Many cultures might be practiced around the world, but it is the artistic aspect of these cultures that has the ability to bring us all together. Starting today, Baker University Center will host Performing Africa! Visualizing Africa!
the first biannual international conference for performers, visual artists, educators, teachers and scholars. Ohio University students, staff and faculty can experience the various media of African culture for free until Saturday.
Husband-and-wife duo Paschal Younge and Zelma Badu-Younge, associate professor of music and assistant professor of dance, respectively, created the forum as a way to combine the various forms of African culture into one event. The conference includes a variety of presenters discussing the various elements of their respective media. According to the event's Web site, guest artists include Kofi Agawu from Harvard University, Robert Thompson from Yale University and world-renowned pianist Chapman Nyaho.
Younge believes that events such as the conference can help to bridge potential cultural gaps.
We are all always emphasizing the differences. Rhythm is rhythm in every type of music he said. You reach a point where you've got to emphasize the similarities.
On Friday, the OU African Ensemble will present Aza!!! A Celebration of Traditional and Contemporary African Culture through the Arts. Younge and his wife will direct the event and will provide music and dance choreography. The concert will feature Habib Iddrisu, a Dagomba master drummer and Ghanaian dancer, and Azaguno, a multi-ethnic African drumming and dance ensemble based in Athens, according to a news release. The OU Singers, the Singing Men of Ohio, the OU Women's Chorale and the OU Symphony Orchestra also will take part in this event.
The finale of the event will culminate in the world premiere of Africa Meets Asia a multi-cultural dance and music event with music composed by Younge and choreography and a performance by Badu-Younge and Yuju Wei, Younge said.
Debbie Rogers, an OU senior, continues to participate in such events because of the cultural knowledge provided to her by them.
I think that knowledge is the way to close any gap in anything
she said. I think that one thing we learn through this is that a lot of the stereotypes we might have been taught throughout our lives aren't true about the African people and their culture in general.
A video presentation will precede the concert, including footage of traditional music and dance of Ghana. It also will feature several OU students' cultural experiences while studying abroad in Africa.
Younge and Badu-Younge travel frequently, often allowing OU students to accompany them on their trips. Both the Younges and the students use their knowledge from these experiences in their art and in everyday lives, they said. Badu-Younge emphasized the meaning of aza, used in the Ewe language to mean festival. Through the use of music and dance, she hopes that the audience and the performers can come together to experience the African culture.
We're making Ohio UniversityG? an African village for that one night
she said.
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Kathleen Keish
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Dancers (left to right) Morgan Chambers, Aki Tanaka, Debbie Rogers, Shannon Malo, Mary Lachman and Chelsea Goettge practice Monday, April 16 for the dance recital that will happen this Friday.
