Abdoulaye Sylla is back from Guinea with fresh dance moves. He’s subbing for Manimou’s Sunday-morning class Feb. 13 at 10:30 a.m.

Manimou says, “Abdoulaye Sylla is a great master dancer and professional artist of Les Ballets Africains for many many years. Please come out and support this talented artist.”

Sunday, February 13, 10:30 a.m. – noon
eXit SPACE School of Dance
414 NE 72nd St
Seattle, WA
$15

More classes are listed on the African dance class page.

Three pillars of our community have pulled together to re-launch the Sunday-night African music series, which had a nice five-and-a-half-year run at Hidmo.

Claire Jones, Afua N’Diaye, and Shawna Hawk have formed Roots! A Community Consortium, and their first project is to bring back weekly African music every Sunday night.

The new venue for the series is Dahlak Restaurant & Bar, 2007 South State St.; 206-860-0400. Music will play 8:00-10:00 p.m., just as at Hidmo.

There will also be a “Unity Hour” 6:30-7:30 each Sunday, featuring dance lessons, youth performance, and other community activities.

This Sunday, Jan. 30, the group Lembema kick off the series. Lembema (which means “dignity” in the Malinke language) features Guinean guitarist Abdulaye “Diamond Finger” Diabate. I hope you can come down and dance to the infectious sounds of Abdulaye’s electric griot music and guitar wizardry, accompanied by bass and djembe drumming.

For more info on the series, call 206-279-9910 or 206-265-2215.

I published an announcement yesterday for the Playing for Change show at the Moore next month, mistakenly listing the date as Nov. 18 (I had somehow got a link to last year’s show). Anyhow, the correct date is Wed. Nov. 3.

Tony Allen, the drummer who helped Fela Kuti start the Afro-beat movement, is headlining the Snoqualmie World Music Festival this weekend.

The festival runs from 4:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., with Tony Allen going on around 8:30. The opening acts are great, too, as are the DJs playing between sets, so try to make an evening of it.

In addition to Tony Allen, the show features Grupo Fantasma, Occidental Brothers Dance Band International featuring Samba Mapangala, and Quetzal-Acoustic with special guest Laura Rebolloso.

As of this writing, I have a few comps for the show. Please e-mail me right away if you’d like one.

Jon Kertzer, who put this festival together, will be giving away tickets on his KEXP radio show, “Best Ambiance,” tonight (Monday) 6:00-9:00 p.m.

I’m very sorry to pass along this news from the King Sunny Ade tour manager.

It is with great sadness that we announce the cancellation of the entire April/May 2010 North American tour for King Sunny Ade and his African Beats.

On March 26th 2010 a tragic car accident took the lives of two members of the African Beats, talking drummer Gabriel Ayanniyi and percussionist Omo Olope, who were en-route to a video shoot for a forthcoming recording. When the US Embassy refused to grant visas to replacement members in a timely manner, there was confusion about the possible courses of action.At the same time, it became clear that the artist and the band had neither recovered from the impact of the tragedy, nor were they able to find consensus on how to move forward with normal touring.

As a result, the North American April/May 2010 tour has been canceled until such a time as King Sunny Ade and his group have sufficiently regrouped and are ready to face the rigors of an International tour again.

We offer our heartfelt condolences to the band and the families of the deceased. On behalf of the artist and his band we extend our apologies to all who will be disappointed by their inability to perform in North America this year.

GRAViTON: African Arts (N.A. management fo King Sunny Ade)

These are world music shows from August 2005 through March 2008.

Click here for a list of current Seattle world music shows.

2008

Ladysmith Black Mambazo

Wednesday, March 12, 2008
8:00 pm
$35 in advance / $40 day of show

Moore Theater
1932 2nd Ave

Tickets available at:
Moore Theater

For additional info contact:
206-467-5510

Grammy Award winning, South African a cappella singing group. I still bet goosebumps when I recall their performance at S.O.B.s in New York during their Graceland tour with Paul Simon.

Balkan Beat Box

Sunday, March 2, 2008
8:00 pm
$$

Chop Suey
1325 E Madison St

Wikipedia says, “Balkan Beat Box establish their own unique sound by fusing the musical styles of Jewish, Mediterranean and Balkan traditions as well as the cultural influences of their home turf of New York City with some tints of electronica.”

Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars

Saturday, February 23, 2008
8:00 pm

Moore Theater
1932 2nd Ave

Tickets available at:
Moore Theater

For additional info contact:
206-467-5510

Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars tour the world spreading their message of peace and love. With a spirited and infectious fusion of traditional West African music, roots reggae and rhythmic traditional folk, Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars craft music that transforms and uplifts.

Angelique Kidjo

Thursday, February 21, 2008
8:00 pm
$30 in advance / $35 day of show

Moore Theater
1932 2nd Ave

Tickets available at:
Moore Theater

For additional info contact:
206-467-5510

Beninese chanteuse now living in Paris combines Afro-funk, reggae, samba, salsa, gospel, jazz, Zairean rumba, zouk, and makossa.

Kane Mathis and Sahel

Saturday, February 16, 2008
(not sure of time, probably around 8:00)

Solstice Cafe
4116 University Way NE

Featuring Kane Mathis on kora, vocals, and guitar; Rusty Knorr on drums; Nina Vucmanic on bass; and Sam Weng on percussion.
Kane has has been making trips to The Gambia, west Africa to study kora for the past 11 years.
He has performed on Gambian national radio and television and has performed in concert for the Gambian President.

Banning Eyre, Senior Editor for Afropop Worldwide, says, “Kane Mathis has developed a remarkable mastery of
Mande music. . . It is not only that Mathis is comfortable and well-versed in the Mande repertoire;
it’s that when he plays, he swings in exactly the right way, probably the
hardest thing for an outsider to grasp in this rich, West African tradition.”

Hugh Masekela’s Chissa All Stars

Sunday, February 10, 2008
7:30 & 9:30 pm
$28.50

jazz Alley
2033 6th Ave

Tickets available at:
http://www.jazzalley.com/reservations_1.asp?showid=561

For additional info contact:
Jazz Alley, 206-441-9729

Before there was world music, there was Hugh Masekela. South African trumpeter/vocalist Hugh Masekela was already an established international artist when he scored an American Top 40 hit, the joyous ‘Grazing In The Grass’, in 1968. A professional since his teens, he had been a member of The Jazz Epistles (which included Abdullah Ibrahim) in his native country before escaping the brutal hand of apartheid in 1961. With the help of Dizzy Gillespie and Harry Belafonte, he and his wife, singer Miriam Makeba, secured a new start in the USA. Before ‘Grazing…’, Masekela had won stateside notice with his blazing solo on The Byrds’s indelible hit ‘So You Want To Be A Rock And Roll Star’.

Sweet Honey in the Rock

Saturday, February 9, 2008

8:00

Paramount

Tickets available at:
Ticketmaster

All-woman, African-American a cappella ensemble.

Gansango Music & Dance

Seattle Folklore Society – Traditional & Ethnic Music Concert Series

Friday February 1, 2008
7:30 pm
$??

South Seattle Community College – Olympic Hall auditorium

Tickets available at the door
but call in your reservation to: 206-528-8523

For additional info contact:
Siri Wood, 206-417-4679, e-mail

Featuring Seattle’s own Etienne Cakpo and Charles Ahovissi, also from Benin and also a great dancer and musician.

Toumani Diabaté

Thursday, January 24, 2008
7:00 and 9:30
$25 advance/$30 day of show

Triple Door
216 Union St

Tickets available at: Triple Door web site

More than any other artist, Toumani Diabaté is responsible for introducing the kora—a 21-string harp unique to West Africa—to audiences around the world. But aside from being a player of exceptional virtuosity and creativity, Diabaté plays a vital role as bandleader, teacher, musical conservationist and composer in the capital city of Bamako, Mali, where he was born and has lived all his life.

Thomas Mapfumo

Sunday, January 13, 2008
7:30 pm
$18 adv/ $20 day of

Triple Door
216 Union St

Tickets available at:
Triple Door

Thomas Mapfumo made revolutionary changes in Zimbabwe’s pop-music scene by recording a song for which he’d written his own music. Before Mapfumo, songs in the traditional style were always based on tunes that had been handed down for generations. He is responsible for blending traditional Shona mbira music with western instruments and a political message full of innuendo and traditional proverbs. He established the musical style, chimurenga (the Shona word for struggle). Mapfumo’s music became popular during the civil war against White minority rule, but his popularity made the government unhappy. In 1977 he was sent to a prison camp for subversion. To obtain his release, Mapfumo agreed to perform for the ruling party, but at the concert he sang only his most revolutionary songs. “I told them that since I’d been in detention, I didn’t have time to write new ones.”

2007

Les Nubians

Sunday, December 30, 2007

7:00 pm (all ages) & 9:30 pm (21+)
$28 adv/ $32 day of

Triple Door
216 Union St

Tickets available at:
Triple Door

“Afropean hip hop/R&B duo.” Lisa Storey opens.

Expressions of African Dance

Friday, December 14, 2007
7:00 pm
$12 adults / $8 seniors & students

Kane Hall (Room 130)

University of Washington

Tickets available at:
Brown Paper Tickets

For additional info contact:
Spectrum Dance at 206-325-4161

Featuring Sukutai Music and Dance Company, The Ethiopian Dance Group, Students from Denny Middle School, and the Seattle Girls School. Presented by Spectrum Dance Theater & Seattle Theatre Group. Directed by Lora Lue Chiorah from Zimbabwe.

Ibrahima Camara & Safal

Friday, December 7, 2007
9:15 pm
$10

Waid’s
1212 E Jefferson St
206-328-6493

Tickets available at:
the door

African rhythm roots band with Afro-pop, High-Life, Latin, and reggae influences.

Festival of Lies
(dance show by Faustin Linyekula and Les Studios Kabako)

Thursday-Saturday, Nov. 29-Dec. 1, 2007
8 pm
$24

On The Boards
100 West Roy Street

Tickets available at:
On the Boards

Celebrated Congolese choreographer Faustin Linyekula turns On the Boards into a social club and soukous party for this dance theater spectacle. As people eat, drink and listen to a live pop band, Linyekula’s 5-member company layer the festive environment with dance, political speeches and personal stories to reveal the corruption and conflict found in their war-torn country. Premiere Congolese soukous musician (and Tacoma resident) Wawali Bonane will provide the live music for the show.
Doors open at 7pm. Bring extra cash to purchase food before or during the show from Jacques Sarr (former owner of the Belltown hotspot Afrikando).

He is offering a master dance class Saturday afternoon, Dec. 1. See the Seattle African Dance Class page for details.

