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Soli Drum and Dance Festival, May
22-25, 2009
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ARTISTS
Mamadouba "Mohamed" Camara
Mamadouba "Mohamed" Camara is an amazing Drummer, Balafonist, Percussionist, Performer, Dancer, Teacher & Arranger of Traditional Music from Guinea, West Africa.
1983- drummed and danced
with the well known African band FATALA under the direction of Fode Konte.
1985-
played traditional Manding music with the ENSEMBLE MANDINGNARA directed by Djeli
Mamadou Kande.
1986-
joined BALLETS MERVEILLES de GUINEA Guinea, directed by Kemoko Sano.
1988-
toured Europe with BEMBEYA JAZZ INTERNATIONAL which is known to be
Guineas first International orchestra and recorded an album with Bembeya Jazz
and Sekou Bambino Diabate.
1989-
performed with a traditional Guinean music group named WASSA with Mercery
Camara.
Mohamded
was selected to be a member of PERCUSSIONS DE GUINEA, the prestigious
national drum troupe composed of the seven best percussionists in Guinea.
During his six years with Percussions de Guinea, he performed extensively,
including two world tours and he also recorded two incredible CDs. He formed
CLUB NIGA, a music school for children which believes in creating: New
Inspirations for the Genius Artistic. There, he trained many young students in
all aspects of drumming & percussion.
1995-
joined KOTEBA ENSEMBLE, where he played djembe, balafon, bote, and krin.
1998-
toured the United States in collaboration with the RON BROWN DANCE COMPANY
KOTEBA ENSEMBLE.
Mohamed is an important cultural ambassador of the traditional music & culture
of Guinea, West Africa. He continues to teach Master Drum & Dance classes, and
he delivers dynamic, explosive performances dedicated to the expression of the
African art.
Mouminatou Camara
Mouminatou Camara was the principal dancer for 20 years for Les Ballets Africains the most famous Afrikan dance troupe in the world. Prior to that, she was a dancer with Ballets Djoliba one of the most dynamic companies of Guinea. She has worked and trained consistently with Master Kemoko Sano, and is recognized as one of the most exhilarating dancers to come out of Guinea, West Afrika.
Artistic Director/Choreographer Mouminatou Camara is praised as the pre-eminent female instructor of Guinea dance in the United States. A brilliant instructor and performer of West African Dance and Drum, Mouminatou Camara has performed and taught workshops extensively in the USA, Spain, France, Belgium, Germany, Martinique and the West African countries of Senegal, Mali and the Ivory Coast.
MOUMINATOU
CAMARA is one of the most
exciting West African dancers currently teaching in the US. She danced with all
of Guinea's national companies: the Ballet de L'Armee, the Ballet Djoliba,
and for
20 years as a principal with Les Ballets Africains.
Based in New York since 1997, she holds regular classes in NY city and tours
nationally.
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Class Schedule:
(an additional
dance class may be added if enough students-sign up early on the
dng .org web site)
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Djeli Moussa Diabate
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Djeli
Moussa Diabate was
one of the finest dancers with the National
Ballets of Guinea (Africa) and was artistic director for National Ballet Silimbo of Senegal for many years. He is a master dancer, drummer and musician and has toured Africa, Europe, Asia and the U.S.A. He also performed on Broadway (New York City), at Yale Repertory Theater and at Brooklyn Academy of Music.
Moussa
is the son of the Chief of the Djelis, El Hadj Komba Ansou Diabate of
Conakry, Guinea in West Africa. El Hadj Komba Ansou Diabate for more than 35
years was a founding member of the National Instrumental Ensemble and
composer of the Guinea National Anthem.
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The Ayubu Kamau Sacred Afrikan Drum and Dance Society
Baba Ayubu Kamau founded the Ayalode (pronounced Ay-ya-low-day) and Iantunga (pronounced Eye-an-tunga) Sacred Afrikan Drum and Dance Society in 1993. In 1996 the group was renamed as the Ayubu Kamau Sacred Afrikan Drum and Dance Society in honor of Baba Ayubu’s life contributions. Baba Ayubu passed away on September 20th, 1995.
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For the past thirteen years the Ayubu Kamau Sacred Afrikan Drum and Dance Society has performed throughout the United States and is committed to exude the beauty, resilience and integrity of the Diaspora of African Culture in music, dance and education under the direction of Iya Ile and Baba Kwasi.
Alseny Sylla
Alseny Sylla was born in Conakry, Guinea in 1964. He first began studying drums at the age of 16 playing with the Federation Company, Basicola, where he studied djun djuns, the large bass drums that carry Guinean rhythms. In 1981 the company disbanded and Monsieur Sylla joined the private dance and drum ensemble, Etoile du Cdum, from 1981 to 1987 which toured Mali, Burkina Faso, Togo, Ghana and Ivory Coast.
