THE FIFTH INTERCOLLEGIATE FESTIVAL OF AFRICAN MUSIC & ARTS

THE PERRY AND MARTY GRANOFF MUSIC CENTER
Tufts University • 20 Talbot Avenue • Medford, MA • 02155

TUFTS UNIVERSITY TO PRESENT ITS FIFTH INTERCOLLEGIATE FESTIVAL
OF AFRICAN MUSIC AND ARTS ON APRIL 5, 2008

PART OF FUSIONS: ASO's 2008 CULTURE WEEK!

MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MA – Explosive drumming, exciting dance, and other fascinating visuals from several African cultures will fill Tufts University’s Granoff Music Center and Jackson Dance Lab on Saturday, April 5, 2008 as part of Tufts University’s fifth annual Intercollegiate Festival of African Music and Arts.

Performance ensembles from Tufts University and SUNY Binghamton, along with several notable African scholars and guest artists, will come together for a day that includes a colloquium on African singing, interactive workshops in African music and dance, an African street bazaar, and a grand showcase performance. Organized and directed by Tufts Associate Professor of Music David Locke (right), all parts of the festival are open to the general public.

Part one (12:30 pm – 1:45 pm) of the festival will be a Tufts Music Colloquium on Agbadza, a genre of traditional music from Ghana and Togo. The session will introduce the songs of Agbadza from a practical perspective. Topics will include an analysis of the music of Agbadza, how to prepare an American chorus to learn and perform Agbadza songs, as well as a look at new ideas in composing music based on the Agbadza tradition. Speakers include Professors David Locke and Andrew Clark of Tufts, James Burns from SUNY Binghamton, and composer Rebecca Sacks of the Tufts Community Music Program. The colloquium takes place in the Varis Lecture Hall of the Granoff Music Center. The event is free and no tickets are required.

Part two (2 pm – 4:30 pm)will be a series of free public afternoon workshops featuring each of the participating performance groups as they introduce their idioms in fully interactive sessions. The workshops will feature:

• The Nukporfe Dance-Drumming Ensemble from SUNY Binghamton (left), directed by James Burns and featuring guest artist Pierrette Aboadji.

• Kiniwe, the Tufts University African Music and Dance Ensemble, directed by David Locke and featuring guest artist Alhaji Abubakari Lunna

• The Tufts University Chorale, directed by Andrew Clark, working in conjunction with composer Rebecca Sacks on writing/performing new Agbadza songs with an American choir.

The workshops will be held back to back with short breaks in between. The workshops will be held in the Jackson Dance Lab, Aidekman Arts Center, 40 Talbot Avenue, on the Medford/Somerville campus. While the sessions are interactive, participation is voluntary. Observers are more than welcome. Children are also welcomed to attend and participate. Community members and students from other colleges and universities are encouraged to attend.

Part three (4:30 pm – showtime) will be an indoor African Street Bazaar throughout the three main levels of Granoff Music Center. Starting at 4:30 pm, the center will host a wide variety of African arts vendors, African volunteer and educational organizations. Admission to the Bazaar itself is free and all are welcome. This event is presented with assistance and support of ASO.

Part four (8 pm) of the festival will be a grand evening performance. Each of the participating groups from Tufts and SUNY Binghamton will perform their specialties in a twenty-minute set. The Tufts Chorale, along with Kiniwe, will also present the premiere of Dzidefo!, a new Agbadza work composed by Rebecca Sacks. Tickets for the evening performance are required. All tickets are $5, general admission seating. Tickets are available now at the Granoff Music Center Box Office (20 Talbot Avenue, Medford) or by calling 617.627.3679. Visa and Mastercard are accepted for phone orders.
TICKETS ARE REQUIRED ($5) FOR THE PERFORMANCE

All of the festival events will be held in the Granoff Music Center (20 Talbot Ave) or in the Aidekman Arts Center (40 Talbot Avenue) on the Tufts Medford/Somerville campus. Audience members/participants may come to one or multiple sessions. Parking is available in the lot immediately next to the Granoff Music Center, which you can gain access to from College Avenue.