Thione Diop & Yeke Yeke

Friday, November 30, 2007
9:00 pm-midnight
Free – donations welcome

Hidmo
2000 S. Jackson

For additional info contact:
206-290-5560

High-energy drum (djembe/dunun) ensemble led by Thione Diop, a master
drummer from Senegal.

Soyaya (Mohammed Shaibu)

Saturday, November 24, 2008
8:00 pm – midnight

Habesha Ethiopian Restaurant
1809 Minor Ave

This band is developing one of the coolest sounds on the local Afro-pop scene. Three hot percussionists (Saaed Abbas, Etienne Cakpo, and Thierno Diop) back Mohammed’s guiter and vocals.

Winds of Change
Odunde Festival 07’

Sunday, November 18, 2007
3:00

$15

Youngstown Cultural Center
4408 Delridge Way SW

Tickets available at:
Planet Afua

Planet Afua’s annual Thanksgiving show.

Other Odunde Festival events on the Dance Classes and Drum Classes pages.

Ozomatli

Saturday, November 17, 2007
8 pm
$20.00 ADV / $22.00 DOS

Showbox

Multiethnic nine-piece band from LA known for blending a wide variety of music styles (Latin, hip hop, rock, salsa, jazz, funk, reggae, etc.) with political activism.

Albino

Friday, November 16, 2007
9:00
$8

Nectar
412 N 36th St.
Fremont/Seattle 98103

Tickets available at the door

For additional info contact:
Nectar Lounge, 206-632-2020, web site

I saw these guys at Burning Man, and they totally rocked. Highly recommended. From the Nectar web site: Winner of the SF Music Award for “Best World Music”, ALBINO! has performed to capacity crowds up and down the West Coast and as far east as Chicago. ALBINO!’s brand of afrobeat reminds music lovers of what it feels like to groove, and without fail, inspires audiences to let go and absorb the ecstatic energy that pours from the stage whenever this funk-fueled juggernaut performs.

DJ Jon Kertzer, host of KEXP’s “Best Ambiance,” will also spin some world music.

Tinariwen & Vieux Farka Touré

Wednesday, October 31, 2007
8 pm
$28 general / $26 discount

Town Hall Seattle
1119 8th Ave (at Seneca)
Seattle WA 98101

Tickets available at:
http://acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaID=142193

Seattle’s African show of the year. The Tuareg rebel band, Tinariwen, lately a huge hit in Europe (and Rolling Stones opener), rides in with riffing, electrified Saharan fervor that resounds with the roots of American blues. Also unearthing blues roots with his high-powered band is Malian singer/guitarist Vieux Farka Touré, son of guitar legend Ali.

Earshot Jazz Festival

Musafir

Saturday, October 27 , 2007
8 pm
Advance $22 ($19 discount), door $25 ($22 discount)

Town Hall Seattle

1119 8th Ave (at Seneca)
Seattle WA 98101

Tickets available at:
BrownPaperTickets.com

Musafir (Hindi and Urdu for “traveler”) plays the music of the Rajasthan desert of North India, the “gypsy homeland” of the Roma. They create a transcendent blend of music, dance, and performance art.

Earshot Jazz Festival

Oliver Mtukudzi

Tuesday, October 23, 2007
7pm & 9:30pm
$25 advance / $28 day of

Triple Door
216 Union St

Tickets available at:
TripleDoor.net

With his driving ensemble, Zimbabwe’s great cultural export, “Tuku” Mtukudzi, blends traditional Korekore drumming with mbira and jit styles to create an inimitable form respectfully dubbed “Tuku music.”

Earshot Jazz Festival

Dee Dee Bridgeater’s Red Earth (with ten of Mali’s most exciting musicians)

Sunday, October 21, 2007
7pm & 9:30pm
$35 general/$33 discount

Triple Door
216 Union St

Tickets available at:
TripleDoor.net

The Grammy and Tony Award winning jazz vocalist brings ten of Mali’s most exciting musicians to Seattle to present the music of her stunning album, Red Earth, A Malian Journey.

Earshot Jazz Festival

Guinea Fundraiser with
master drummer Karim Koumbassa

Saturday, October 20, 2007
5:00-6:00 pm (doors at 4:30)
$ donate what you can – please be generous – this is a great cause

New Discovery School
1260 Harrison St.

For additional info contact:
Marissa Baratian

All proceeds from this event will go to sending children in Enco-5 in Conakry, Guinea, to school. Most children there cannot afford to go to school and never would be able to. All it costs to send a child to school for a year plus provide them with supplies and school uniforms is $100. Some of the children who do go to school attend a school of very poor quality. $50 would get them into a better quality school and provide them with supplies and uniforms.

Gansango’s “La Calabasse”

Friday October 5 at 7:00 pm
Saturday October 6 at 2:00 pm
$12

Seattle Art Museum auditorium

Tickets available at:
SAM

For additional info contact:
206-654-3121

Contemporary and traditional African dance.

King Kester Emeneya

Sunday, September 30, 2007
web site says 10:30 pm-2 am
reported as 9:00 pm-1 am on Music of Africa radio show
$25

Fraternal Order of the Eagles, Aerie #1
6205 Corson Ave. S.
Seattle, WA 98108

Tickets available at the door

For additional info contact:
Hussein Kalonji, 206-351-4769 or Mbuta Bass, 206-354-7169

Venerable Congolese musician. The father of the modern Congolese sound.

Sorry for the late notice on this show. I just heard about it on Doug Paterson’s KBCS radio show Thursday night.

Dobet Gnahore

Monday, September 24, 2007
7:30 pm
$20.50

Jazz Alley
2033 6th Avenue
Seattle, WA 98121

Tickets available at:
http://jazzalley.com/artist.asp?artistid=487

For additional info contact:
206-441-9729

The minute Dobet Gnahoré (pronounced DOH-bay gna-OR-ay) steps onto the stage, it is obvious she is something special. She exudes an inner strength and commanding presence that draws you in, even before she opens her mouth to sing. Once Dobet sings, her voice is filled with emotion and range. She moves from heartfelt ballads to funky, danceable songs with ease, and is comfortable performing in a wide range of African styles. Eventually, Dobet begins to dance, and the true depth of her talent shines through. . .

Pangeo

Friday, Saturday, Sunday, September 21-23, 2007
Free

St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church
(Montlake)
2100 Boyer Avenue East
Seattle, Washington 98112

Pangeo plays all weekend as part of St. Demetrios Greek Festival. Pangéo is a five-member group based in Seattle drawn together by a passion for Greek and Balkan folk music. With a taste for old-style dance music they are equally at home playing ballads from the mountains of Epiros in Greece, or lively tunes from the Bulgarian border area. The instrumentation includes clarinet, accordion, guitar, percussion, voices and bouzouki—for a sound that transports you to another world.

Angelique Kidjo

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Key Arena
Seattle

African diva supporting Josh Groban on his tour.

Children of the Revolution

Saturday, August 18, 2007
8pm
$26 adult, $10 youth

Kirkland Performance Center
350 Kirkland Ave
Kirkland WA 98033

Tickets available at:
www.kpcenter.org or call: 425-893-9900

Made up of virtuoso musicians, singers and dancers from around the world, Children of the Revolution blend their Flamenco, Greek, and Rock roots, creating a lush and melodic sound driven by infectious Latin and Middle-Eastern grooves. Come watch one of the most unifying and entertaining shows.

Andy Palacio and The Garifuna Collective

Monday, August 13, 2007

$22.50

Jazz Alley
2033 6th Avenue
Seattle, WA 98121

Tickets available at:
Jazz Alley

For additional info contact:
206-443-8247,
jazzalley@jazzalley.com, http://www.jazzalley.com/artist.asp?artistid=475

The soul of Africa, the spirit of the Caribbean and the heartbeat of Central America resonate in this powerful music, a tribute to the unique and threatened Garifuna culture. The Garifuna Collective, joining Andy Palacio, is an all-star, multigenerational lineup of musicians from the African-Amerindian Garifuna communities of Belize, Guatemala, and Honduras. Filled with enchanting rhythms, powerful melodies and a deep soulfulness that recalls Cape Verdean or Afro-Peruvian music, their recent release Wátina (Cumbancha 2/2007) serves as a stunning introduction to the music of this unique and inspiring culture.

Widely regarded as the most popular musician in Belize, Andy Palacio is also recognized as an important archivist of and advocate for Garifuna traditions, a true cultural preservationist. Having done much to revive the unique blend of West African and indigenous Caribbean heritage, Palacio creates music that is living history – a history that is infectious, nuanced, and endlessly danceable.

Ozomatli

Thursday, August 9, 2007
5:45 pm
$26

Marymoor Amphitheater
Corner of Hearst & Gayley Roads
Redmond, WA 98052

Tickets available at:
http://www.ticketmaster.com/venue/123155

Multiethnic nine-piece band from LA known for blending a wide variety of music styles (Latin, hip hop, rock, salsa, jazz, funk, reggae, etc.) with political activism. With G Love and Special Sauce and Slightly Stoopid.

Lionel Loueke Trio

Tuesday and Wednesday, August 7 and 8, 2007
7:30 pm
$21.50

Jazz Alley

2033 6th Avenue
Seattle, WA 98121

Tickets available at:
Jazz Alley

For additional info contact:
206-443-8247,
jazzalley@jazzalley.com, http://www.jazzalley.com/artist.asp?artistid=471

West African guitarist, born in Benin and educated in Ivory Coast, Paris, Boston, and LA. He has performed and recorded with many well-known musicians, including Angelique Kidjok and Herbie Hancock. http://www.lionelloueke.com/

Hugh Masekela

Tuesday, July 31, 2007
7:00 pm (all ages) & 9:30 pm (21+)
$35 adv/ $38 day of

Triple Door
216 Union St

World music pioneer whose musical career began in the 1950′s. I saw him at Radio City Music Hall in New York with Paul Simon’s “Graceland” show back in the late 1980′s with Miriam Makeba and Ladysmith Black Mambazo – still the best world music show I’ve ever seen. Here’s a bit more from the Triple Door web site: Before there was world music, there was Hugh Masekela. South African trumpeter/vocalist Hugh Masekela was already an established international artist when he scored an American Top 40 hit, the joyous ‘Grazing In The Grass’, in 1968. A professional since his teens, he had been a member of The Jazz Epistles (which included Abdullah Ibrahim) in his native country before escaping the brutal hand of apartheid in 1961. With the help of Dizzy Gillespie and Harry Belafonte, he and his wife, singer Miriam Makeba, secured a new start in the USA. Before ‘Grazing…’, Masekela had won stateside notice with his blazing solo on The Byrds’s indelible hit ‘So You Want To Be A Rock And Roll Star’.

