On Saturday, March 7, the Tufts campus will draw audiences from across Boston interested in the beats and rhythms of a distant continent. The sixth consecutive Africa Fest, a daylong celebration of African music and dance, will be held in the Granoff Music Center and Jackson Dance Lab. While this year's festival will celebrate African art as it has in past years, the festivities will be tinged with sadness due to the unexpected passing of Alhaji Abubakari Lunna, the Ghanaian master drummer who taught at Tufts as an artist-in-residence.
Africa Fest is more than a typical stage performance. It includes workshops and an African bazaar, as well as a more traditional evening performance which showcases many groups that practice African music and dance. This year's performance is dedicated to Lunna, and groups influenced by his personality and work are coming from all over the country to perform.
The workshops will last from 1:30 p.m. until 3:30 p.m in Jackson Dance Lab. Tufts' own Kiniwe, an African music and dance ensemble, as well as outside groups, including students from the Berklee College of Music, will be teaching African drumming and African dance to the public. There will also be a session in which musicians and dancers discuss their work and how African music has influenced their compositions. Admission is free, and participation in the workshops is optional.
Tufts Department of Music's Events Manager and Publicist Ryan Saunders and an alum, Tara Espiritu (LA '07), coordinated this year's event. They emphasized the interactive nature of the workshops and their value to the public. "The workshops are the part of the event where more people can participate," Saunders said. "They can get a lot out of [the workshops]. They're even fun to watch."
Before the evening performance there will be an African bazaar where vendors will be selling all kinds of crafts, clothing, food and other items. The bazaar will also include presentations about humanitarian aid to Africa and other issues relating to the continent. Finally, an African dinner will be sold at the Bazaar for a small fee.
The evening performance will be held in Distler Performance Hall at 8 p.m. and will last until about 11 p.m. Tufts and Berklee students will be accompanied by other groups that Lunna affected during his lifetime. Two jazz ensembles that use African music in their compositions, Imaginary Homeland and Natraj, will both play, as well as two West African folklore groups, Agbekor Society and Akpokli. Tickets are required for the performance and can be purchased at the Granoff box office for $2 with a student ID.
Groups outside of Tufts and Berklee usually do not participate in the event but have decided to perform at Tufts to honor Lunna, their mentor and friend, and his legacy of African drumming. While all of the groups that will be performing have African music and dancing in common, they each provide a unique way of looking at the genre.
"The concert is about the underlying currents in African music," Espiritu said. "It's also about how these currents can change."
"If you're looking for a more direct, engaging experience, then this could be your thing," Saunders added.
Kiniwe, also known as the Tufts African and Music Ensemble, will be teaching and performing what they have learned through classes with Associate Professor of Music David Locke. Locke studied with Lunna after spending many years in Ghana, and organized Lunna's multiple visits to the Tufts campus.
"I had been arranging for him to teach in North America annually since 1988," Locke said. "Tufts has always been one of the main places he taught, but there will be people who have studied with him in the past 20 years coming for [Africa Fest]." Locke emphasized that most of the music performed will be in the Dagomba style, Lunna's specialty, which is taught here at Tufts.
The groups coming to honor Lunna's memory will each contribute something unique to this year's festival. The Agbekor Society focuses on African folklore and is modeled after community drum-and-dance clubs found in West Africa. Many of its members first studied at Tufts with Locke, picking up a passion for the art that they continued after graduating. Another folklore group, Akpokli, has performed multiple times in Ghana and represents many African song and dance traditions in its performances.
Imaginary Homeland, an African fusion group, is comprised of four Americans interested in African music, many of whom have spent time in Africa learning the music directly from natives. Natraj, a world jazz ensemble, has performed in venues all over Boston, garnering a large local following.
"The underlying idea for both [Imaginary Homeland and Natraj] is that we are one world and the unity of human culture," Locke said. "The motivating impulse for both bands is to celebrate cultural diversity."
The festival has always given students from different schools a chance to come to Tufts and exhibit their skills in the art of African music and dance. This year, the Berklee College of Music is sending their ensemble to perform. "The festival was originally conceived as a way to promote the study of African performing arts in colleges and universities," Locke said. "We also wanted to create solidarity among students and professors who are involved in this curriculum."
Saunders and Espiritu describe the performance as taking place in a casual environment without a formal code of behavior, unlike many other musical performances. All participants dress in traditional African garb and really try to create the feeling of being in Africa. "It's definitely a celebratory atmosphere that just happens to be in a performance hall," Saunders said. "It's not a strict setting, and it's also not a demonstration."
The bands represent more than traditional African music, pushing the musical envelope with new kinds of sound. "Some of these groups have quite a following," Saunders said. "It's a very different kind of sound, and it's a neat way to check out African music and dance."
While the performance will be fun, it's doubtful that such a lively tone will overshadow the sense of loss associated with Lunna's death. "This is a period of remembrance for [Alhaji Abubakari Lunna]," Espiritu said. "We want to remember his legacy in music and also what he's done for this school."
Although this year's festival is primarily dedicated to Lunna, his legacy and achievements, Locke has a message about Africa for a community of students that pays attention to what goes on around the world as well. The festival showcases African culture in its pure form, as its own beautiful entity without need of change or improvement.
"This festival presents Africa in a positive way and as having something to teach the world," Locke said. "Too often Africa is studied related to its problems and as a place that needs assistance from other places. For many students, that can be an unusual experience. Here we are rejoicing in the strength and richness of African culture."
The events planned for this festival celebrate Lunna's love for the art of African music and dance and the many lives he touched during his career as a musician. Stop by on Saturday to learn something new about African culture, support other students and artists, or just listen to some cool tunes that wouldn't usually be found on the radio.
