Olly Wilson, 80

Olly Wilson, 80, Dies; Composer Meshed African and Western Music
by Richard Sandomir, The New York Times, March 23, 2018

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Building futures: a fresh DanceAfrica for BAM

Armand Celestin (center)
takes a journey in Senegal: Doors of Ancient Futures,
the 2016 season of BAM's DanceAfrica.
(photo: Richard Termine)

The extraordinary Moussa Sonko
of Senegal's Les Ballets de la Renaissance Africaine "WAAtO SiiTA"
(photo: Richard Termine)

The charming Chuck Davis has stepped out of his role as Artistic Director of DanceAfrica--that torch now passed to Forces of Nature's Abdel R. Salaam, a former, and impressive, Davis dancer. But let's just call this change a further expansion of leadership rather than a replacement. DanceAfrica, now celebrating its 39th season at BAM, functions as an engine built to generate leadership in all directions--from its mighty corps of elders to the youthful minds and talents it nourishes, instructs and inspires. It's a village, and that village includes you, too, sitting out in the seats of Gilman Opera House, clapping, cheering or tearing up as you always do.

There was quite a lot of that last evening at the opening of this year's spectacular Senegal: Doors of Ancient Futures. There was Baba Chuck and the always nattily-dressed Baba Salaam to greet; generous supporters to thank; nine young Scripps scholarship winners to honor; and one lucky dance artist--DC-native Kwame Opare--to congratulate as first recipient of the new Chuck Davis Emerging Choreographer Fellowship. Opare's award will allow him to continue and deepen his relationship with the National Ballet of Ghana, creating "new work that explores West African dance technique and aesthetics on the contemporary stage."

DanceAfrica welcomed a new Artistic Director this season,
veteran choreographer Abdel R. Salaam.
Much-loved Baba Chuck Davis (below) will stay connected
to DanceAfrica's community as Artistic Director Emeritus.
(photo: Richard Termine)

Under Salaam, DanceAfrica will pursue its own imaginative expansion, newly emphasizing a unity of African tradition and African innovation. The latter is dramatically represented, this season, by Salaam's own work, A Question of Beauty, with its visual grandeur and passion for ousting demons of Black self-hatred, and Marie Agnes Gomis' Who Are We?, which situates rigorous contemporary movement and traditional Senegalese dance within an imperiled environment. Her handsome, Dakar-based Compagnie Tenane dances that piece amid a gleaming and confining field of one-gallon plastic water bottles. 

Baidy Ba and Marie Agnes Gomis
of Compagnie Tenane in Who Are We?
(photo: Richard Termine)

Senegal: Doors of Ancient Futures crackles with fresh energy and--at nearly 2-1/2 hours--benefits from a lightly-applied narrative through line that connects its companies and pieces. Central to this scheme is young Armand Celestin who takes an Alice-like step through an opening in space and time. Celestin's "looking glass" is inspired by Salaam's visits to Gorée Island's Door of No Return, the portal to the ocean that carried so many enslaved Africans west to the Americas. Lagging behind your typical bustling, photo-snapping tourist group, the boy becomes fascinated by this door, passes through and encounters all manner of dancers, musicians and wise elders. In many ways, Celestin stands for all of us in the house: DanceAfrica creates space and opportunities for us to appreciate African concerns--from environmental integrity to personal integrity--and African values.

But messaging isn't all. The stagecraft of Senegal: Doors of Ancient Futures--sets, lighting, costuming--has hit an all-time high for sophistication and pleasure. And we thrill to the vibrant performances of Dakar's Les Ballets de la Renaissance Africaine “WATTO SiiTA”--in particular, its leader, choreographer and charismatic chief dancer, Moussa Sonko. I don't know about young Celestin, but--damn--I definitely want to be Sonko when I grow up.

Senegal: Doors of Ancient Futures concludes on May 30 with performances today at 2pm and 7:30pm, Sunday at 3pm and Monday at 3pm. For information and tickets, click here.

