Asheville Musicians Band Together and Launch Campaign To Rebuild West African Music Education Center & Home

Asheville Musicians Band Together and Launch Campaign To Rebuild West African Music Education Center & Home

700 years of musical lineage is in jeopardy in Ivory Coast, West Africa. Asheville musicians, led by the band Zansa, have banded together to help rebuild the Dembele family home and Djembeso Drum & Dance Education Center in Ivory Coast, West Africa after it was recently destroyed by their government. Members of Zansa, along with many other local Asheville musicians, and other supporters of Asheville’s West African community are raising funds to help the Dembele family continue to grow their musical legacy. We need to rebuild this house and music compound not just for this generation, but for generations to come.

Donations can be made to the rebuilding efforts via the newly launched Indiegogo campaign: http://igg.me/at/adama/x/3637548. Thanks to LEAF Community Arts, a nonprofit that supports arts education around the world through the LEAF International program, your donation is tax deductible. Adama Dembele has been a teaching artist through LEAF for four years, sharing his music and culture with hundreds of young people across Western North Carolina.

The Dembele household is a culturally significant resource within the community. The family has been sharing their music here for centuries. The fact that Adama is a 33rd generation musician means that his family has been passing on their musical heritage and culture for nearly 700 years. Their household, known as Djembeso, which translates to House of Djembe, has been a mecca for musicians throughout West Africa, Europe, the United States, and beyond who have traveled there to study music. Currently, the family is unable to continue passing on this wealth of cultural knowledge, and we need your help. Your generous donations will go directly to help the rebuilding process and make it possible for this legacy to continue!

Read Full Post »

SOUMU: A Celebration of West African Music, Food & Dance…featuring Zansa

On Saturday, February 25 from 6 to 10 p.m., the YMI Cultural Center at 39 S. Market St. sets the stage for Asheville’s first Soumu, or in West African lingo, a celebration of dancing, singing, food, and music. The evening will offer a dinner of flavors from West Africa, including seafood soupe kandia and chicken and vegetable mafé, plus wines and beer from Pisgah and Wedge brewing companies.

Entertainment includes West African drumming and dance demonstrations, a performance by Belle Afrique, and music by Asheville’s contemporary Ivorian afropop ensemble Zansa, featuring members of Afromotive.

Tickets are $15 at the door, $10 for ages 12 and younger, and include dinner, two drink tickets, and an evening of culture and West African entertainment. All proceeds benefit Adama Dembele in an effort to help him get his permanent Green Card for U.S. citizenship.

Adama Dembele is a 33rd generation djembe player from the Ivory Coast in West Africa, who has performed with various internationally recognized acts on three continents, including Oumou Sangare, Angelique Kidjo, and Salif Keita. He has lived in Asheville for five years, teaching drumming workshops in town and across the country and performing with local bands, including Afromotive, Toubab Krewe, and Zansa.

Adama was a LEAF in Schools and Streets instructor in 2011. Other teaching experiences include regular drumming workshops at the South Carolina School for the Deaf and Blind, Stone Academy in Greenville, SC, and in Asheville at Rainbow Mountain Children’s School and Erwin and TC Robertson high schools. Adama is a cultural gem whose mission is to share his musical heritage. This event is an effort to help keep him here.Special thanks to our sponsors: Chef Abdoul, Pisgah Brewing Company, The Wedge Brewery, and the YMI Cultural Center.

For more details visit: https://www.facebook.com/events/218988491525299/

Read Full Post »