ALL OVER THE MAP: KUNDA AFRICAN CULTURE MUSIC & DANCE Sun, Aug 26, 2018
ALL OVER THE MAP: KUNDA AFRICAN CULTURE MUSIC & DANCE
FREE PUBLIC EVENT
August 26, 2018, 1:00 & 3:00 pm
Performance Works, Granville Island
The event takes place on the outdoor stage at Ron Basford Park. In case of rain the performance takes place inside Performance Works.
‘Kunda’ means family, & thus is very fitting for this multi-cultural group of talented artists from several regions of Africa, the Caribbean, and Canada, who have come together in unity to share their vibrant culture through a family-orientated show, also displaying Canada’s ethnic diversity, & encouraging people of all cultural backgrounds to come together & share ideas, beliefs, & traditions, to eliminate boundaries, interact, & join together in peace, unity, & harmony, as one world, one love, & one people… one family. Kunda has performed at hundreds of schools, festivals & communities throughout BC and beyond, since the group came together in 2010 – from Dawson City to Grande Prairie to Kyuquot.
Fronted by Kocassale Dioubate, a griot (traditional story-teller, musician, entertainer, and keeper of tribal history and tradition) from the Mandingo tribe of Guinea, West Africa,Kunda also includes Canadian percussionist/dancer Sasha Belle, Cuban percussionist-extraordinaire Toto Israel Berriel (formerly with world-renown Muñequitos de Matanzas), and Ivorian acrobat and dancer Kesseke Yeo.
With exotic hand-made instruments, compelling rhythms, his natural inherited musical skills, and contagious smile, not to mention his dynamic, warm, and magnetic energy, Koca casts a magical musical spell, capturing the essence of his Malinke culture through its music, and taking his audiences on a cultural journey, which transports them straight to Africa. His music, original compositions set to traditional rhythms, truly is fresh innovation blossoming from deeply rooted tradition.
Koca’s mission is to celebrate, share and educate, with regards to his roots, and his rich cultural heritage. While he will continue to fulfill his role as a proud but humble keeper of his tradition, preserving and sharing his culture, he strives also to exchange both the knowledge of ancient tradition as well as fresh new ideas with peoples from all around the globe, participating in an ongoing cultural exchange and embracing our global community.
New Works gratefully and respectfully acknowledges that this event takes place on the ancestral, and unceded Indigenous territories of the ʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh) First Nations.