[NEohioPAL]African Drum Festival and Workshops at Kent Stage

[Standing Rock Cultural Arts]

> This message is in MIME format. Since your mail reader does not understand
this format, some or all of this message may not be legible.

--MS_Mac_OE_3242117119_383004_MIME_Part
Content-type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"
Content-transfer-encoding: quoted-printable

Greetings,

WHO:  Standing Rock Cultural Arts and Brian Klempp

WHAT:  African Drum and Dance Festival
-Fundraiser for Brian Klempp=B9s voyage to Mamady Keita=B9s Drum Camp in the
Republic of Guinea, Africa

-DRUM WORKSHOPS

- PERFORMANCES FEATURING SOGBETY DIOMONDE AND HIS WEST AFRICAN DRUM AND
DANCE COMPANY

- HALIM EL-DABH=20

- THE KENT AFRICAN DRUM COMMUNITY

- GYPSY SOUL AND *STAR KIDS* TRIBAL BELLY DANCE TROUPE

WHEN:  Saturday, October 14,  1pm-11pm
- 3 Drum Workshops from 1:00-5:00pm
- Performances begin at 7:30pm

WHERE: The Kent Stage, 175 E. Main St., Downtown Kent

COST:=20
- Workshop: $20 per workshop
- Performances:  $10 General Admission, $8 Students/Seniors
- All Day Pass (covers workshops and performances) $60

CONTACT:  330-673-4970

Anyone wishing to help sponsor Brian Klempp=B9s voyage to Africa, please
contact Jeff Ingram at info at standingrock.net or call 330-673-4970.  Standin=
g
Rock Cultural Arts is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization based in Kent
Ohio.  Donations are tax deductible and greatly appreciated.

www.standingrock.net for updates

BRIAN KLEMPP BIOGRAPHY

    Brian Klempp is the founder and leader of the Kent Community Rumba
Society, a group that began as a class for children in 2002.  The Rumba
Society now consists of 40 people from ages 6 to 70 and performs for
festivals and community events on a regular basis.  Brian teaches the
members of the group songs and rhythms of Africa, Cuba and Brazil.

   Brian studied for two years with Baba David Coleman, founder and leader
of Iroko, one of the first professional African drum and dance ensembles in
Northeast Ohio.  He also studied with Dr. Kazadi wa Mukuna, in the
Ethnomusicology Department at Kent State University.  Brian performed with
and co-directed the Kent State University African Music Ensemble for severa=
l
years.   He also counts Halim el Dahb, Sogbety Diomande, and Mamady Keita
among his many teachers.  Brian has appeared on several recordings includin=
g
Muzki ki wa Afrika, a compilation of music from around the continent of
Africa.=20

   Brian has now been presented with an opportunity to attend a drum camp i=
n
Conakry Guinea with world renowned djembe master Mamady Keita. Mamady is th=
e
first percussionist to organize a drum and dance workshop in collaboration
with the Republic of Guinea=B9s Secretary of Arts & Culture. He opened his
first camp in 1990. The camp was officially recognized as an international
cultural exchange in which 35 European students were hosted by the Secretar=
y
of Arts & Culture in Conakry. Mamady has continued to bring students to
Guinea each year since.

   In December 2006, Mamady Keita will host 28 intermediate and advanced
students from around the world in his home in the heartland of djembe music
for four weeks of intensive classes focusing on the musical traditions of
the Mandingue people. The camp, which includes classes, lodging and meals,
will provide Brian an occasion to further his own skills and deepen his
knowledge of this ancient tradition.  Brian will use this experience to
bring this tradition to his community in Kent, Ohio through performances an=
d
education.=20

MAMDY KEITA BIOGRAPHY

MAMADY KE=CFTA BIOGRAPHY
Mamady Ke=EFta was born in 1950 in Balandugu, Guinea, a village of Wassolon,
near the F=E9 River. From when he was old enough to crawl, Mamady descended o=
n
all the pots and pans in order to turn them over and beat on them.  Very
quickly he surprised everyone by his natural gifts. No one could believe
their ears and they would ask themselves how such a small boy could draw
such a sound from a drum. Mamady =B3Nankama=B2 (Mamady-who-was-born-for-that),
and =B3Balandugudjina=B2 (the devil of Balandugu) are his two nicknames. He owe=
d
his initiation into the history of the Mandeng and its music to Karinkadjan
Kond=E9, an old djembefola (djembe player) of his village. Curious about
everything, he would not rest until he knew, firstly all the rhythms of the
Wassolon, then of the Mandeng and those of the neighboring ethnic groups.