The 2008 African Arts Festival is presented by the Tufts Department of Music and the Tufts Department of Drama/Dance, the African Student Association, along with support from the Dean of Arts and Sciences’ Diversity Fund. For more information contact the Tufts Department of Music at 617-627-3679 or visit us on the web at www.tufts.edu/musiccenter. Directions and parking information to the Granoff Music Center and the Aidekman Arts Center are also available on the Tufts Music website. The Jackson Gym/Dance Lab is located within the Aidekman Arts Center, 40 Talbot Avenue, Tufts Medford/Somerville Campus. Distler Performance Hall is handicap accessible. Jackson Dance Lab/Gym is not handicap accessible at this time. Parking is available in any of the nearby Tufts lots or in the Tufts Parking Garage at 419 Boston
Avenue, on the Medford campus.

About the Festival Participants
About Kiniwe, Tufts African Music and Dance Ensemble - When someone calls, “Kiniwe,” “Are you there on the ready?” the group responds, “Yaa,” “For sure!” Professor David Locke’s hands-on classes have taken this exhortation from West Africa as their performing name. These courses focus on traditional idioms of singing, dancing, and drumming that Professor Locke has studied in Ghana for decades. African dance movements, choreographic formations, song lyrics, drum parts, and polyrhythms are the course materials. Kiniwe is the performing name of three classes taught by Professor Locke at Tufts University: African Music Ensemble, West African Ewe Dance and West African Dagomba Dance. These are hands-on classes in which students learn to sing, drum, and dance a repertory of traditional West African music and dance. The classes introduce students to an exciting and challenging art form, as well as bring them closer to African civilization.

David Locke is a professor of music at Tufts University (picture far right). He did his graduate studies in ethnomusicology at Wesleyan University under David McAllester, one of the founders of the field. J.H.K. Nketia, the best-known African music scholar, supervised his fieldwork in Ghana (1975-1977). He has written three books and numerous scholarly articles, and the Africa chapter in Worlds of Music, a world music textbook. Locke enjoys doing African music as well as researching it. He directs Kiniwe, a performing ensemble at Tufts, and the Agbekor Society, a community-based study group.

Master drummer Alhaji Abubakari Lunna (pictured to the immediate right) a teacher, drum-maker, virtuoso performer, and cultural expert, has been Professor David Locke’s teacher and research colleague since 1975. Alhaji’s family has served the people of Dagbon as lunsi for many generations. Alhaji was trained in the art of drumming by his biological and teaching fathers. After a brilliant period of traditional performance in Dagbon, he worked for twenty-seven years as a professional artist with the Arts Council of Ghana’s Folkloric Company. As one of the few drummers of Dagbon with broad cosmopolitan experience, many Dagbana seek his advice and help on the problems that confront contemporary Africans. Alhaji has been a frequent guest artist and special instructor in the Tufts Department of Music (known until recently as Dolsi-naa Abubakari Lunna). He currently lives in northern Ghana.

Nukporfe, the SUNY Binghampton African Music Ensemble, or “Seeing is believing” comes from a Ghanaian proverb of the Ewe ethnic group. It connotes a situation where people demonstrate an ability that defies expectations. In the case of the Binghampton African Music Ensemble, the memebrs have come together from many different ethnic and musical backgrounds to excel in Ghanaian dance-drumming through hard work and our love for the music. Nukporfe was formed in the Fall of last year.

Dancer/Musician Pierrette Aboadji, has her life to performing and teaching African dance. As a professional dancer she is currently on leave as a senior dancer in the Ghana Dance Ensemble, which as the premier national dance company is made up of only the top dancers and musicians in Ghana. Throughout its 40 year history the Ghana Dance Ensemble has been directed by eminent choreographers who have combined traditional pedagogy in African dance with Western choreography, staging and technical methodology. The Dance Ensemble is based in the School of Performing Arts at the University of Ghana, and Pierrette has also served as an instructor in regular courses on African dance and music. Pierrette is currently teaching African dance in the Department of Theatre and Dance at Binghamton University.