Femi Kuti

Wednesday, July 25, 2007
8:00 pm
$25 advance/$28 day of show

Showbox
1426 First Avenue
Seattle, WA 98101

Tickets available at:
Ticketmaster

“Femi Kuti is the oldest son of the late Nigerian superstar Fela Kuti. Fela pioneered the sprawling big band sound called afrobeat. His 45-minute musical tirades against Nigeria’s power elite lead to violent confrontations, and in 1984, the government jailed him on a trumped up currency charge. Femi, who had quit school to play alto sax in his father’s band back in 1978, stepped up to lead the band for the next two years. In 1986, Fela returned and Femi split off to form his own group, Positive Force. Continuing in the afrobeat tradition, Femi built around a solid, six-piece horn section and two strong percussionists. With guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, and four singer/dancers, his band numbered 17. Like Fela, Femi sang about power politics, but with a lighter touch, and in briefer form.” [from Afropop.com]

Toubab Krewe

Friday, July 13, 2007
10:00 pm
$8

High Dive

513 N 36th St
Seattle, WA 98103
in Fremont

Info:
206-632-0212

Blending Malian, American, and “Dirty South” influences into a genre all its own, Toubab Krewe “has set a new standard for fusions of rock ‘n’ roll and West African music,” says Banning Eyre at Afropop Worldwide. Members of the group developed their unique sound over the course of numerous extended trips to West Africa, where they immersed themselves in the local culture and studied and performed with masters such as Lamine Soumano, Vieux Kante, Madou Dembele, and Koungbanan Conde. The magnetic instrumental quintet formed in early 2005 and has attracted a diverse and devoted national following, captivating crowds everywhere from the Bonnaroo Music Festival and the Blue Note to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The band’s energetic performances and acclaimed self-titled debut have won them praise from the New York Times, Global Rhythm, Afropop Worldwide, and more.

Los Amigos Invisibles

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

doors @ 8:00
$15

Neumo’s

For additional info contact:
http://www.neumos.com/071107.html

Percussion-heavy Latin dance band from Venezuela. A Benefit for the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project, with DJ Darek Mazzone.

Seu Jorge – cancelled

Thursday, July 5, 2007

Showbox

Wikipedia says, “His fans consider him a renewer of Brazilian samba-style pop. He credits his influences as the samba school Estação Primeira de Mangueira, composers Nelson Cavaquinho and Zeca Pagodinho, along with footballer Romário and American soul singer Stevie Wonder.”

Antibalas

Thursday, June 22

Neumo’s

New York’s Brooklyn-based afro-pop big band.

Refugee All-Stars of Sierra Leone

Tuesday, June 19
7:00 pm (all ages); 9:30 (21+)
$20 advance/$22 day of show

Triple Door

ALSO: They will also do a free lunchtime show at City Hall, Tues., June 19, noon – 1 p.m.

An amazing group of refugees from Sierra Leone who formed their band during their time in a refugee camp in Guinea. A truly inspirational group.

Kusun Ensemble

Monday, June 18

Tractor Tavern

KUSUN ENSEMBLE is an extraordinary group of musicians and dancers based in Ghana, West Africa. Founded by Nii Tettey Tetteh, the group includes past members of The National Ballet and The Pan African Orchestra. Although rooted in traditional music, the ensemble has developed a new brand of music and dance they have dubbed “Nokoko.” They have created innovative rhythms and dances by fusing bass and lead guitar, electrifying jazz and African rhythms, and traditional Ghanaian instruments.

Richard Bona

Tuesday & Wednesday, May 29-30, 2007
7:30 pm
$22.50

Jazz Alley
Seattle

Tickets available at:
Jazz Alley

For additional info contact:
http://www.jazzalley.com/artist.asp?artistid=447

Bassist and singer, originally from Cameroon.

Northwest Folklife

Friday-Monday, May 25-28, 2007
FREE (but be sure to drop a few bucks in the contribution box at the entrance each day)

Seattle Center

As usual there is enough world beat stuff happening at Folklife to warrant a separate page: world beat performances and workshops at Folklife 2007.

Gipsy Kings

Saturday, May 19, 2007
8:00 pm
$44.50 – $97

Paramount Theatre
911 Pine Street

Seattle, WA 98101

Tickets available online at Ticketmaster and at the Paramount box office Monday through Friday 10:00am – 6:00pm

For additional info contact: 206-467-5510

The Gipsy Kings are largely responsible for bringing the joyful sounds of progressive pop-oriented flamenco, called Sevillana in Spain, to the world. The band started out in Arles, a village in southern France during the ’70s when brothers Nicolas and Andre Reyes, the sons of renowned flamenco artist Jose Reyes, teamed up with their cousins Jacques, Maurice and Tonino Baliardo, whose father is Manitas de Plata. They originally called themselves Los Reyes and started out as a Gipsy band traveling about playing weddings, festivals, and in the streets. Because they lived so much like gypsies, the band adopted the name the Gipsy Kings. Later, they were hired to add color to posh parties in St. Tropez. Popularity did not come to Los Reyes right away and their first two albums attracted little notice. At this point the Gipsies played traditional, albeit passionate flamenco music punctuated by Tonino’s precise guitar playing and Nicolas’ exceptional voice. Though they had devoted fans, they still had yet to gain wider recognition until 1986 when they hooked up with visionary producer Claude Martinez who could see that the Kings had the makings of a world-class band.

Poncho Sanchez

Thursday, March 29-Sunday, April 1, 2007
7:30 & 9:30 Thurs.-Sat., 7:30 only Sun.
$26.50

Jazz Alley
2033 6th Avenue
Seattle, WA 98121

Tickets available at:
Jazz Alley

For additional info contact:
206.443.8247,
jazzalley@jazzalley.com

Legendary Cuban conguero and his band.

Jigu!

Saturday, March 31, 2007

2pm & 8pm
$34 [$20 Ages 5-17]

Hailing from the Shanxi Province in China, this world-renown company of 28 drummers, percussionists
and musicians makes their United Sates debut in 2007. The fine art of drumming and percussive
performance is indicative of the rich and historic culture of the Shanxi Province, and performances by
Jigu! Thunder Drums of China are deeply rooted in these folk origins. An exciting and intricate blend
of traditional and modern musical elements offers intense high-tech lighting and special effects adding
to the drama of this spectacular and awe-inspiring cultural event. Not only are audiences immersed
in a wonderland of sight and sound, they are swept away by the incredible power found in the intense
drumming, percussive styling and astounding musicianship displayed by these awesome performers!

UW World Music and Theater Series

Soweto Gospel Choir

Sunday, April 1, 2007
3:00 pm
$27.50 – $37.50

Paramount Theatre
911 Pine Street
Seattle, WA 98101

Also at The Pantages Theater in Tacoma, Monday,
April 2, 2007 at 7:30pm.

Tickets available online at Ticketmaster and at the Paramount box office Monday through Friday 10:00am – 6:00pm

For additional info contact: 206-467-5510

Direct from South Africa, the Soweto Gospel Choir showcase their celebrated voices at The Paramount Theatre in Seattle. This awe-inspiring vocal ensemble performs an inspirational program (in eight different languages) of tribal, traditional, and popular African gospel. Earthy rhythms, rich harmonies, a capella, and charismatic performances combine to uplift the soul and express South Africa’s great hopes for the future. This is a seamless show brimming with multi-lingual performances which, for all the technical precision, are universally expressive and unfettered, charged by the choir in constant motion. Athletic dance moves and solo vocal skills are just part of a showcase that highlights a vibrant range of voices.

As well as traditional African gospel, the program features traditional dancers and drummers, and a dynamic four-piece band.

Maya Soleil Afro-World Fusion

Monday, April 2, 2007
1-3 pm

University of Washington, Bothell Campus
Bothell, WA

University of Washington, Bothell Campus Spring Quarter Welcome Event.
Featuring vocalist, dancer and mbira player Lora Chiorah-Dye (Zimbabwe), African percussionist and kora player Karim Koumbassa (Guinea), sax/flute player Bob Antolin (USA), keyboardist Rob Pastorok (USA), bassist Lennox Holness (Jamaica), and drummer TJ Morris (USA). www.mayasoleil.com

Rise, featuring Anoushka Shankar

Monday, April 9, 2007
7:30

Benaroya Hall

Anoushka Shankar, daughter of sitar master Ravi Shankar, and half-sister of Norah Jones, carves out her own sound on her tour Rise. On Rise, Shankar moves beyond the classical tradition of her father, mixing up a broad range of world music styles and instruments – flamenco piano, Indian slide guitar, electronic sounds, and, of course, the sitar. The result is a sensual, ethereal sound. Seize your chance to hear this rising star.

Reggie Wilson / Fist and Heel Performance Group
The Tale: Npinpee Nckutchie & the Tail of the Golden Dek

Thursday-Saturday, April 12-14, 2007
8:00 pm
$24 General / student and group discount available

On the Boards
100 West Roy Street
Seattle, WA 98119

Tickets available at:
tickets.com

For additional info contact:
On the Boards

African tradition meets postmodernism via the Black Bottom and Electric Slide in a new group work by choreographer Reggie Wilson. The Tale: Npinpee Nckutchie & the Tail of the Golden Dek combines ritual and music from African traditions with contemporary urban social dances performed by a company of 4 dancers and 4 singers from the US, Africa and the Caribbean. Wilson riffs on the traditions of the blues, slave and spiritual cultures of Africans in the Americas, and is also informed by travel to Mississippi Delta, Trinidad and Tobago, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Mozambique, South Africa, Ghana, Cameroon, Senegal, Mali and Chad.

Related Talk (before the opening night performance)
Thu, Apr 12, 6:45pm in OtB’s Studio Theater

“Transculturation in the African Dance Diaspora”
Juliet McMains, Assistant Professor, Dance Department, University of Washington
*free and open to the public
co-sponsored by UW’s Simpson Center for the Humanities

Master Class
Sat, Apr 14, 11:30-1:30 @ Velocity Dance Center
$12 ($7 with ticket stub)
*More information coming soon! Check ontheboards.org to get the latest updates on the Reggie Master Class.
To register, please contact Sean Ryan at 206.217.9886 x1021 or email sean@ontheboards.org

World Rhythm Festival

Friday-Sunday, April 13-15, 2007
FREE

Seattle Center

For additional info contact:
SWPS

Seattle’s annual celebration of rhythm culture. Free performances and workshops all weekend and vendors from around the country.

Konono No. 1

Friday, April 27, 2007
8:00
$27/30

Triple Door

216 Union St

Tickets available at:
http://www.thetripledoor.net/event.aspx?eid=2066&venue=mainstage

For additional info contact:
On the Boards

KONONO No. 1 was founded over 25 years ago by Mingiedi, a virtuoso of the likembé (a traditional instrument sometimes called “sanza” or “thumb piano”, consisting of metal rods attached to a resonator). The band’s line-up includes three electric likembés (bass, medium and treble), equipped with hand-made microphones built from magnets salvaged from old car parts, and plugged into amplifiers. There’s also a rhythm section which uses traditional as well as makeshift percussion (pans, pots and car parts), three singers, three dancers and a sound system featuring these famous megaphones.