In 1987 Monsieur Sylla moved from Guinea to Abidjan, Ivory Coast where he worked for the next eleven years with the companies C’dyao and Koteba. Koteba was the first national company comprised of many different African ethnic groups from different countries that combined theater, music, dance and ancestral traditions and with whom he first toured the United States in 1992.
In 1999 Monsieur Sylla left Africa for New York and began performing with two West African Drum and Dance Ensembles; Foliba, with Percussion of Guinea’s Mohamed Camara, and Acquaba, a group led by a dancer from the Ivory Coast. He teaches Djun djun workshops at Lisangua Ya Bato, a drum and dance camp in upstate New York.
Mr. Sylla permanently relocated to Austin in 2000. He is currently teaching classes in djembe and djun djun and accompanying West African dance classes as the soloist at Tapestry Dance Studio, Atomic Dance Factory, and the Arabic Bazaar.
Monsieur Sylla is co-founder and Director of Lannaya Drum and Dance Ensemble. Lannaya, which translates as “CONFIDENCE” in his native language, Su Su, is an intensely energetic ensemble comprised of dynamic local drummers and dancers who have been studying and dancing to his highly emotional rhythms of traditional Guinea and Ivory Coast for these past two years in Austin.
Alassane Sarr
Alassane Sarr comes from a griot family in Dakar, Senegal, West Africa. The griot tradition of Senegal combines storytelling and musical performance to communicate the history of Senegalese people.
In additon to the griot tradition of his family, Alassane attended the School of Art in Dakar at the age of fifteen completing the courses at the age of twenty-one. Following school, Alassane became a performer of the Silimbo Dance Company of Dakar, Senegal. In 1991 the Silimbo dancers were hired to perform in the United States. From then on, Alassane's career continued to develop through performing and teaching his styles throughout the United States.
Alassane teaches; West African Dance and Drumming, Senegalese history, Drum-Making, leather jewelry making, and costume designing. His energizing drumming includes; Sabar, Sorubam, Tama, Dejembe, Djun Djun, Congas, and Bougaroubou.
Kumaasi African Ensemble
KUMAASI, featuring S-Ankh Rasa is a collective of African artists who share the vision and purpose of reclaiming and re-instituting Traditional West African culture through the music and dance of this rich and diverse region of our ancestral homeland. We are both students and teachers of African culture and through our performances we endeavor to function as ambassadors whose primary purpose is to present West African cultural expressions as respectfully and lovingly as possible.
Under the skillfull direction of S-Ankh Rasa, Founder/Director of Kumaasi African Ensemble, Kumaasi was a powerful force and major highlight of last year’s Soli Drum and Dance Festival.
Mr. Rasa is an ultra-talented composer/musician who has studied both Western and African music and reached high levels of achievement within each genre. As a Los Angeles studio musician Mr. Rasa performed and toured with many artists including Stevie Wonder, Natalie Cole, and Marvin Gaye. As an African drummer Mr. Rasa was privileged to study and tour with the legendary djembe drummer Mamady Keita from Guinea, West Africa. For more than 7 years Mr. Rasa has been perfecting the technique of fusing Traditional African and African-Diaspora music into one tremendously unique sound in the sound of JUJU NATION AFRICAN ARKESTRA.
Kobushi –Taiko Drummers
The name KOBUSHI is written with three characters meaning ko: drum, bu: dance, and shi: warrior. However, the characters kobu together form a word that means inspiration or encouragement. (This is the inspiration for the phrase “Samurai Cheerleaders,” which has become the title of our first CD.) Written with other characters, kobushi can have several other meanings relating to music and martial arts, and is also the name of a type of flowering tree. So this name is colorful and multi-faceted, as is our group and its music.
The KOBUSHI taiko group is an eclectic mix of people that has included professional musicians, artists, writers, engineers, students, and a pilot. Our repertoire consists of traditional Japanese pieces as well as more modern original works. Current performers include Kent Muler, Martin McCall, Craig Shropshire, Bill Matney and Michael Kenny.
Since 1994, KOBUSHI has performed more than 350 times around Texas. We have performed for public and private audiences, ranging from a handful to thousands in size, indoors and out. We have played at "plum" locations such as the Meyerson Symphony Hall and the Dallas Museum of Art, as well as neighborhood schools and recreation centers. We have been selected to perform for the City of Dallas under the Neighborhood Touring Program.
  sponsored by McKinney Arts Commission & City of McKinney |
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