Professor James Burns has spent the past 11 years learning, performing, and teaching African and Afro-Caribbean dance-drumming. In addition to formal study of African drumming at the School of Performing Arts in Ghana, James has apprenticed as a traditional drummer with several musical families in Ghana, and has accompanied them to play at ceremonies, funerals, and festivals throughout the country. James has a PhD in Ethnomusicology from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, and has been active as a researcher and performer. He has published articles on African music, a CD of Ghanaian drumming, and is currently finishing a book and DVD documentary about female musicians in Ghana. James teaches in the Departments of Music and Africana Studies at Binghamton University.

---

Press Listing - For Event Calendar Details:

Saturday, April 5, 2008, 12:30 pm – 8 pm
THE FIFTH ANNUAL TUFTS INTERCOLLEGIATE FESTIVAL OF AFRICAN MUSIC AND ARTS
In the Granoff Music Center & Aidekman Arts Center, Talbot Avenue, Tufts Medford/Somerville Campus
Featuring: Kiniwe (Tufts University), The Nukporfe Dance-Drumming Ensemble (SUNY Binghamton), and the Tufts University Chorale

Directed by: David Locke, Tufts University • James Burns, SUNY Binghamton • Andrew Clark, Tufts University
Guest Artists: Alhaji Abubakari Lunna and Pierrette Aboadji • Guest Composer: Rebecca Sacks

Festival Schedule
12:30 PM, Colloquium on Agbadza (Free) • Varis Lecture Hall, Granoff Music Center
2:00 PM, Three Interactive Workshops (Free) • Jackson Dance Lab, Aidekman Arts Center
4:30 PM, African Street Fair (Free) • Murnane Lobby, Granoff Music Center
8:00 PM, Grand Performance* • Distler Performance Hall, Granoff Music Center
* Tickets required. Tickets are $5 for the grand performance, all seating is general admission. Tickets can be reserved by calling 617.627.3679. All other festival events are free and do not require tickets/reservations.

The Granoff Music Center is handicap accessible. The Jackson Dance Lab is not accessible.

For more information: 617.627.3679, www.tufts.edu/musiccenter.

###

Tufts University, located on three Massachusetts campuses in Boston, Medford/Somerville, and Grafton, and in Talloires, France, is recognized among the premier research universities in the United States. Tufts enjoys a global reputation for academic excellence and for the preparation of students as leaders in a wide range of professions. A growing number of innovative teaching and research initiatives span all Tufts campuses, and collaboration among the faculty and students in the undergraduate, graduate and professional programs across the university's eight schools is widely encouraged.

The Tufts Department of Music offers a flexible and eclectic academic program leading to the Master of Arts degree in music. Students concentrate in composition, ethnomusicology, musicology, or theory, while having the opportunity to explore all these discipline, as well as the areas of music cognition, linguistics, sociology, and anthropology of music. The Tufts Department of Music is housed in the new Perry and Marty Granoff Music Center, home to the Distler Performance Hall and Fisher Performance Room. The Music Center hosts over 150 events and concerts annually, the majority of which are produced and presented by the Department of Music.