Aurelio Martinez

Saturday, April 28, 2007
8pm
$30

One of the most extraordinary Garifuna artists of his generation, Honduran artist Aurelio Martinez has
become the new voice of Paranda. The Garifuna are the descendants of shipwrecked African slaves
who settled in the Caribbean some 400 years ago, and Paranda is the name of the ballads of the Garifuna.
Aurelio Martinez is one of the few young Garifuna musicians trying to revive the old roots music.
Martinez describes the themes of the music. “The songs are about the problems of everyday life for
people,” he says. “Sometimes you don’t understand it, but you feel it. If you can’t feel it, you can’t sing
Paranda.” Acclaimed for both his preservation and modernization of this musical tradition, Aurelio’s
virtuosity is found in his distinctive, penetrating vocals and his talent as a composer.

UW World Music and Theater Series

Yogoman Burning Band & Maya Soleil

Saturday, March 10, 2007
9:00 doors/10:00 show
$7

Nectar
412 N 36th St.
Fremont/Seattle 98103

Seattle’s own Afro-world-jazz-fusion band Maya Soleil opens this show. About Maya Soleil, “HotBands” says ‘unique audio-visual experience’ and ‘this is a band that should be seen live’… The international magazine Modern Drummer says: ‘very capable company of Seattle-based musicians’ and ‘energetic Afro-fusion band’.

Badi Assad

Saturday, March 3, 2007

8pm
$30

The music of Badi Assad (Pronounced Bah-Jee Ah-Sahje) transcends the traditional styles of her native
Brazil with an exotic mixture of ethnic sounds from around the world. As a singer, Badi is vibrant and
electric, responding to her inner passion with deft creativity. As a guitarist, she has inspired audiences
and critics worldwide with a unique combination of technical mastery and innovation. Through it all,
Badi’s adventurous spirit and buoyant personality have become an integral part of her music. According
to the Los Angeles Times, “Badi Assad redefines solo (guitar) performance! Revelatory, a brilliant display
of innovation, imagination, and skill…almost hypnotically compelling!”

UW World Music and Theater Series

Aphrodesia

Thursday, March 1, 2007
9:00 doors/10:00 show
$7

Nectar
412 N 36th St.
Fremont/Seattle 98103

Emerging in 2003 from the fertile San Francisco Bay Area music scene, Aphrodesia’s highly original brand of ‘Super Aphro Beat’ and uncompromising political stance made them resist easy classification. In 2004, the band exploded into the national consciousness with the “Just Vote Tour”, a swing-state voter registration tour that took the band all the way to NYC and back in their vegetable oil-powered bus and landed the group on the cover of USA Today. The band’s debut CD, “Shackrobeat Vol. 1” (Flatbed Lamborghini), was picked as one of the best records of 2003 by the East Bay Express, and showstopping performances in 2004 and 2005 at the Aspen JazzFest, the Earthdance Festival, the Sierra Nevada World Music Festival, the High Sierra Music Festival and many other festivals and venues won the group high praise. Meanwhile, the band opened for Steel Pulse in California and Colorado and shared festival stages with everyone from Willie Nelson to Ozomatli to Zap Mama. Aphrodesia’s second CD, 2005’s “Front Lines” (Full Cut Records), was featured on National Public Radio, won rave reviews from media outlets from Global Rhythm Magazine to the Village Voice and broadened the band’s already wide appeal even further, setting the stage for their landmark trip to Africa.

World Sacred Music Festival

Sunday, Feb. 4, 2007
5-9pm
$10 ($5 students/seniors)

Kenneth J. Minnaert
Center for the Arts
2011 Mottman Rd. SW
Olympia, WA 98512

Tickets available at:

For additional info contact:
Kathy Erlandson, Executive Director
Interfaith Works
360-357-7224 (office hours M-F 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.)
Or Scott Stevens, WSMF Music Director
360-259-1682 or scott@earball.net

For the third straight year, the World Sacred Music Festival is bringing sacred music from diverse traditions to the South Puget Sound.

For more information, directions, and a complete performance schedule, visit www.olysacredmusic.org

Ignacio Berroa

Monday, Feb. 5, 2007
7:30

$21.50

Jazz Alley
2033 6th Avenue
Seattle, WA 98121

Tickets available at:
http://www.jazzalley.com/artist.asp?name=Ignacio_Berroa

For additional info contact:
jazzalley@jazzalley.com, 206-441-9729

Cuban-born jazz drummer. Dizzy Gillespie says he is “The only Latin drummer in the world, in the history of American music that intimately knows both worlds; his native Afro-Cuban music as well as Jazz.”

Mexico in Seattle: A Music & Dance Celebration

Saturday, February 10, 2007
8:00
$19-25

Town Hall Seattle

Tickets available at:
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/8913

For additional info contact:
206-652-4255, info@townhallseattle.org

Town Hall, in partnership with El Centro de la Raza and KBCS 91.3 FM, celebrates the Mexican American experience in the United States through music, dance and song. Featured artists include Son de Madera from Veracruz, Mexico in their Pacific Northwest debut. This scintillating five member ensemble is considered among Mexico’s finest exponents of Son Jarocho, the traditional song style, flavored with percussive dance, native to the state of Veracruz and blending Spanish, African, and Indian influences; Los Texmaniacs, from San Antonio, Texas, the hot conjunto playing rollicking Tejano dance music and rock and roll favorites with a Mexican American lilt; Eva Ybarra, the legendary south Texas singer, accordionist and bandleader guesting with Los Texmaniacs; and Bailadores de Bronce, Seattle’s outstanding Mexican folk dance ensemble performing dances from Veracruz and the Tex-Mex Borderlands. There’ll be a dance floor in front of the Great Hall stage for audience members to kick up their heels. Come early for a pre-concert talk at 7:15 pm.

Tyva Kyzy

Saturday, January 27, 2007
8pm
$30

Tyva Kyzy (“Daughters of Tuva”) is the first and foremost all-female ensemble that performs the five main
styles of Tuvan throat singing. This multiple–tone harmonic singing has attracted many enthusiasts
its almost unearthly beauty. Beneath the presentation lies a deep connection between Tuvan folk
and the sonic landscape of traditional Tuvan culture. The whisper of the wind, the babble of a brook,
the cry of a camel–all find their place in the sounds and lyrics of Tuvan throat singing. Tyva Kyzy perform
this traditional art in their own unique feminine style and utilize a wide range of folk instruments.

UW World Music and Theater Series

Ladysmith Black Mambazo

Grammy Award winning, South African a cappella singing group. I still bet goosebumps when I recall their performance at S.O.B.s in New York during their Graceland tour with Paul Simon.

Thomas Mapfumo & Blacks Unlimited

Friday, Jan. 19, 2007
8:00
$22/25

Triple Door

216 Union St

For additional info contact:
http://www.thetripledoor.net/contact.aspx

Thomas Mapfumo made revolutionary changes in Zimbabwe’s pop-music scene by recording a song for which he’d written his own music. Before Mapfumo, songs in the traditional style were always based on tunes that had been handed down for generations. He is responsible for blending traditional Shona mbira music with western instruments and a political message full of innuendo and traditional proverbs. He established the musical style, chimurenga (the Shona word for struggle). Mapfumo’s music became popular during the civil war against White minority rule, but his popularity made the government unhappy. In 1977 he was sent to a prison camp for subversion. To obtain his release, Mapfumo agreed to perform for the ruling party, but at the concert he sang only his most revolutionary songs. “I told them that since I’d been in detention, I didn’t have time to write new ones.”

Seattle Presents, Jessika Kenney, Eyvind Kang and Heather Carman

Thursday, Jan. 18, 2007
noon
Free

City Hall Lobby
600 4th Avenue
Seattle, WA 98104

For additional info contact:
arts.culture@seattle.gov, 206-684-7171

Classical Persian music set to the works of the great Sufi poets Sa’adi, Hafez and Baba Taher, in the original Farsi language. http://www.seattle.gov/seattlepresents

Cuchata

Thursday, Jan. 4, 2007
$6

Nectar
412 N 36th St.
Fremont/Seattle 98103

For additional info contact:
206-632-2020

http://www.nectarlounge.com/bandpages/cuchata.1.4.htm

Cuchata’s music is the very definition of Latin Alternative music, and arguably the only band of it’s kind in Seattle. Their entirely original compositions join afro-latin traditions with elements of rock, hip-hop, drum and bass, avante-garde jazz, dub reggae, afrobeat, and more. Certainly not a latin-jazz band, by no means salsa, rock en espanol, or cumbia, Cuchata borrows from all these genres and blends them with a rare fluency.

2006

Las Caras del Flamenco

Thursday, November 9, 2006
8:00 pm
$21.00 in advance $24.00 at the door

Broadway Performance Hall
1625 Broadway

Seattle

Tickets: http://www.ticketwindowonline.com

Contact: Savannah Fuentes 206-853-4277

Savannah Fuentes Flamenco presents “las Caras del Flamenco” featuting, direct from Madrid, vocalist Keiko Ooka. This show will present flamenco’s traditional roots as well as its remarkable ability to fuse with other musical genres. Keiko will be accompanied by guitarist, Tyson, “El Manicero”,and dancer Savannah Fuentes. Pianist Julio Jauregui, Percussionist Jeff “Bongo”Busch, and bassiat Evan Flory-Barnes will contribute their artistry as well. This show will run one night only.

Acoustic Africa with Habib Koite and Dobet Gnahore

Friday-Sunday, October 13-15, 2006
$26.50

Tickets available at:
Jazz Alley web site

A unique concert experience featuring two of Africa’s leading singer-songwriters.

Sarakasi

Sunday, October 8, 2006
2pm & 7pm
$34 [$20 Ages 5-17]

A fusion of cultures from Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia, Sarakasi breathes new life into the word
“circus.” This two-hour spectacular features human pyramids, eight-pin juggli
ng, contortionists, high-energy
dance, drumming, music, colorful costumes and much more. The company’s marvelous ability
and flawless teamwork creates such excitement that audiences burst into applause and laughter. This
is the first truly authentic African circus utilizing entirely African music, costumes, choreographers, set
and costume designers. Sarakasi simultaneously celebrates the diversity of the African continent and
the festive joy of the circus in one exhilarating show.