At the age of fourteen, Mamady Keita was selected by Sekou Tour=E9 to
represent Guinea in the National Ballet =B3Djoliba.=B2  For over twenty years,
Mamady traveled around the world with Djoliba, only resting between tours
for short periods in his native country. He was named lead djembe soloist
only one year after Djoliba was formed. At seventeen, the young drummer was
cast in a Harry Belafonte film titled Africa Dance. After 15 years in the
Ballet Djoliba, at the age of 29, Mamady became the Artistic Director and
fulfilled this function until 1986 when he left the Ballet for good; this
was the first time that a drummer was given the position of Artistic
Director.

By 1988 Mamady=B9s name began to travel beyond West Africa.  Mamady traveled
to Brussels to teach and perform at a school formed by the non-profit
organization Zig Zag and established his own performance ensemble, Sewa Kan=
.
He also founded his own school of percussion called Tam Tam Mandingue,
=B3drums of the Manding.=B2  The school rapidly gained an international
reputation and in just a few years he opened branches in Paris, Munich,
Conakry, USA, Japan and Israel. Today there are eighteen Tam Tam Mandingue
schools around the world.

In 1991, Mamady=B9s own life-story was put on the big screen in an
award-winning documentary film titled =B3Djembefola, the Man Who Makes the
Djembe Speak=B2. Directed by Laurent Chevallier, this film introduces Mamady
Keita, the world=B9s greatest djembe player and shares his magical and
emotional journey back to his birth village of Balandugu, Guinea after a
26-year absence. Mamady hears from his older brother how the local
soothsayer predicted Mamady=B9s destiny when he was still in his mother=B9s
womb. The film won several international awards and propelled the culture o=
f
the djembe around the world.

Mamady has released numerous albums and travels extensively around the worl=
d
teaching and performing. Mamady has co-written the book =B3Mamady Keita: A
Life for the Djembe=B2 (with Uschi Billimeier), which provides sixty rhythms
notated and an instructional CD with 21 rhythms included. It also gives
historical and cultural information on the instruments and the rhythms
themselves.  The book is regarded as the best reference on the djembe and
traditional rhythms; it is on its fifth edition and available now in 4
languages (German, French, English and Japanese).
In 2004, Mamady moved to the United States and set up his school=B9s
headquarters in San Diego, California. At this time he also released his 9t=
h
album, Sila Laka, recorded live in Conakry as well as a new set of
instructional DVD=B9s, titled =B3Les Rythmes du Mandingue=B2 Volumes I, II and
III. With his move to the United States, Mamady also set up his own
production company, called Djembefola Productions, which will allow him to
manufacture and distribute past and future products around the world. Mamad=
y
continues to teach at his school in San Diego alongside his wife Monette
Marino-Keita. Together they travel the world carrying out his mission to
preserve the tradition and the music of the djembe.

Biography used with permission of Mamady Keita, June 2006.
Source: Tam Tam Mandingue USA.  http://www.ttmusa.org

HALIM EL-DABH  BIOGRAPHY

Halim El-Dabh
(b. Halim Abdul Messieh El-Dabh, Cairo, 4 March 1921)

Composer, performer, ethnomusicologist, and educator Halim El-Dabh is
internationally regarded as Egypt's foremost living composer of classical
music, and one of the major composers of the twentieth century.  His
numerous musical and dramatic works have been performed throughout Africa,
Asia, Europe, and the Americas.  Among his compositions are eleven operas,
four symphonies, numerous ballets, concertos, and orchestral pieces, works
for band and chorus, film scores, incidental music for plays, chamber and
electronic works, music for jazz and rock band, works for young performers,
and pieces for various combinations of African, Asian, and Western
instruments.  His extensive ethnomusicological researches, conducted on
several continents, have led to unique creative syntheses in his works,
which, while utilizing contemporary compositional techniques and new system=
s
of notation, are frequently imbued with Near Eastern, African, or ancient
Egyptian aesthetics.