Tufts University - Granoff Music Center
20 Talbot Ave, Medford, MA 02155
Press contact: Tara Espiritu/Ryan A. Saunders
Office: 617-627-3679, 617-627-2253
Box Office: 617-627-3679
Web: www.tufts.edu/musiccenter

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	> About the Music Center > Overview of the Music Center > The Tufts Music Department > Granoff Rental Information > Photos > Events > Spring Concert Calendar > Sundays at 3 Community Concert Series > Granoff Press Room > Tufts Faculty in the Press > Community Music Programs > Resources and Programs Overview > 2008 Community Music Program > Community Program Instructor Bios > Visit Us > Directions > Parking > Contact Us	Home » Events » Events Calendar THE FIFTH INTERCOLLEGIATE FESTIVAL OF AFRICAN MUSIC & ARTS THE PERRY AND MARTY GRANOFF MUSIC CENTER Tufts University • 20 Talbot Avenue • Medford, MA • 02155 TUFTS UNIVERSITY TO PRESENT ITS FIFTH INTERCOLLEGIATE FESTIVAL OF AFRICAN MUSIC AND ARTS ON APRIL 5, 2008 PART OF FUSIONS: ASO's 2008 CULTURE WEEK! MEDFORD/SOMERVILLE, MA – Explosive drumming, exciting dance, and other fascinating visuals from several African cultures will fill Tufts University’s Granoff Music Center and Jackson Dance Lab on Saturday, April 5, 2008 as part of Tufts University’s fifth annual Intercollegiate Festival of African Music and Arts. Performance ensembles from Tufts University and SUNY Binghamton, along with several notable African scholars and guest artists, will come together for a day that includes a colloquium on African singing, interactive workshops in African music and dance, an African street bazaar, and a grand showcase performance. Organized and directed by Tufts Associate Professor of Music David Locke (right), all parts of the festival are open to the general public. *Part one (12:30 pm – 1:45 pm)* of the festival will be a *Tufts Music Colloquium on Agbadza, a genre of traditional music from Ghana and Togo. The session will introduce the songs of Agbadza from a practical perspective. Topics will include an analysis of the music of Agbadza, how to prepare an American chorus to learn and perform Agbadza songs, as well as a look at new ideas in composing music based on the Agbadza tradition. Speakers include Professors David Locke and Andrew Clark of Tufts, James Burns from SUNY Binghamton, and composer Rebecca Sacks of the Tufts Community Music Program. The colloquium takes place in the Varis Lecture Hall of the Granoff Music Center. The event is free and no tickets are required. Part two (2 pm – 4:30 pm)will be a series of free public afternoon workshops* featuring each of the participating performance groups as they introduce their idioms in fully interactive sessions. The workshops will feature: • The Nukporfe Dance-Drumming Ensemble from SUNY Binghamton (left), directed by James Burns and featuring guest artist Pierrette Aboadji. • Kiniwe, the Tufts University African Music and Dance Ensemble, directed by David Locke and featuring guest artist Alhaji Abubakari Lunna • The Tufts University Chorale, directed by Andrew Clark, working in conjunction with composer Rebecca Sacks on writing/performing new Agbadza songs with an American choir. The workshops will be held back to back with short breaks in between. The workshops will be held in the Jackson Dance Lab, Aidekman Arts Center, 40 Talbot Avenue, on the Medford/Somerville campus. While the sessions are interactive, participation is voluntary. Observers are more than welcome. Children are also welcomed to attend and participate. Community members and students from other colleges and universities are encouraged to attend. *Part three (4:30 pm – showtime)* will be an indoor African Street Bazaar throughout the three main levels of Granoff Music Center. Starting at 4:30 pm, the center will host a wide variety of African arts vendors, African volunteer and educational organizations. Admission to the Bazaar itself is free and all are welcome. This event is presented with assistance and support of ASO. *Part four (8 pm)* of the festival will be a grand evening performance. Each of the participating groups from Tufts and SUNY Binghamton will perform their specialties in a twenty-minute set. The Tufts Chorale, along with Kiniwe, will also present the premiere of Dzidefo!, a new Agbadza work composed by Rebecca Sacks. Tickets for the evening performance are required. All tickets are $5, general