UW World Music and Theater Series

Culture Musical Club of Zanzibar

Sunday, Sept. 24, 2006
7:30 pm

Advance tickets are $22/$19 Town Hall members, seniors and students. Visit www.brownpapertickets.com or call 800/838-3006 for tickets. $25/$22 at the door

Town Hall Seattle
1119 8th Ave (at Seneca)
Seattle WA 98101

For additional info contact:
Spider Kedelsky 206-652-4255 x0

Town Hall Seattle is proud to be the only West Coast site chosen for the inaugural US tour by the legendary Culture Musical Club of Zanzibar, formed in 1958 as part of the island’s independence movement. The orchestra, composed of 13 men and women musicians and singer/dancers, is Zanzibar’s most famous exponent of taarab music, a unique blend of the sounds of East Africa, off which the island of Zanzibar lies, and the musical influences of the Arab world whose traders and sultans played a central role in this fabled island’s history. A sound like none other in the world, taarab includes swelling violins, qanun (Arabic zither), plucked ud or lute, vibrant drums, rousing vocals in poetic meter, even an accordion, all of which conspire to carry the viewer away to this land of spices, emerald green land and deep blue sea. In addition to taarab, Culture Musical Club performs kidumbak, or small group music, started in the 1920′s among musicians who could not afford all the instruments of traditional taarab. Kidumbak is played at weddings and other social events, with lyrics full of social commentary, hip-twirling rhythm, and repertoire based on taarab, but with songs shortened, tempi increased, and a concluding fast section, which is designed to get people dancing.

Oliver Mtukudzi and The Black Spirits

Thursday-Sunday, September 7-10, 2006

$24.50

Set times Thursday through Saturday are at 7:30pm and 9:30pm and set time on Sunday is at 7:30pm. Doors open at 6pm on Thursday and 5:30pm Friday – Sunday.

Jazz Alley
2033 6th Avenue
Seattle WA 98121

Tickets available at:
Jazz Alley web site

The Pacific Jazz Institute at Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley presents African Pop Giant Oliver Mtukudzi for four nights. Band members include: Oliver Mtukudzi (vocals), Mary Bell (vocals), Erick Kasamba (vocals/percussion), Jairos Hambahamba (keyboard), Never Mpofu (bass), Namatayi Mubariki (vocals), Clive Mutyasira (drummer) and Kennedy Neshamba (percussion).

http://www.jazzalley.org/artist.asp?name=Oliver_Mtukudzi_and_The_Black_Spirits

Yebabuena/Zarabanda

Thursday, August 24, 2006
7:30
$15

Triple Door
216 Union St

For additional info contact:
Info@thetripledoor.net

This is the finest Seattle has to offer, in regards to Cuban son! Not to be confused with thye New York band of the same name. And in fact, The band is changing their name to Orchestra Zarabanda!

Be sure to bring your dancing shoes because we’re clearing out the tables in front of the stage.

Plena Libre

Tuesday, August 22, 2006
7:30
$18.50 adv/ $21 day of show

Triple Door
216 Union St

For additional info contact:
Info@thetripledoor.net

Since 1994, Plena Libre, led by bassist, arranger, composer and producer Gary Núñez, has become a major force on the Puerto Rican musical scene.With a style that draws on both the traditional and the modern, Plena Libre has taken this rhythmic genre of Puerto Rican origin through new and exciting developments. Plena Libre’s unique interpretation of the beloved native Afro-Puerto Rican song form/rhythm, plena is fused with salsa, jazz and other Afro-Caribbean genres to produce a joyous, percussion-driven, vocally rich mixture.

Lagbaja

Thursday, August 17, 2006

7:30 pm
$22.50 adv/ $25 day of show

Triple Door

Hot Afrobeat from a masked Nigerian saxaphone player.

Daby Toure

Thursday, July 27
7:30PM

$17.50 adv/ $20 day of event

Triple Door

Billboard USA says, “Touré’s music evokes modern and traditional modes of life: It’s as influenced by the sounds coming out of today’s Senegal, Mali, Paris and New York as it is falored by the traditional music of his native Mauritania. Gentle-voiced and sweet-spirited, Touré, teaming up with electronic musician/producer Cyrille Dufay, creates a thoroughly charming record. Standout tracks include the lilting ‘Iris’, the R& B tinged ‘Bary’ and the hypnotically rhythmic ‘Dendecuba’…Touré is a rising star.”

Kekele

Thursday, July 6, 2006
7:30 PM
$22.50 adv/ $25 day of show

Triple Door

Congolese supergroup playing “Rumba Congolaise – an irresistible mix of Cuban rumba and African rhythms.”

Toubab Krewe

Sunday, July 9, 2006
doors 9:00, show 10:00
$6 adv/$8 day of show

Nectar

412 N 36th in Fremont

Tickets available at:
brownpapertickets.com

Blending Malian, American, and “Dirty South” influences into a genre all its own, Toubab Krewe “has set a new standard for fusions of rock ‘n’ roll and West African music,” says Banning Eyre at Afropop Worldwide. Members of the group developed their unique sound over the course of numerous extended trips to West Africa, where they immersed themselves in the local culture and studied and performed with masters such as Lamine Soumano, Vieux Kante, Madou Dembele, and Koungbanan Conde. The magnetic instrumental quintet formed in early 2005 and has attracted a diverse and devoted national following, captivating crowds everywhere from the Bonnaroo Music Festival and the Blue Note to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The band’s energetic performances and acclaimed self-titled debut have won them praise from the New York Times, Global Rhythm, Afropop Worldwide, and more.

Refugee All-Stars of Sierra Leone

Thursday, July 13
8:00 pm

$15 advance/$17 day of show

Neumos

I saw a movie about this band at the Seattle International Film Festival. This is an amazing group of refugess from Sierre Leone who formed their band during their time in a refugee camp in Guinea. A truly inspirational group. For more info, see these links:
Music-Africa article
film web site/
IMDB entry on the film

Seattle Rhythm Festival

Saturday, July 15, 2006
10:00 am – 9:00 pm
FREE

Seattle Center

One-day festival of drum and dance created by the Seattle rhythm community as an alternative to the World Rhythm Festival (which won’t be offered again until April 2007).

Amadou and Miriam

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

8:00 pm
$21 advance/$25 at the door

Showbox

Conference Taranga

Various Artists

Thursday, June 22-Sunday June 25, 2006

Four-day drum and dance conference featuring top West African teachers and performers. See the Planet Afua web site or download the Taranga Conference flyer (large file: 660K) for details.

Seu Jorge

Thursday, June 22, 2006
8:00PM
$20 advance/$25 day of show

Neumos

Brazilian samba-style pop.

Baba Maal

Saturday, June 24, 2006

Showbox

Legendary vocalist offering Senegalese Afro-pop at its finest.

Vusi Mahlasela

Tuesday & Wednesday, June 27-28, 2006
$21.50

South African singer and guitar player. Dave Matthews says, “He was a voice during the revolution, a voice of hope, like a Woody Guthrie or Bob Dylan of South Africa and he still is.”

Thomas Mapfumo

Thursday, June 29, 2006
7PM & 10PM
$18 adv/ $20 day of show

Triple Door

World music innovator from Zimbabwe blends traditional Shona mbira music with western instruments.

Stomp

Tuesday – Sunday, April 18-23, 2006
Tues – Thurs, 7:30pm;
Fri, 8:00pm;
Sat, 2:00pm & 8:00pm; Sun, 2:00pm & 7:00pm
Weeknight Tickets are $27.50 – $37.50;
Weekend Tickets are $32.50 – $42.50

Paramount Theatre
911 Pine Street
Seattle, WA 98101

Tickets available online at Ticketmaster and at the Paramount box office Monday through Friday 10:00am – 6:00pm

For additional info contact: 206-467-5510

STOMP is explosive, provocative, sophisticated, sexy, utterly unique and appeals to audiences of all ages. The international percussion sensation has garnered an armful of awards and rave reviews, and has appeared on numerous national television shows. The eight-member troupe uses everything but conventional percussion instruments – matchboxes, wooden poles, brooms, garbage cans, Zippo lighters, hubcaps – to fill the stage with magnificent rhythms. As USA Today says, ‘STOMP finds beautiful noises in the strangest places.’

Beat the Cancer Benefit Fiesta
for Barbara Crummins

Friday, April 28, 2006
8:00 pm – 1:00 am
Auction, Food & Refreshments by donation

Georgetown Ballroom

5623 Airport Way
Seattle 98108

For additional info contact:

Here is Carl’s announcement to the local samba community about this event: “Some of you may know or remember Barbara Crummins, a graphic artist
and member of the Fremont Arts Council who was quite active in the
samba community for a while as a member first of the now defunct Samba
Seattle, and more recently was a member of VamoLá. Lately she’s
become very active in the Cuban dance community. Anyway, a month or
two ago we were shocked to learn she was diagnosed with stage-4
cancer, which is one of those terrible ironies since she had no
previous history, has always eaten healthily, lived and partied
moderately, and was one of those folks you’d least expect this to
happen to. There’s going to be a benefit party for her in a few
weeks, and your support would be much appreciated.”

Please attend and support this event. Proceeds will help Barbara with medical expenses for cancer treatments.

Featuring

SuperSones (Cuban son, salsa and cha-cha-cha)
Los Flacos (Pan Latino)
DJs Karlitos, Baracoa & Sudassy!
And other surprise musical guests and entertainers!
FREE Cuban-style dance class, 8:30-9PM, by Maiensy Sanchez

Note on parking: “IMPORTANT! You are welcome to park in the Sun
Sign, Helmet Head, Armor Clad flooring and Raeco Inc parking lots or
on the street, side streets or alley surrounding the venue. However
there is no parking on the east side of Airport Way in the artist
lofts’ parking lot.”

Juan L. Sanchez Ensemble

Saturday, April 8, 2006
7:30 p.m.
$15 adults/$13 seniors/students

Shorecrest Performing Arts Center
15543 25th Ave NE
Shoreline

For additional info: 206-417-4645 or www.shorelinearts.net

Spanish troubador Juan L. Sanchez accompanied by master percussionist Armando Mafufo and dancer Angell Estrada.

Sweet Honey in the Rock

Friday, April 7, 2006
8:00 p.m.
$22 – $35.50 (not including fees)

Paramount Theatre
911 Pine Street
Seattle, WA 98101

Tickets available online at Ticketmaster and at the Paramount box office Monday through Friday 10:00am – 6:00pm

For additional info contact: 206-467-5510

“Sweet Honey In The Rock is a Grammy Award-winning African American female a cappella ensemble with deep musical roots in the sacred music of the black church – spirituals, hymns, and gospel – as well as jazz and blues.

The Sweet Honey experience is like no other. Six African American women join their powerful voices, along with hand percussion instruments, to create a blend of lyrics, movement and narrative that variously relate history, point the finger at injustice, encourage activism, and sing the praises of love.”