Born into a musical family in Cairo, El-Dabh studied piano and derabucca
(goblet-shaped ceramic drum), and began composing at an early age.  Althoug=
h
trained for a career as an agricultural engineer, his musical talent and
immersion in Egypt's cosmopolitan musical life (including village drumming
and local festivals, Arabic and European classical music, and the jazz club=
s
of Alexandria) increasingly led him toward a life in music.  An early
introduction to contemporary music came in 1932, when the young El-Dabh was
able to meet the composers B=E9la Bart=F3k and Paul Hindemith at an
international music conference organized by King Fuad in Cairo.  By 1949
El-Dabh had gained such notoriety for his avant-garde compositions and pian=
o
playing--among both the general public and the royal family--that the
cultural attach=E9s of various nations began to invite him to pursue further
musical studies in their countries.  El-Dabh chose to apply to study music
in the United States, and was one of only seven Egyptians (out of 500
applicants) to receive a Fulbright grant in that year.

Arriving in the United States in the summer of 1950 (and later acquiring
U.S. citizenship), El-Dabh traveled to the Aspen Music Center in Colorado,
where he met and assisted Igor Stravinsky.  After researching Native
American music in New Mexico, he began studies with Aaron Copland and Irvin=
g
Fine at the Berkshire Music Center in Massachusetts.  Later, in New York's
vibrant musical scene, he developed close associations with many prominent
and like-minded figures in twentieth-century music, including Henry Cowell,
John Cage, Alan Hovhaness, Leonard Bernstein, Edgard Var=E8se, Otto Luening,
Vladimir Ussachevsky, Ernst K_enek, and Luigi Dallapiccola.  During the
1950s and =8C60s, El-Dabh was grouped with fellow composers Hovhaness, Lou
Harrison, Colin McPhee, Paul Bowles, and Peggy Glanville-Hicks, under the
rubric =B3Les Six d=B9Orient=B2 (the term coined by Glanville-Hicks), representin=
g
the vanguard of contemporary composers writing music inspired by musics of
the East.

Having also achieved renown for his virtuoso derabucca playing, in 1958
El-Dabh played the solo part in the premiere of his Fantasia-Tahmeel (for
derabucca and strings), with the American Symphony Orchestra under Leopold
Stokowski.  Also in 1958, he began working closely with the great American
choreographer Martha Graham, composing the epic opera-ballet Clytemnestra
(1958), which is considered Graham=B9s masterpiece; he eventually composed
three more ballet scores for her.  El-Dabh=B9s orchestral/choral score for th=
e
light show at the pyramids of Giza has been played there each evening since
1961, and is probably his most frequently heard work.  His Opera Flies
(1971) is the only opera to have been composed on the theme of the Kent
State tragedy of May 1970.

In addition to his compositional activity, El-Dabh has also conducted
musical field research and recording throughout Egypt and Ethiopia, as well
as in Eritrea, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zaire, Central African
Republic, Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Morocco,
Greece, Macedonia, Uzbekistan, Brazil, Mexico, and Jamaica.  He has also
studied the Native American cultures of the American Southwest and the
African American cultures of the southeastern U.S.  El-Dabh is also
considered an expert on the subject of traditional Egyptian and African
puppetry, and has helped to present a number of such puppetry troupes in th=
e
United States.  While in Ethiopia (1962-64), he formed Orchestra Ethiopia,
the first pan-Ethiopian performing group.
In his works, El-Dabh frequently draws on his Egyptian heritage, as in
Mekta' in the Art of Kita' (1955), The Eye of Horus (1967), Ptahmose and th=
e
Magic Spell (1972), Ramesses the Great (Symphony no. 9) (1987), and many
others.  He has created new systems of notation for the derabucca, and has
revived interest in ancient Egyptian language and musical notation.  Many o=
f
his works from the 1960s on are also heavily influenced by West African
traditional musics, such as Black Epic (1968) and Kyrie for the Bishop of
Ghana (1968), and still other works bear the influences of the musics of
Ethiopia, Brazil, India, China, Japan, Korea, and other nations.