admission seating. Tickets are available now at the Granoff Music Center Box Office (20 Talbot Avenue, Medford) or by calling 617.627.3679. Visa and Mastercard are accepted for phone orders. TICKETS ARE REQUIRED ($5) FOR THE PERFORMANCE All of the festival events will be held in the Granoff Music Center (20 Talbot Ave) or in the Aidekman Arts Center (40 Talbot Avenue) on the Tufts Medford/Somerville campus. Audience members/participants may come to one or multiple sessions. Parking is available in the lot immediately next to the Granoff Music Center, which you can gain access to from College Avenue. The 2008 African Arts Festival is presented by the Tufts Department of Music and the Tufts Department of Drama/Dance, the African Student Association, along with support from the Dean of Arts and Sciences’ Diversity Fund. For more information contact the Tufts Department of Music at 617-627-3679 or visit us on the web at www.tufts.edu/musiccenter. Directions and parking information to the Granoff Music Center and the Aidekman Arts Center are also available on the Tufts Music website. The Jackson Gym/Dance Lab is located within the Aidekman Arts Center, 40 Talbot Avenue, Tufts Medford/Somerville Campus. Distler Performance Hall is handicap accessible. Jackson Dance Lab/Gym is not handicap accessible at this time. Parking is available in any of the nearby Tufts lots or in the Tufts Parking Garage at 419 Boston Avenue, on the Medford campus. *About the Festival Participants* About Kiniwe, Tufts African Music and Dance Ensemble - When someone calls, “Kiniwe,” “Are you there on the ready?” the group responds, “Yaa,” “For sure!” Professor David Locke’s hands-on classes have taken this exhortation from West Africa as their performing name. These courses focus on traditional idioms of singing, dancing, and drumming that Professor Locke has studied in Ghana for decades. African dance movements, choreographic formations, song lyrics, drum parts, and polyrhythms are the course materials. Kiniwe is the performing name of three classes taught by Professor Locke at Tufts University: African Music Ensemble, West African Ewe Dance and West African Dagomba Dance. These are hands-on classes in which students learn to sing, drum, and dance a repertory of traditional West African music and dance. The classes introduce students to an exciting and challenging art form, as well as bring them closer to African civilization. David Locke is a professor of music at Tufts University (picture far right). He did his graduate studies in ethnomusicology at Wesleyan University under David McAllester, one of the founders of the field. J.H.K. Nketia, the best-known African music scholar, supervised his fieldwork in Ghana (1975-1977). He has written three books and numerous scholarly articles, and the Africa chapter in Worlds of Music, a world music textbook. Locke enjoys doing African music as well as researching it. He directs Kiniwe, a performing ensemble at Tufts, and the Agbekor Society, a community-based study group. Master drummer Alhaji Abubakari Lunna (pictured to the immediate right) a teacher, drum-maker, virtuoso performer, and cultural expert, has been Professor David Locke’s teacher and research colleague since 1975. Alhaji’s family has served the people of Dagbon as lunsi for many generations. Alhaji was trained in the art of drumming by his biological and teaching fathers. After a brilliant period of traditional performance in Dagbon, he worked for twenty-seven years as a professional artist with the Arts Council of Ghana’s Folkloric Company. As one of the few drummers of Dagbon with broad cosmopolitan experience, many Dagbana seek his advice and help on the problems that confront contemporary Africans. Alhaji has been a frequent guest artist and special instructor in the Tufts Department of Music (known until recently as Dolsi-naa Abubakari Lunna). He currently lives in northern Ghana. Nukporfe, the SUNY Binghampton African Music Ensemble, or “Seeing is believing” comes from a Ghanaian proverb of the Ewe ethnic group. It connotes a situation where people demonstrate an ability that defies expectations. In the case of the Binghampton African Music Ensemble, the memebrs have come together from many different ethnic and musical backgrounds to excel in Ghanaian dance-drumming through hard work and our love for the music. Nukporfe was formed in the Fall of last