Les Ballets Africains

Fri & Sat, March 31 & April 1, 2006
8:00 pm
$33/$20 (ages 5-17)

Meany Hall

Tickets available at:

UW Arts Ticket Office
4001 University Way NE
Seattle, WA 98105
ph: (206) 543-4880; 1 (800) 859-5342
fax: (206) 685-4141
Office hours: 10am-6pm Monday-Friday (with weekend hours on selected days).
Meany Theater box office opens night of show one hour prior to curtain.

Les Ballets Africains, the national ensemble of the Republic of Guinea, comes to Meany celebrating 50 years of universal recognition as Africa’s most accomplished touring company. The company features traditional dance, music, acrobatics and storytelling. Pulsing rhythms from ancient tribal instruments build excitement as the company bursts onto the stage in an explosion of dance and song.

Samite

Thursday, March 16, 2006
8:00 pm
$8 advance/$10door

Tractor Tavern
5213 Ballard Ave NW

For additional info call:
206-789-3599

Samite’s solo show at the Triple Door in Nov. 2004 was really nice, mostly kalimba and singing. Not sure if it’s just him again or his whole band – call the Tractor if you’re curious. From Samite’s web site: Samite was born and raised in Uganda, where his grandfather taught him to play the traditional flute. . . .Increasingly drawn to instruments and rhythms from the traditional Ugandan music scene, he eventually played solo at the Mount Kenya Safari Club in Nairobi. Delivering his mellifluous vocals in his mother tongue, Luganda, he mesmerized audiences with original compositions played on kalimba (finger-piano), marimba (wooden xylophone), litungu (seven-stringed Kenyan instrument) and various flutes; traditional and western.

The Spirit of West Africa
Thione Diop and Friends

Sunday, March 12, 2006
1:00-5:00 pm
Free

Seattle Center

Center House

A free concert of West African music featuring master djembe drummer Thione Diop and Friends, including Kora master Prince Diabate and the sounds of Nigeria, Ghana and Senegal. All ages are welcome to join the spirit and culture of West African through live music, featuring master drummers and kora artists, and dance ensembles. Featuring:
Thione Diop and Yeke Yeke – Griot traditions of Senegal
Mapathe Diop – Sabar drums of Senegal
Prince Diabate – Kora master of Guinea (Kora is an harp style intstument)
Saeed Abbas – Music of Ghana

Udoka Cultural Dance – Igbo culture of Eastern Nigeria

Sarakasi – The Amazing African Acrobats

March 11, 8:00 PM
March 12, 3:00 PM & 7:00 PM
Adults $29.00 – Sr $26.00 – Youth $15.00

Kirkland Performing Arts Center

350 Kirkland Ave.
Kirkland, WA 98033

Tickets available at:
425.893.9900 & web site

For additional info contact:
425.893.9900

In the wake of the sold-out runs of the Peking Acrobats and The Shanghai Circus, KPC proudly presents Sarakasi: a fusion of cultures from Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia performed with authentic music and costumes. Sarakasi is the first truly authentic African circus, developed completely in Africa, utilizing native choreographers, costume and set designers, and featuring the athleticism of these truly gifted performers.

Ibrahima Camara & Safal

Thursday, Feb. 16, 2006
10:00 pm
$7

Nectar
412 N 36th in Fremont

Eight-piece African Roots Rhythm Band plays Afro-pop – High-Life – Latin Raggae

Yawo

January 21, 2006
7:30 pm
$12 – $18

Shoreline Community College Theater
16101 Greenwood Avenue North

Tickets Range from $12 – $18 and can be purchased day of show at the theatre, or by calling (206) 546-4606.

For additional info contact:
206-546-4606

A native of Togo, West Africa, Yawo started his musical career at the “Ecole Experimentale de musique” of Lome where he studied flute, classical guitar, and electric bass. As the leader of the high school band he formed with his brother and sister, Yawo Attivor developed a talent for composing and arranging music that embraces both the traditions of the Ewe tribe and the influences of the western civilization. This multicultural approach to songwriting led to the creation of the MIMI-Togo (International Movement for Innovative music-Togo branch) which Yawo directed until he left Togo in 1992 as a result of political turmoil in his motherland. In 1993, Yawo joined the international organization Up With People, traveling the U.S. and Europe, promoting peace and understanding among the citizens of the world. After Up with People, Yawo, his cousin Ro Attivor(aka Ro Bezz), Sarah Agbeto and guitarist Matt Hupton created Doliho, an afropop project that rocked the Midwest with a unique album in the late 90s. In 2002, after he moved to Minneapolis a year earlier, Yawo launched a solo career with the album “Celebrate” (Mia du agbe) followed in October 2004 by “Take Out the Fences”, a “refreshingly upbeat” (Minneapolis Star-Tribune) album that breaks musical barriers with an explosion of afrobeat, afrofunk and reggae.

2005

West African Dance & Drum Fete:

Benefit for Hurrican Katrina Victims

Saturday, October 1, 2005
8:00 pm
$10 suggested donation

Studio 900 (map)
900 N 34th St

Tickets available at the door

For additional info contact: Amelia Crawford

Featuring the music of Kane Mathis,
Thione Diop & Yeke Yeke,
Mapathé Diop,
Souleymane N’Diaye, and
Ibrahima Camaradesc.

Angelique Kidjo

September 30, 2005

Meany Hall

Benefit Concert for Building a Nursery in Ghana
featuring Yaw Amponsah’s Ghanaian Akoma Ensemble with Kane Mathis (kora) and Leif Totusek (guitar)

Saturday, July 23, 2005
9:00 pm
$10 (all proceeds donated to the nursery project)

Scarlet Tree
6521 NE Roosevelt Way

Tickets available at the door

For additional info contact:
Cody Case 206-920-7631

“UW students, with sponsorship from Scarlet Tree, are hosting a Benefit Concert for Building a Nursery in Ghana on Saturday night, July 23rd, 9 p.m. at the Scarlet Tree (6521 NE Roosevelt Way), featuring Yaw Amponsah’s Ghanaian Akoma Ensemble, and a must-see collaboration of Kane Mathis on Kora (a 21-stringed gourd instrument from the Gambia sometimes referred to as the ‘African harp’) and renowned Rumba guitarist Leif Totusek. The cover will be $10, and 100% of the proceeds from the door will go toward funding for the project. There will also be a raffle give-away of prizes. For concert information, visit www.scarlettreemusic.com, or contact UW graduate student: Cody Case 206-920-7631.”

Antibalas

Fri, June 10, 2005

9:00 pm
$12 advance; $15 day of show

Chop Suey
1325 E. Madison Street
Seattle, WA 98122

Ticket info available at http://www.chopsuey.com/

“Antibalas is an afrobeat juggernaut. The thirteen-member strong orchestra overwhelms the stage with monstrous horns and bass, polyrhythmic beats and funky breaks, and furious lyrics in English, Yoruba and Spanish. The live show is equal parts sweat-drenched bacchanalia and political rally.”

“Africa in America”

(various artists)

Saturday, April 16, 2005
8 pm
$18-22

Town Hall
1119 Eighth Avenue (at Seneca Street)
Seattle, WA

Tickets available at: TicketWeb
Advance tickets for the performance are $20/18 only at www.ticketweb.com, $22/20 at the door.

For additional info contact:
info (at) townhallseattle (dot) org
206-652-4255

“Africa in America” celebrates the vibrancy of African performance in the United States exemplified by the outstanding African artists who have made our country their home in the last thirty years. The centerpiece of this celebration is the “Africa in America” concert at Town Hall on Saturday, April 16 at 8 pm. Featured artists include the great Malian singer Abdoulaye Diabate, and Gambian kora player and singer Muhamadou Salieu Suso, both now living in New York City; Fua Dia Congo, the brilliant California-based troupe performing Central African dance and drumming; Eritrean vocalist and musician Asmelash Haile; and the West African All-Stars, organized especially for this concert, featuring outstanding performers from West Africa now living in the Puget Sound area. Diana Baird N’Diaye, of the Folklife Center of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, will give a special pre-concert talk at 7:15 pm.

Tangletown

Tuesdays, through March
9 pm

$6

Nectar
412 N 36th St.
Fremont

Tickets available at the door

For additional info call: 206-632-2020

The original drummer of Santana, Michael Shrieve, has put together an all-star Seattle band to perform brand new world-beat, Latin, and rock tunes every Tuesday. Featuring Michael Shrieve (of SANTANA) on drums,
Kevin Sawka (of KJ SAWKA, SIAMESE) on drums,
Johnny Conga (of TUMBA CALIENTE) on percussion,
James Whiton (of ERIC McFADDEN TRIO, DOWNTOWN APOSTLES) on double bass,
Chris “CD” Littlefield (of KARL DENSON’s TINY UNIVERSE) on horn,
Danny Godinez on guitar, and
Ryan Leyva on guitar.

Jabali Afrika

Wed. March 2, 2005
9 pm
$10

Sunset Tavern
5433 Ballard Ave NW

For additional info visit: http://www.sunsettavern.com/

Kenyan group – see their web site for more info. They also be performing that same day on KUOW 94.9 “The Beat” program sometime between 2-3pm.

The Griots of Guinea West Africa

Saturday, December 11, 2004
4:00 pm & 7:30 pm
$20

Bellevue Community College, Carlson Theater

Tickets available at:
the Bellevue Community College Student Union Bldg. at the Business Center in C-105 or call 425-564-2297
Tickets will also be available the day of the show

Featuring:

Prince Diabate – Kora, Ngoni, Vocals
Karamba Dioubate – Jembe, Bote’, Krin

Nabi Camara – Balafon
Eduared Souarez – Calabash
Won-Ldy Paye, “The Liberian Storyteller”

A Griot is an African historian. He/she is a revered clan member who would memorize all of a village’s significant events, like births, death, marriages, hunts, seasons and wars, ensuring that the collective heritage, culture and lineage of the clan continued. Among the instruments Griots play to accompany their epics and songs is the 21-string Kora. The Kora, the Ngoni and the Balafon are the three indispensable melody instruments of the Manding [Mande] Griot. All three instruments are found throughout the Mande world, but each has its region of dominance. The Kora rules in the Gambia, . . . in Mali, the Ngoni is king, . . . and Guinea is the province of the Balafon.

Proceeds of the concerts will go to support an Emergency Book Fund and the Lorea Acuzaar Scholarship Fund for needy students served by the Office of Multi Cultural Services.

Various Artists

Friday, Dec. 17, 2004
7:30 – ???
$ ??

