MUSIC

On January 28, at 8:15 pm, Berklee presents Homeland Security: Celebrating Contemporary and Traditional African Music and Dance, highlighting the rich music, compelling stories, and vibrant dance that are a way of life in Africa. The concert will feature students from Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria and South Africa who are studying at the college on scholarships, as well as students from the U.S.

The concert program includes original songs written by the students about their homelands and personal journeys. Student-penned pieces include “Va Gumulelana (No More War),” by Helder Tsinine, which in 2011 became the first non-English language song to win the Peacedriven Songwriting Contest; “Battle” by Jason Ekhabi Sibi-Okumu, about his struggle with kidney failure; and “Mwanamuziki” (Swahili for musician), by Annette Oduor, paying homage to her hometown of Nairobi.

Traditional pieces featuring drumming and dance will bookend the concert. Berklee’s 16-member West African Drum and Dance Ensemble, directed by Joe Galeota, associate professor of Percussion, open the show with “Togo Atsia,” originally a women’s dance piece from the coast of Ghana and Togo. While another group of students, choreographed by student Jeniffer Criss, will close out the concert with “Sinte,” from Guinea and Mali.

The West African Drum and Dance Ensemble also features percussionist Victor “Blue” Dogah. In 2008, Dogah was named Berklee’s first Africa Scholar – an award covering full tuition and room and board for four years at Berklee – through the program instituted by Berklee president Roger H. Brown. This concert is dedicated to Brown and his wife Linda Mason in honor of their humanitarian work in Africa and continued support of Africa’s musical community.