McIntire Department of Music

The University of Virginia's McIntire Department of Music will present a five-day festival featuring African Popular Music and Dance. The "African Popular Music Festival" will take place Friday October 15th through Tuesday, October 19th, 2004, on the grounds of the University of Virginia.

The line-up for the festival features three giants of contemporary African popular music--Thomas Mapfumo and the Blacks Unlimited (from Zimbabwe), Abdoulaye Diabate and the Super Manden (from Mali), and Kanda Bongo Man (from Congo). The festival will also include performances by the FreeBridge Quintet, and Corey Harris. This multi day festival will allow participants to explore Afropop in many different contexts. There will be four concerts, as well as workshops, masterclasses, open rehearsals, and discussions. For a complete schedule of events, please visit: www.virginia.edu/music/afropop

Thomas Mapfumo, the famous "lion of Zimbabwe" is a living legend in the world of Afropop and a cultural hero to many people in Southern Africa, especially his native Zimbabweans. The 59 year-old singer/songwriter has devoted his life to using music and song as a weapon against the political oppression, corruption, and hopelessness that continuously threatens the people of Zimbabwe. In the early 1970s when the country was still called Rhodesia and under colonial rule, Mapfumo's boldly critical lyrics, his choice to sing in his native Shona tongue (in addition to English), and his adaptation of ancient mbira (traditional "thumb piano") repertoire into his Afro-rock band made him instantly political. Embracing this identity, he renamed his music to match that of the guerilla fighters, Chimurenga, "struggle" in Shona. Today, Mapfumo continues to use music to battle social and political ills that plague his country, including a corrupt dictatorship, domestic violence, AIDS, and alcoholism. He has produced several records, including U.S.-based Mango and Anonym labels, and his concerts in Zimbabwe draw thousands of listeners. His signature sound is propulsive and hypnotic, with two or three mbiras setting the rhythm and tight electric guitars, bass, and brass instrumentation. Mapfumo has been honored with a Master's Degree in Music from the University of Zimbabwe, an Artist of the Year Award from the American World Music Awards in 1999, a Ph.D. in Music from Ohio University, and The Person of the Century in the Arts Award from Zimbabwe in 2000.

Abdoulaye Diabate and the Super Manden represent a completely different side of Afropop. Originally from Mali, a dry and dusty but musically vibrant West African nation on the southern edge of the Sahara desert, this nine-piece dance band delivers a stunning Sahelian sound. Diabate is a griot who takes his audiences on a delightful ride in the explosive grooves, riffs, and melodies of modern big-band music, Manden style. His band is an eclectic mix of musicians primarily from West Africa's Manden region (Mali, Cote d'Ivoire, Guinea, Niger, and Senegal) but not exclusively so as Super Manden has had a rotating membership since he founded it in Abidjan in 1975. Today the music has a richly textured roots-pop sound produced by a mix of modern and traditional instruments. These include the jeli kora, the balafon, the Fula bamboo flute, the jembe solo drum, and drum set, electric bass, guitar, and keyboard. Diabate and his Super Manden musicians sing in French, Bamanan, and Arabic and his stage show costuming expresses modern Manden culture with a brilliant array of traditional and modern fabrics, colors, and designs. Contrary to Mapfumo and The Blacks Unlimited, Diabate stays away from the overtly political, and sings rather to encourage moral values, hard honest work, love and respect. Diabate's second solo album is about to be released (New York) and in 2003 his song "Fakoli" appears in the highly acclaimed CD compilation Mali Lolo!: Stars of Mali produced by the Smithsonian Folkways in 2003. This concert is a must see for fans of blues, jazz, and acoustic instruments.

Kanda Bongo Man, the Parisian-based "Soukous Master" from Congo, Central Africa, is another Afropop legend. He is known for having "given Soukous to the world" in 1989 with Kwasa Kwasa, his first American-distributed album. Congolese Soukous is pure, "high-octane" dance music driven by relentless hypnotic rumba grooves, shimmering electric guitar dual parts, simple melodies punctuated by vocal squeals, and a coterie of seductive female dancers. Kanda, himself a phenomenal dancer and dazzling front man for his group, started out in Zaire (the present-day country of Congo) in the 1970s experimenting with traditional melodies, dance, and Afro-Cuban rhythms. Moving to Paris a decade later, he developed his signature sound and trademark flashy-slick metropolitan fashion style that accentuates the dynamics of dance and rhythm--wide-brimmed hats, silk suits, sexy spandex and hip beads (for the ladies in his group), and lots and lots of vibrant color. Kanda Bongo Man has been at the heart of the Parisian Soukous scene ever since and is a seasoned veteran of world-circuit tours. The power and soul of Soukous lies in its tireless pursuit of eliciting mass demonstrations of human joy, exhilaration, individual expression and celebration in dance. If you like dance, it's a show you don't want to miss! African popular music is more than just sound; it's power packed in vibrant performances of poetry, dance, drama, fashion, and human interaction! Each and every concert provides an opportunity to experience the power.

African popular music, and its alias "Afropop" in the global music-entertainment industry, is a pluralistic, contemporary, and endlessly innovative musical genre. The music encompasses an enormously diverse range of ever-changing idioms and styles that share a decidedly modern orientation to the world of sound and social sensibility. From today's youth styles of Mandinka Rap and Bambara Blues to the well-established classics of Chimurenga and Soukous, one aesthetic goal prevails: making music responsive to the present, relevant to the future, and deeply connected to the past. The best in Afropop achieves this goal with high-energy music that blends local and global technologies, musical instruments, styles, and languages in new and exciting ways. And, true to the pan-African concept that music and song are two sides of the same coin, singers are key to Afropop's success. Great singers move their listeners; to tears of joy or nostalgia, to take up social action or prayer, or sometimes to simply join the flow of sociability on the dance floor.

Afropop concerts are extraordinarily fun, uplifting, and all-around good for the mind, body, and soul. On the more serious side, this kind of music engages critical thinking about the power of American pop music as a dominant cultural force in the world; challenges previously conceived and/or implicit ideas about "universal" standards, aesthetics, and definitions of popular music; expands awareness of the potential power music entertainment has for socio-political change; and exposes the power and influence of America's African cultural heritage today. Power is, indeed, one of the most compelling themes about African popular music. Come and experience the power of African popular music at UVA!

The festival demonstrates the University's continued dedication to cutting-edge, interdisciplinary research and teaching that takes cultural pluralism seriously in the arts and sciences. This festival of African popular music is a unique enrichment opportunity for students, faculty, and the greater Charlottesville community. In addition to the concerts, the festival offers a series of workshops, class visits, and open rehearsals, and panel discussions with the visiting artists for interested students in music, and related fields such as dance, fine arts, African and African-American studies, and French. These activities not only enhance students' education but they also foster interdisciplinary collaboration and collegiality. Student groups also have the chance to participate in the planning and execution phases of the festival. The McIntire Department of Music also hopes to bring African music to the greater Charlottesville community by making many of the events free and open to the public.

The festival is made possible by a $50,000 gift by the University of Virginia Athletics Department.