Fremont Drum & Dance Studio
900 N 34th St

For additional info contact:
Sarah Lee Parker, 206-938-3148

This is going to be a great big party honoring Bill Matthews and the Fremont Drum and Dance Center! As some of you know, for the past 2 years, this space has been the “home” for so many amazing events – classes, parties, CD release parties, workshops and performances! In honor of the man behind the plan, we invite you to come on down to the Center for a big celebration! There will be music, music, and more music!

Maya Soleil Afro-World Fusion
(w/special guest TBA)

Friday, Jan. 7, 2005
9 pm
$7

Nectar in Fremont

412 N 36th St.

For additional info contact:
Rob Pastorok, 425-486-4063, e-mail

Nectar is a very nice, hip, NONSMOKING dance club.
Come experience a variety of world beat music with Seattle’s best DJ’s
and live music from Maya Soleil, with special guest.

Rokia Traore

Thursday, October 21, 2004
7:00 & 9:30 pm

$26

Malian vocalist

The Triple Door
216 Union Street
Seattle, WA 98101

Abdullah Chhadeh & Nara

Saturday, April 29, 2006
8:00 pm
$29

Meany Theater, UW

Show and ticket info

This year’s UW World Music & Theater Series wraps up
with the mesmerizing sounds of this eclectic group
with roots in both the Arabic and Western worlds.

Cinco de Mayo at Nectar

Friday, May 5, 2006

Nectar Lounge
412 N 36th St. (Fremont)
206-632-2020

Picoso, SuperSones, and DJ Karlitos.

Hugh Masekela

Monday, May 8, 2006

7PM and 10PM
$35 advance / $38 day of show

The Triple Door

Gangbe Brass Band

Monday-Saturday May 10-15, 2006

Seattle Center

Gangbe Brass band from Benin performs as part of the Seattle International Childrens Festival at Seattle Center.

Atlantic Melody

Thursday, May 11, 2006

Nectar Lounge
412 N 36th St. (Fremont)
206-632-2020

High-energy pop music of Guinea, with a group brought to you by Edward Sourarez (Guinea), featuring Abdoullaye Diabate (Guinea) on guitar and others. Abdoullaye was a composer and lead guitarist with Fatala, and Alpha YaYa Diallo used to play rhythm guitar for him.

World Sacred Music Festival

Saturday May 13, 2006
all day

Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd
Olympia WA

For additional info: visit the festival web site

Susana Baca

Saturday, May 20, 2006
8:00 pm
$20adv/$25dos

Crocodile Cafe
Seattle

Tickets available at: TicketWeb

Afro-Peruvian singer who deserves the label “diva.”

2005

Femi Kuti

Saturday, July 30, 2005
8:00 pm
$22.00 advance at TicketsWest. $25.00 day of show and at the door.

Showbox

1426 First Avenue
Seattle, WA 98101

Tickets available at TicketsWest

“Femi Kuti is the oldest son of the late Nigerian superstar Fela Kuti. Fela pioneered the sprawling big band sound called afrobeat. His 45-minute musical tirades against Nigeria’s power elite lead to violent confrontations, and in 1984, the government jailed him on a trumped up currency charge. Femi, who had quit school to play alto sax in his father’s band back in 1978, stepped up to lead the band for the next two years. In 1986, Fela returned and Femi split off to form his own group, Positive Force. Continuing in the afrobeat tradition, Femi built around a solid, six-piece horn section and two strong percussionists. With guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, and four singer/dancers, his band numbered 17. Like Fela, Femi sang about power politics, but with a lighter touch, and in briefer form.” [from Afropop.com]

PLEASE NOTE (from the Showbox web site): “The SeaFair Torchlight Parade will be taking place downtown on Saturday July 30th, the night of the Femi Kuti show. We recommend allowing PLENTY OF EXTRA TIME to arrive at this show. Road closures and large crowds will make it very difficult to park and navigate.”

Hugh Masekala

August 7, 2005

Triple Door
216 Union St

Keywords & spelling variations:
Rokia Traore, Rokia Traora, Rokea,
Youssou N’Dour, Yousou, Youssoo, Yoosoo, Yousoo, Yoosou, Youssoo, Yoossou, Usu, Ndour, Ndoor, N’Door, N’Dor,

These are world music shows from March 2008 through March 2009.

Click here for a list of current Seattle world music shows.

March 2009

• Gansango
  Friday, March 6, 7:30 p.m.

  Olympic Hall, South Seattle Community College

  http://www.seafolklore.org/folksche.html

• Mapathe Diop CD Release Party
  Saturday, March 7, 6 p.m.-midnight
  Rainier Valley Cultural Center
  3515 S Alaska St
  Big party with free food and the usual fabulous muscians: Atlantic Melody, Edouard Souarez, Naby Camara, Abdoulaye Diabate, Modibo Traore, Souleymane N’Diaye, Karim Koumbassa, Manimou Camara, Gora Diop, Thione Diop and Yeke Yeke

• Thione Diop & Yeke Yeke
  Sunday, March 8, 8:00-10:00 p.m.
  Hidmo
  2000 S. Jackson

• Youssoupha Sidibe and the Mystic Rhythms Band
  Kane Mathis and Sahel open

  Wednesday, March 11, 8:00 p.m. doors
  Nectar in Fremont
  Kora bands from Senegal and Seattle.

• Puerto Plata
  Saturday, March 14, 2009
  $33; $20 students
  Meany Hall, UW
  Guitar greats from the Dominican Republic.

• Atlantic Melody
  Sunday, March 15, 8:00-10:00 p.m.
  Hidmo

• Habib Koite & Bamada
  Tuesday, March 31, 7:00 and 9:30 p.m.

  Triple Door
  The essence of contemporary Mali music. Don’t miss this show.

Click here to see a listing of even older
world music shows.

Some of Seattle’s hand drumming and world beat drum class teachers:

• Bill Matthews
• Simone LaDrumma
• Geoff Johns
• Karim Koumbassa
• Manimou Camara
• Arturo Rodriguez
• JC Johnny Conga

This list shows the most recent 15 Seattle world music and dance shows. Select a month from the pull-down list to see more archived shows.

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Older Shows (3/08-3/09)

Even Older Shows (8/05-3/08)

Seattle is a popular stop for touring world music groups. Here’s a list of world beat bands that have toured through here in the past few years.

• Afrissippi
• Albino!
• Amadou and Miriam
• Andrew Oliver Kora Band
• Angelique Kidjo
• Anoushka Shankar
• Antibalas
• Aphrodesia
• Baba Maal
• Balkan Beat Box
• Culture Musical Club of Zanzibar
• Daby Toure
• Dee Dee Bridgeater’s Red Earth
• Dirty Dozen Brass Band
• Dobet Gnahore
• Femi Kuti
• Gangbe Brass Band
• Garaj Mahal
• Gipsy Kings
• Habib Koite & Bamada
• Hugh Masekela
• Jigu!
• Kekele
• King Kester Emeneya
• Kodo
• Konono No. 1
• Kusun Ensemble
• Ladysmith Black Mambazo
• Lagbaja
• Les Nubians
• Lionel Loueke
• Oliver Mtukudzi
• Ozomatli
• Pa BoBo Jobarteh
• Poncho Sanchez
• Prince Diabate
• Richard Bona
• Rokia Traore
• Samite
• Seu Jorge
• Seun Kuti
• Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars
• Stomp
• Sweet Honey in the Rock
• Thomas Mapfumo
• Tinariwen
• Toubab Krewe
• Toumani Diabate
• Vieux Farka Touré
• Youssou N’Dour

Seattle is home to a number of world beat bands, samba schools, and other groups. For now, I’m just listing as many as I can think of here. Later, I’ll add profiles of some/many/most/all of them.

If you know of a world music group, dance troupe, or other organization that should be listed on this page, please let me know.

African Groups

• Andrew Oliver Kora Band (Portland-based band featuring Seattle’s Kane Mathis)
• Anzanga Marimba Ensemble
• African All-Stars (Mohammed Shaibu)
• Amadanyo
• Atlantic Melody (Edward Souarez)
• Eckaman and Super Mokako
• Gansango (Etienne Cakpo)
• Kheweul (Mapathe Diop)
• Konde Billi (Karim Koumbassa)
• Lagni Sussu (Naby Camara)
• Leif Totusek and Friends
• Mahonyera Mbira Ensemble
• Matemai Mbira Group
• Maya Soleil
• Ocheami Drum & Dance
• Safal (Ibrahima Camara)
• Sahel (Kane Mathis)
• Sol Afrique (Guillaume Mpacko)
• Soyaya (Mohammed Shaibu)
• Sukutai Marimba Ensemble
• Village Drum & Masquerade
• Yeke Yeke (Thione Diop)

Afro-Cuban Groups

• Ijo Ayanmo (Shawna Hawk)
• Omo Alagba (Arturo Rodriguez)

Brazilian, Samba, and Afro-Brazilian Groups

• Show Brazil
• VamoLa (get involved)

Eclectic World Beat Groups

• Anjuman (Indian/Afro-Cuban)
• Hejira (Western/Middle Eastern/tribal)
• Manghis Khan Quartet (African/Brazilian/Latin/jazz)

Seattle has a small but vibrant Brazilian community whose members offer a number of dance classes. Whether it’s samba, capoeria, or another dance from Brazil, you’ll probably find it in Seattle.

Here are a few Seattle Brazilian dance websites:

• Bahia in Motion
• Samba Dance
• Tudo Beleza
• FICA Northwest (capoeira)
• Omulu Guanabara (capoeira)
• Grupo Axé (capoeira)
• Capoeira Angola (capoeira)
• Capoeira Senzala (capoeira)

If you know of classes that should be listed on this page, please let me know.

Seattle has some of the best world music DJs in the world playing tunes from Africa, Latin America, and the rest of the world. Here are some world beat radio shows in the Seattle area.

If you know of programs that should be listed on this page, please let me know.

• Daily Planet, Carla Moreno, Sharon Stevens, Steve Ramsey, Michael Nielsen, Peter Graff and Barbie-Danielle DeCarlo, KBCS, 91.3, Weekdays 3:00-5:00 p.m.
• Best Ambience, Jon Kertzer, KEXP, 90.3, Mondays, 6:00-9:00 p.m.
• Melange, Terrell Riley, KBCS, 91.3, Tuesdays, 3:00-5:00 a.m.
• Wo’ Pop, Darek Mazzone, KEXP, 90.3, Tuesdays, 6:00-9:00 p.m.
• Eh Toi!, DJ Marté, KBCS, 91.3, Tuesdays 11:00 p.m.-1:00 a.m.
• The Spice Route, Ajay Bhat, Arpana Sanjay and Ramendra Sharma, KBCS, 91.3, Wednesdays 9:00-11:00 p.m.
• Music of Africa, Doug Paterson, KBCS, 91.3, Thursdays, 7:00-9:00 p.m.
• Caravan, John Gilbreath, KBCS, 91.3, Fridays, 9:00 a.m.-noon
• Raizes, Samia Panni, Amy Pennington and Sharon Stevens, KBCS, 91.3, Saturdays, 2:00-4:00 p.m.
• Sabor!, Jill Freidberg and Octavio Nava, KBCS, 91.3, Saturdays 4:00-6:00 p.m.
• Al Lado Latino, Johnny Conga, KBCS, 91.3, Saturdays, 6:00-8:00 p.m.