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Doudou N’diaye Rose, 85

Doudou N’diaye Rose, Senegalese Drummer and ‘Human Treasure,’ Dies at 85
by Bruce Weber, The New York Times, August 23, 2015

London's Krar Collective brings Ethiopian grooves to Lincoln Center

London's KRAR COLLECTIVE is coming to Lincoln Center for a free concert!

Free Thursdays at the Atrium
Thursday, September 24 , 7:30 pm

David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center
Broadway between 62nd and 63rd Streets, Manhattan
(map/directions)

Serving up a colorful feast of mind-blowing grooves, this unstoppable London-based trio—Temesegen Zeleke on the krar (an ancient five- or six-stringed lyre), Genet Asefa on vocals, and Amare on drums—performs a rootsy yet contemporary take on traditional music from Ethiopia based on other-worldly modes and driven by hypnotic rhythms. The traditional acoustic krar is associated with the azmari minstrel tradition; electrified in the hands of Zeleke, it becomes a gritty, ancient rock guitar. Add to it Amare’s traditional kebero drums and Asefa’s stunning singing, and this minimal lineup creates a surprisingly full sound that has led to the group being dubbed ‘”The Ethiopian White Stripes.”

Seating is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information, including program updates, visit atrium.lincolncenter.org.

Desert days and nights of Tinariwen

Tinariwen
(photo by Marie Planeille/courtesy of the artists)

The desert is a place of hardship and subtle beauty, a stark world that reveals its secrets slowly and carefully. Life in the desert is resilient and strong, and the people are gentle giants among the sand, storms, and sun. For saharan blues band tinariwen, the desert is their home, and their hypnotic and electrifying guitar rock reflects complex realities of their homebase in North West Africa. -- from Tinariwen bio

Listen to the beautiful new album, Emmaar, 

by Saharan music ensemble Tinariwen.

Click here:

First Listen: Tinariwen

About Emmaar

NPR Music

With Ubuntu, Carnegie Hall honors South African culture

Carnegie Hall

presents

UBUNTU: Music and Arts of South Africa

a citywide festival exploring South African arts and culture

October 10-November 5

dozens of events at Carnegie Hall 

and partner venues across New York City

music, film, visual arts, and more

featuring trumpeter, vocalist, and composer Hugh Masekela; vocalist Vusi Mahlasela; jazz pianist Abdullah Ibrahim; vocalist Angélique Kidjo; vocal ensemble Ladysmith Black Mambazo; visual artist William Kentridge; and many others

For information on Carnegie Hall's UBUNTU Music and Arts of South Africa festival, click here.

Listen to a preview of Angélique Kidjo's "Eve"

NPR's First Listen presents

a preview of 

Eve

the new album by

Angélique Kidjo

The magnificent Angélique Kidjo
performing at Rockefeller Park, NYC
(c)2013, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

on sale January 28

***click to listen***

Ethiopian cabby gets back to his music

Ethiopian Funkster, Back After Long Break
Hailu Mergia Performs in Brooklyn

by Jon Pareles, The New York Times, December 20, 2013

Meet Sidiki Conde, star of "You Don't Need Feet to Dance"

Sidiki Conde shares skills and hope with kids (Photo by Alan Govenar)

On Friday, March 22, meet the director and star of

You Don't Need Feet to Dance,

a documentary by Alan Govenar (The Beat Hotel)

on the life and work of drummer-dancer Sidiki Conde.

Conde and Govenar will be in attendance
at the opening night screening

at New York's Quad Cinema.

Showtimes for the week of March 22-28: 1pm and 7:30 pm

An intimate documentary about a man who overcomes his disability one day at a time in New York City, Alan Govenar's new film reveals the extraordinary life of African immigrant Sidiki Conde.

Sidiki was born in 1961, in Guinea, West Africa. At age fourteen, polio left him almost completely paralyzed. Sent to live with his grandfather in a village deep in the forest, Sidiki learned to manage his disability, building his upper-body strength so that he could walk on his hands. When faced with the dilemma of dancing in a coming of age ceremony, he reconstructed the traditional steps by dancing on his hands instead of his feet.

