brown, and Scott Kessel. The event, which is sponsored by the UMass Dartmouth Music Department and College of Visual and Performing Arts, will be held at the University's main auditorium. Parking is available in lots 4 and 5. Proceeds from tickets sales, $5 for adults, $3 for students, with seniors and handicapped free, will be used for the Kekeli club ensemble's trip to Ghana, West Africa in the summer. CD sales will be donated to the Save Darfur fund to help the victims of genocide in the Sudan. The concert is sponsored by the UMass Dartmouth Music Department and College of Visual and Performing Arts.
A CONCERT OF AFRICAN DRUMMING, DANCE & SONG WITH THE UMD KEKELI AFRICAN DRUM AND DANCE ENSEMBLE
A concert of African dance, drumming, and song directed by world renowned artist Kwabena Boateng will take place at UMass Dartmouth Tuesday, 3 May, 2011 at 7:30 pm. Guest artists will include Master Drummer Abraham Kobena Adzenyah, Jamie Eckert, Wes Brown, and Scott Kessel. The event, which is sponsored by the UMass Dartmouth Music Department and College of Visual and Performing Arts, will be held at the University's main auditorium. Parking is available in lots 4 and 5. Proceeds from tickets sales, $5 for adults, $3 for students, with seniors and handicapped free, will be used for the Kekeli club ensemble's trip to Ghana, West Africa in the summer. CD sales will be donated to the Save Darfur fund to help the victims of genocide in the Sudan. The concert is sponsored by the UMass Dartmouth Music Department and College of Visual and Performing Arts.
The Kekeli African drum and dance ensemble performs the traditional music and dance of West Africa, including processional, warrior, court, social, harvest, and recreational styles.
Anyone interested in additional information about this special concert event or to join Kekeli on its trip to Ghana in Summer 2011 may contact professor Royal Hartigan by telephone at (508) 999-8572.
About the Performers
Kwabena Boateng is a dancer, dramatist, and musician who has toured the world extensively, recorded, given master classes, and appeared in films about African Culture. He was a founding member of the African jazz-highlife ensemble Talking Drums. An authority on African dance, language, culture, and drama, Kwabena continues to perform, direct, consult, and lead dance groups throughout the United States both individually and with Talking Drums.
Abraham Kobena Adzenyah is a master drummer, dancer, and authority on African music, song, dance, and culture. He is the originator and leader of the African jazz-highlife ensemble Talking Drums. Kobena founded the world-renown African music and dance program at Wesleyan University and continues as its director. He has authored numerous books, DVDs and CDs, and toured, given clinics, and lectures throughout the U.S. and across the world.
Jamie Eckert is professor of percussion and world music in the UMD Music Department. He performs across the U.S. as a classical percussionist, steel drum artist, and clinician in all areas of percussion, including music of the African Diaspora. His UMD El Caribe steel pan ensemble is widely known throughout New England for its unique performances.
Scott Kessel is a drummer, visual artist and gymnast who performs across the country and world with numerous ensembles. He has performed traditional African music as well as drumset in highlife, jazz, reggae, string ensemble, funk, Afro-Latin, and many other styles. In addition to a regular drumset Scott has also created a drumset with unique materials that give distinctive sounds.
Wes Brown is a bassist, flutist, pianist, drummer, and dancer who has toured the world with many groups, including the legendary pianist Earl 'Fatha' Hines, Talking Drums, Fred Ho's Afro-Asian Music Ensemble, the blood drum spirit ensemble, and the Black Rebels reggae ensemble.
Royal Hartigan is a Professor at UMass Dartmouth. He is a student of the late Freeman Kwadzo Donkor, Adzenyah, Helen Mensah, and Boateng and has performed with Talking Drums, Fred Ho's Afro-Asian Music Ensemble, Hafez Modirzadeh's Paradox, and his own group. royal lives in Ghana each summer to learn drumming and dance styles, to share as part of the UMass Dartmouth Music Department's African Drum and Dance Ensemble.
About African Music
We will be performing the traditional instrumental music, dance, and song of the coastal rain forest cultures of West Africa, including peoples from the present day countries of Cote D'Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin, and Nigeria. The dance drama, which includes the three dimensions of instrumental music, dance, and song, is an expression of events in the life-, agricultural-, and seasonal cycles. It connects people as members of a community and strategies for success in the individual and collective struggle for survival - the transcendence of physical, economic, and political limitations. Drumming, dance, and song are highly sophisticated, complex, and powerful means in oral tradition by which people remember genealogies, recall group history, and maintain personal connections with each other, ancestors, a spiritual realm, and the creator.
The historic global movement of African peoples since the 1500s has brought this African sense of community, transcendence, and spirit to many parts of the globe, resulting in new forms of expression shared by people of all cultural backgrounds. These include Blues, Shouts, Clapping Plays such as Pattin' Juba, Gospel, Rhythm and Blues, Jazz, Reggae, Rumba, Samba, Candomble, Lucumi, Vodun, and numerous other styles, including much of the world's popular music since the dawn of the 20th century. The music and dance of Africa is an ancient and contemporary expression that is a humanizing force in our paths through life.
Author: "Royal Hartigan [Contact]"
Date: 3-5-2011
