New Lecture and Performance Series to Focus on Music of the African Diaspora

Ithaca College will open a yearlong lecture and performance series, "Reverberations: Music of the African Diaspora," with three exciting offerings in September. On Wednesday, September 6, master drummer, percussionist, composer, and music educator Bobby Sanabria will present a lecture/ demonstration, "Clave - The Key: A Rhythmic Journey from Africa to the New World," at 8:15 p.m. in the recital hall of the James J. Whalen Center for Music. On Friday, September 8, ethnomusicologist Kazadi wa Mukuna will lecture on "Dimensions of African Music in the New World" at 7:00 p.m. in the recital hall. His talk will be followed at 8:15 p.m. by a concert in Ford Hall by Women of the Calabash, a vocal group performing traditional African music. All of the presentations in the series are free and open to the public.

"This series is designed to explore the African contribution to musical expression in all of its variety across time and space," says Tanya Saunders, assistant provost for special programs. "It is intended to be a serious intellectual inquiry into the music, history, art, literature, and experiences of the African diaspora that so greatly influenced the defining of the Americas."

"Reverberations: Music of the African Diaspora" is the result of a collaboration between the School of Music and the Center for the Study of Culture, Race, and Ethnicity. Future offerings include a five-part discussion on the history of gospel music, which will be presented October 30-November 3 by Horace Clarence Boyer, professor emeritus of music theory and African American music from the University of Massachusetts; a concert by an Ithaca community gospel chorus on November 2; and a performance by trombonist Jimmy Bosch and his band on April 7.

In the inaugural lecture/demonstration, Bobby Sanabria will focus on clave, the Spanish word for "key," as a way to unlock the roots of contemporary Afro-Cuban music and reveal the voices of its musical ancestors. Playing a wide variety of percussion instruments and a full drum set, Sanabria takes audiences on a polyrhythmic journey that starts in 15th-century Africa. He follows the route slaves took to the New World, focusing on the music they brought with them.

Through his presentation Sanabria demonstrates how New World history, politics, and religion influenced the rhythms of Africa, resulting in the rich array of musical styles we now call Latin music. He shows how the five-beat clave remains at the core of such musical styles as rock and roll and hip-hop.

Sanabria has performed and recorded with his own critically acclaimed ensemble, Ascensión, as well as with such legendary jazz and Latin music figures as Mongo Santamaria, Tito Puente, Dizzy Gillespie, and Paquito D'Rivera. In 1983 he was honored with a National Endowment for the Arts grant as a jazz performer.

Sanabria has written numerous articles for publications such as Modern Drummer and Highlights in Percussion. He is also a regular columnist for the Descarga Newsletter and a contributor to New York Latino magazine. He is currently on the faculty of the Drummer's Collective and is a professor at the New School University in New York City. Sanabria has conducted clinics and seminars on the Afro- Cuban jazz tradition worldwide, including such venues as Bogotá, Colombia, and São Paulo, Brazil. For more information visit www.jazzcorner.com/sanabria.

Founded in 1978, Women of the Calabash is a vocal trio whose goal is to convey music as a continuum, moving across boundaries of styles and instruments. The three members of the group - Madeleine Yayodele Nelson, Marsha Perry Starkes, and Mayra Casales - combine their singing voices with dialogue and instruments made of natural materials such as calabash (a gourd-like fruit related to the squash family), bamboo, and wood to present a free-flowing performance. Nelson, founder of the group and artistic director, made many of the instruments herself.

Women of the Calabash has appeared with such performers as Philip Glass, Ashford and Simpson, the Temptations, and Max Roach. The group has appeared at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, Town Hall, and the Walker Art Center and has performed on public radio and television stations. In 1988 it was awarded the blue ribbon for best video by the American Film Festival for its 16-minute eponymous music video. The National Council for Culture and Art has recognized the group as "musicians extraordinaire." For more information visit http://kwanzaaalbum.com.

Kazadi wa Mukuna, an ethnomusicologist from Zaire, is an associate professor at Kent State University. He holds a doctorate in ethnomusicology from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a doctorate in sociology from the Universidade de São Paulo. He is best known for his work on traditional African music on the continent and in the diaspora and for his contributions to the field of urban music in Zaire and Brazil. He is the author of several books in this domain, and his articles have appeared in many languages and countries. He has taught at the National University of Zaire, Michigan State University, and the Universidade Federal do Maranhão in Brazil.

For more information regarding this new series and other performances at Ithaca College, visit the School of Music Web page at www.ithaca.edu/music.