Well, that was a whirlwind.

I started the day playing for Lara McIntosh’s Wassa Dance class. Musicians today were  Denny Stern, Thierno Diop, Naby Camara, Shemayim, and me. We had one really sweet groove early on. I turned on my recorder hoping the catch some of the magic, but the rest of the class was only above average, not sweet and specatacular. Oh, well, maybe I’ll catch it next time.

Headed for the Ballard outdoor market after class and met up with a group of friends that included Middle Eastern and Central Asian dance expert Helene Eriksen.

Then it was off to Seattle Center for  Brasilfest, where I caught Eduardo Mendonca’s group Show Brazil, Kofi Anang’s Ocheami, and the samba band Vamola. As soon as my computer and internet connection start behaving, I’ll put up some videos from Brasilfest, including a great one of Daniel Pitta Santos choreographing a dance for the crowd at the Show Brazil performance.

From the Seattle Center, I went to Hidmo to catch the African All-Stars. The group is different almost every time Mohammed puts on a show, and tonight’s orchestration was really nice. Mohammed Shaibu on guitar and talking drum, Jimmy Free on bass and vocals, Etienne Cakpo on percussion and vocals, and Shemayim on percussion. Mohammed was using the wah-wah pedal a lot, to very nice effect, and by the end of the night everyone in the place was up dancing.

Sorry, but I’m tired of fighting with my computer, so I won’t be able to get videos uploaded tonight. Heading off to bed with visions of a MacBook dancing in my head (and of this old Windows laptop being shipped off to a friend in Guinea).

Seattle has a vibrant world rhythm community, and these drum and dance nuts will gather at the drop of a hat.

If you know of events that should be listed on this page, please let me know.

Sign up for the Seattle Drum Jams Yahoo! group to get current information on drum jams (and other events).

Drum circles and drum jams almost always happen at these annual festivals, so be sure to bring your drums and small percussion:

• Festival Sundiata, Seattle Center
• World Rhythm Festival, April, Seattle Center
• Folklife, Memorial Day weekend, Seattle Center
• Hempfest, mid-August, Myrtle Edwards Park
• Bumbershoot, Labor Day weekend, Seattle Center (this event has been less friendly to drum jammers in recent years, so don’t get your hopes up too much)
• Seattle Peace Concerts, Sundays throughout the summer, various city parks (drum circle forms at 6:00 after the last band has finished)

Well, it turns out that Kane did connect with Toumani. Here’s his report:

Dude, it totally worked out. We sat around for another 45 minutes after you left and eventually Bela Fleck came in and walked over while I was playing and said, “sounds great.” He and I had a short exchange and complimented him on his performance the night before. Since Bela had arrived i was expecting Toumani at any moment but their manager told me they were just then going to get him. At that point we actually got kicked out! The house manager said they needed to prepare the room for the concert and so we could not be sitting in any of the seats but that we could sit on the edge of the stage or better yet OUTSIDE!

So with you gone my dwindling posse of Andrew and Michael we go outside and as confused and expectant as we were it was nice to be outside in the fresh air and sun. UNTIL…..a guy about 50 feet away starts spray painting a LADDER of all things with some of the nastiest smelling paint I’ve ever smelled and we all had to run away and it got Andrew coughing. We waited outside for about another hour and I was just playing Kora and then I hear my name over my shoulder and there is Toumani!

Finally, so we all go inside. But now Toumani invites me to follow him to the green room which is TINY!!!! and on top of that there is film crew trying to get footage of Toumani and Bela and so I am basically at the servers station two feet across with my Kora annoying EVERYBODY. While the hall clears for a moment the film crew starts filming me and are getting ALL up in my grill getting artsy angles and stuff. They lady takes my card and I have no idea what it was about UNTIL Toumani starts arguing with his manager about how the film crew has arranged nothing with him and he does not want to submit an interview without some kind of contract and why haven’t they contacted him ahead of time. He refuses to be interviewed and somebody in charge tries to tell me to get lost because they are having an interview and I shouldn’t be there, that strongarm jerk didn’t speak French and had no clue that not only was there no interview going on currently but there would be no interview. So HE’S telling me to get lost and Toumani is telling me to come inside and the film crew is bummed I’m coming inside with Andrew and Michel because they haven’t heard the news that they are getting nothing. In the meantime Toumani is trying to engage with me. The film crew gets bummed and kicked out and then it’s just me, Toumani, Andrew, and Michael and Toumani’s manager. So then it gets odder because the service people bring in lots of little glasses with ice and no water and then bring in lots of little cups of creamer an sugar but no coffee. Neither coffee nor water ever come and we are all tired and hot in this tiny little room.

Finally Toumani and I chat and we play for each other and Andrew and Michael and all talk to him for a bit, we get a picture and by the time we leave people are being seated for the 7:30 show. Man we got there at 4:00. The main house guy was super cool and gave me the number of their manger to see when Toumani would be there etc.

Man, that was odd.

After the Bela Fleck/Toumani Diabate show at Jazz Alley Monday night, I ran into Toumani in the hall. In my rudimentary French, I thanked him for the show and asked him to wait for me for one minute. I ran around the corner and grabbed Seattle kora virtuoso Kane Mathis, with whom I had watched the show (along with Michael Goude of Earthtribe Percussion and my sister, who just happened to be in town).

I then had the great pleasure of introducing Kane and Toumani.

A little background. There is a running joke in Kane’s circle about how Toumani better watch his back because Kane is gunning for him. Now Kane is a great kora player, but, really, he’s a first-generation student of the instrument, whereas Toumani represents the 71st generation of a griot family that dates back to the dawn of the instrument.  So, there’s little reason to think that Toumani was shaking in his boots.

A little more background. The same night that Toumani played here last year on the main stage at the Triple Door, Kane was playing out front in the Musiquarium lounge. Other obligations and the timing of his performance prevented Kane from seeing either of Toumani’s shows, but Toumani had glimpsed Kane’s show and was interested in meeting. Toumani was also interested in seeing Kane’s Jeff Bodony kora. But it didn’t work out that time.

So, anyhow, last Monday night I introduce Toumani and Kane, and Kane starts chattering away in Mandinka, which, he told me later, a Bambara speaker like Toumani would be able to make enough sense of to hold a conversation.  They chatted for quite some time, and then Toumani invited Kane to the sound check the following day. Michael and I, of course, asked to ride Kane’s coattails, and he was agreeable, traveling, as he does, with a posse to most events.

The three of us, along with one of Kane’s main musical collaborators, Andrew Oliver, arrived at Jazz Alley at 4:00 on Tuesday and settled in to wait for Toumani. He still hadn’t arrived when I had to leave about 45 minutes later, and I don’t know if he ever did arrive. But Michael, Andrew, and I were treated to some nice kora playing and impromptu ethnomusicological discourses from Kane while we waited. (Sorry about the bad lighting in these videos – the lights weren’t on at Jazz Alley, and I was using my cheapo Flip video camera.)

In this video, Kane Mathis talks about the relationship between the sabar clave and kora music.

Kane and Andrew are talking about a cut on Ali Farke Toure and Toumani Diabate’s “In the Heart of the Moon” when I pull out my iPhone and play the cut that they’re talking about, freaking out Michael in the process.

I don’t know the name of this kora song, but it sure is nice.

Seattle is blessed with a host of fantastic African dance teachers. You can literally take a dance class every day of the week. We also get regular visits from touring teachers. Here is the current list of African dance teachers in Seattle.

If you know of teachers who should be listed on this page, please let me know.

I no longer list classes by day and time. The following is a list of African dance teachers who regularly or occasionally offer classes in Seattle. Please consult their website or call or e-mail the instructor for information on class dates and times.

• Lara McIntosh, African-inspired dance, Wassa Dance, 206-284-9473
  ARC Ballet Studio in Ballard and SH/FT Studio in Fremont
• Sarah Lee Koumbassa, Guinea dance, One World Dance, 206-938-3148
  Planet Earth Yoga and SH/FT Studio in Fremont
• Abdoulaye Sylla, Guinea dance, One World Arts Exchange
• Fama Ndiaye, Sabar dance, 206-354-0647
• Manimou Camara, Guinea dance, Dounia Djembe, 425-894-0579
• Frank Anderson, Mali/Guinea dance, 206-883-0495
  7 Star Women’s Kung Fu in Central District
• Eric Wilson, CompFit, 206-579-6880
• Etienne Cakpo, Gansango, 206-417-4679
  Open Flight Studio in U District
• Adama Dabo, Senegalese/Casamance dance

Seattle is a popular stop for touring world beat artists, and we have a nice contingent of local world music artists. Here’s the current calendar of upcoming shows (click here for an archive of past shows).

If you know of an event that should be listed on this page, please let me know.

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Archive of past shows and events

This site is primarily a place to announce world music and dance performances in the Seattle area. I also list some African drum and dance classes, as well as Afro-Cuban, Brazilian, and other genres of music and dance classes, but those pages aren’t as up to date.

Seattle World Beat is a production of downtown-Seattle massage therapist Larry Swanson. This website is a very personal look at the Seattle world music and dance community. I’m an unabashed fan of most of the people, groups, and venues mentioned here, so don’t expect much objectivity.

If you’re curious about the photos across the top of each page, that’s a somewhat random set of pictures focusing on African musicians in Seattle (or who have visited). From left to right: Thione Diop, Baba Olatunji, Thierno Diop, Kane Mathis, Ahkeenu Musa, Mohammed Shaibu, Kaori Oto (with The People’s Rhythm Party), me with Famoudou Konate (up in Vancouver), and Frank Anderson. I’ll rotate some other images through later on to represent folks in the Latin, Brazilian, Middle Eastern, and other Seattle world communities.

The intention and scope of this website is very clear in my head, and I’ll do my best to articulate my intentions here and to behave with integrity, but I also reserve the right to be capricious and whimsical in my selection of content for this site. My taste tends to favor African, Afro-beat, Afro-Cuban, Brazilian, Indian, Middle Eastern, Celtic, Balkan, world-beat fusion, and shows like Stomp, but if you want to turn me on to some other culture, I’m all ears (but very busy, so please don’t be put off if I’m not super-responsive).

If you have comments or questions about this website, please feel free to e-mail me.