year. Dancer/Musician Pierrette Aboadji, has her life to performing and teaching African dance. As a professional dancer she is currently on leave as a senior dancer in the Ghana Dance Ensemble, which as the premier national dance company is made up of only the top dancers and musicians in Ghana. Throughout its 40 year history the Ghana Dance Ensemble has been directed by eminent choreographers who have combined traditional pedagogy in African dance with Western choreography, staging and technical methodology. The Dance Ensemble is based in the School of Performing Arts at the University of Ghana, and Pierrette has also served as an instructor in regular courses on African dance and music. Pierrette is currently teaching African dance in the Department of Theatre and Dance at Binghamton University. Professor James Burns has spent the past 11 years learning, performing, and teaching African and Afro-Caribbean dance-drumming. In addition to formal study of African drumming at the School of Performing Arts in Ghana, James has apprenticed as a traditional drummer with several musical families in Ghana, and has accompanied them to play at ceremonies, funerals, and festivals throughout the country. James has a PhD in Ethnomusicology from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, and has been active as a researcher and performer. He has published articles on African music, a CD of Ghanaian drumming, and is currently finishing a book and DVD documentary about female musicians in Ghana. James teaches in the Departments of Music and Africana Studies at Binghamton University. --- Press Listing - For Event Calendar Details: Saturday, April 5, 2008, 12:30 pm – 8 pm THE FIFTH ANNUAL TUFTS INTERCOLLEGIATE FESTIVAL OF AFRICAN MUSIC AND ARTS In the Granoff Music Center & Aidekman Arts Center, Talbot Avenue, Tufts Medford/Somerville Campus Featuring: Kiniwe (Tufts University), The Nukporfe Dance-Drumming Ensemble (SUNY Binghamton), and the Tufts University Chorale Directed by: David Locke, Tufts University • James Burns, SUNY Binghamton • Andrew Clark, Tufts University Guest Artists: Alhaji Abubakari Lunna and Pierrette Aboadji • Guest Composer: Rebecca Sacks Festival Schedule 12:30 PM, Colloquium on Agbadza (Free) • Varis Lecture Hall, Granoff Music Center 2:00 PM, Three Interactive Workshops (Free) • Jackson Dance Lab, Aidekman Arts Center 4:30 PM, African Street Fair (Free) • Murnane Lobby, Granoff Music Center 8:00 PM, Grand Performance* • Distler Performance Hall, Granoff Music Center * Tickets required. Tickets are $5 for the grand performance, all seating is general admission. Tickets can be reserved by calling 617.627.3679. All other festival events are free and do not require tickets/reservations. The Granoff Music Center is handicap accessible. The Jackson Dance Lab is not accessible. For more information: 617.627.3679, www.tufts.edu/musiccenter. ### Tufts University, located on three Massachusetts campuses in Boston, Medford/Somerville, and Grafton, and in Talloires, France, is recognized among the premier research universities in the United States. Tufts enjoys a global reputation for academic excellence and for the preparation of students as leaders in a wide range of professions. A growing number of innovative teaching and research initiatives span all Tufts campuses, and collaboration among the faculty and students in the undergraduate, graduate and professional programs across the university's eight schools is widely encouraged. The Tufts Department of Music offers a flexible and eclectic academic program leading to the Master of Arts degree in music. Students concentrate in composition, ethnomusicology, musicology, or theory, while having the opportunity to explore all these discipline, as well as the areas of music cognition, linguistics, sociology, and anthropology of music. The Tufts Department of Music is housed in the new Perry and Marty Granoff Music Center, home to the Distler Performance Hall and Fisher Performance Room. The Music Center hosts over 150 events and concerts annually, the majority of which are produced and presented by the Department of Music. *Tufts University - Granoff Music Center* *20 Talbot Ave, Medford, MA 02155* *Press contact: Tara Espiritu/Ryan A. Saunders* *Office: 617-627-3679, 617-627-2253* *Box Office: 617-627-3679* *Web: www.tufts.edu/musiccenter*
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