The West Virginia University African Music and Dance Ensemble will present its annual spring concert Sunday, March 2, at 3:15 p.m. at the Creative Arts Center, featuring musical selections from Africa performed on traditional instruments.

The event will be held in the Antoinette Falbo Theatre and is under the direction of Michael Vercelli, director of the WVU World Music Center. It is free and open to the public.

Students who will be conducting parts of the concert include Graduate Conductors Mitch Greco and Caryn Crozier and Graduate Assistant Jamie Sunshine.

According to Dr. Vercelli, the concert will include music from the Malinke, Ewe, Dagara, and Birifor traditions.

The African Music and Dance Ensemble is an experiential ensemble, focusing its repertoire on the traditional and contemporary music of Africa and the Diaspora. The music is taught primarily through oral tradition, allowing the members to experience the learning process without written music.

The ensemble is comprised of both undergraduates and graduate students from many disciplines across the WVU campus.

Vercelli said that while the focus of the African Music and Dance Ensemble is musical, the cultural contexts relevant to the music studied are inherently stressed, giving the participants a deeper understanding of its meaning and personal enjoyment of the music performed.

“The goals of the African Music and Dance Ensemble include fostering a growing community interested in the African Arts, while focusing on an expanding body of musical repertoire to encouraging the oral tradition process to take place between new and returning members,” he said. “Members are encouraged to use personal experiences from past years and abroad, in shaping our performance practice.”

For more information, contact the WVU College of Creative Arts at (304) 293-4359.

-WVU-

cl/2/25/14

CONTACT: Charlene Lattea, College of Creative Arts
304-293-4841 ext. 3108, Charlene.Lattea@mail.wvu.edu

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