In time Sidiki ran away to Conakry, Guinea’s capital city, where he and his friends organized an orchestra of artists with disabilities recruited from the city’s streets. They toured the country, striving to change the perception of the disabled. In 1987, he became a member of the renowned dance company Merveilles D'Afrique, founded by Mohamed Komoko Sano. Sidiki became a soloist and served as rehearsal master, composing and directing the company’s repertoire. He also worked as a musician and arranger with Youssou N’Dour, Salifa Keita, Baba Maal and other popular musicians.

In 1998, Conde’s music brought him to the United States, and he founded the Tokounou All-Abilities Dance and Music Ensemble. In the United States, he has continued to perform and teach, instructing people of all abilities in schools, hospitals and universities, and served as artist in residence at a Bronx public school for children with multiple disabilities.

In You Don’t Need Feet to Dance, Sidiki balances his career as a performing artist with the almost insurmountable obstacles of life in New York City, from his fifth-floor walk-up apartment in the East village, down the stairs with his hands and navigating in his wheelchair through Manhattan onto buses and into the subway. Despite the challenges, Sidiki teaches workshops for disabled kids, busks on the street, rehearses with his musical group, bicycles with his hands, and prepares for a baby naming ceremony, where he plays djembe drums, sings, and dances on his hands.

Advance ticket sales: 777-FILM #636 or at movietickets.com.

Quad Cinema
34 West 13th Street (between 5th and 6th Avenues), Manhattan
(directions)

Thomas Mapfumo to play Carnegie Hall in October

Carnegie Hall

in partnership with  
World Music Institute

presents 

Thomas Mapfumo

Saturday, October 20 (10pm)

Thomas Mapfumo

Known as "The Lion of Zimbabwe," Thomas Mapfumo has popularized the music of his native country throughout the world with his revolutionary, spiritually charged chimurenga (Shona for "struggle") music. Introducing the electric guitar and bass while maintaining the core rhythms and melodies of the traditional mbira, his songs became veritable anthems for the independence movement of his country in the 1970s, and later a litany of criticism of the Mugabe government. Mapfumo, now living in exile in the US, has been hailed as a musical visionary and one of Africa's greatest bandleaders. He performs with his group, The Blacks Unlimited.

Part of Carnegie Hall's World Views series in Zankel Hall

For information and tickets, click here.

The enchanting Angelique Kidjo on PBS

Angelique Kidjo sings 'Batonga"--the song that gave the name to her Foundation in her PBS Special Spirit Rising featuring the Kuumba Singers, Christian McBride, Dianne Reeves, Josh Groban, Branford Marsalis and Ezra Koenig


Watch it tonight, 10:30pm, on Channel 13 in New York!

Film on Mali legend Ali Farka Touré

A Visit to Ali Farka Touré (video; 57 min.)

Winner of a Grammy Award for the album Talking Timbuktu, on which he played with Ry Cooder and other American luminaries, the legendary African singer and guitarist now invests much of his time, energy and resources in improving agricultural and social conditions in Mali. Film-maker Marc Huraux visited Ali there. Music is an integral part of Ali's life and therefore an integral part of this encounter. Deep, mysterious and utterly compelling, his playing lights up a striking documentary.

Available through subscription at ClassicalTV. For subscription details, click here.

Oumou Sangare at Celebrate Brooklyn!

Oumou Sangare at Celebrate Brooklyn!
by Jon Pareles, The New York Times, July 31, 2011

Enjoy your holiday!

from Liberty State Park (c)2010, Eva Yaa Asantewaa

Hey, InfiniteBody friends all over the USA! Happy 4th of July! 

But if you're not really feeling those Sousa marches, try this.

An intimate concert with Regina Carter

Regina Carter: Tiny Desk Concert

NPR Music, April 11, 2010

Do ya wanna funk?

Orchestre Poly-Rythmo de Cotonou Plays Funk

by Jon Pareles, The New York Times, July 12, 2010

John Storm Roberts, scholar of world music, 73

John Storm Roberts, World-Music Scholar, Dies at 73
by Margalit Fox, The New York Times,  December 10, 2009