Also a pioneer in the field of electronic music, El-Dabh began early sonic
experiments with wire recorders at the Middle East Radio Station of Cairo i=
n
1944.  In 1959 he was invited by Otto Luening and Vladimir Ussachevsky to
join the first group of composers at the newly set up Columbia-Princeton
Electronic Music Center in New York, where he created a number of
significant works.  His Leiyla and the Poet (1959-61), recorded for Columbi=
a
Masterworks in 1964, is considered a classic of the genre.  A long-awaited
CD compilation of many of these pioneering electronic works, entitled
Crossing Into the Electric Magnetic, was released in 2001 by Without Fear
Recordings.  In 2005,
El-Dabh was commissioned by the American Music Center's Siday Music on Hold
Program to compose a new electroacoustic work to be used for the American
Music Center's telephone system.

El-Dabh's recent works include the ballet score In the Valley of the Nile
(1999), composed for the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Company; the piano
concerto Surrr-Rah (2000), written for pianist Tuyen Tonnu; and Og=FAn:  Let
Him, Let Her Have the Iron (2001), for soprano and chamber ensemble.  His
most recent project, the opera/theater piece Blue Sky Transmission:  A
Tibetan Book of the Dead, was presented in September 2002 in Cleveland, Ohi=
o
and in New York.

El-Dabh has served on the faculty of Kent State University's School of Musi=
c
since 1969, and has also taught at Haile Selassie I University in Ethiopia
(1962-64) and Howard University in Washington, D.C. (1966-69)  He is one of
only eight Kent State University faculty members to hold the title of
University Professor, Kent State's highest faculty distinction, and is a
recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award (1988).  Retiring in 1991,
Emeritus Professor El-Dabh continues to teach and compose prolifically, in
addition to conducting workshops for children.  Presently, El-Dabh is an
adjunct professor at Kent State University's Department of Pan-African
Studies, where he teaches a course entitled African Cultural Expression.  I=
n
this course, students are immersed in and participate in a holistic
experience of music, art, song, dance, and drama as it is found in the
environment of a pristine African village (which El-Dabh experienced during
his years of living in villages while traveling throughout Africa).

El-Dabh's music is published by C. F. Peters, and his works have been
recorded by the Columbia Masterworks, Folkways, Egyptian Ministry of Cultur=
e
and National Guidance, Auricular, Pointless Music, Luna Bisonte, Zentrum f=FC=
r
Kunst und Medientechnologie Karlsruhe, NCG, Without Fear, Tedium House
(Bananafish), Association for Consciousness Exploration, and Innova labels.
There are entries on El-Dabh in nearly all major musical reference works,
and his work is discussed in books by Akin Euba, Ashenafi Kebede, Adel
Kamel, Gardner Read, and others.  The first-ever biography of the composer,
The Musical World of Halim El-Dabh, by Kent State University professor
Denise A. Seachrist, was published by the Kent State University Press in
April 2003.

El-Dabh holds degrees from Cairo University, the New England Conservatory o=
f
Music, and Brandeis University.  He has served as a cultural and
ethnomusicological consultant to the Smithsonian Institution=B9s Folklife
Program (1974-1981), and his numerous grants and awards include two
Guggenheim Fellowships (1959-60 and 1961-62), two Fulbright Fellowships
(1950 and 1967), two Rockefeller Fellowships (1961 and 2001), the Cleveland
Arts Prize (1990), a Meet-the-Composer grant (1999), and an Ohio Arts
Council grant (2000).  In May 2001 he received an honorary doctorate from
Kent State University.  In 2001, the composer celebrated his eightieth
birthday with a festival of his music, which included more than 15 concerts
and lectures, both in the U.S. and around the world.  In March 2002 he was
invited to celebrate his eighty-first birthday with a series of four
concerts of his music at the recently reconstructed Bibliotheca Alexandrina
(Library of Alexandria) in Alexandria, Egypt.

In 2004, El-Dabh was honored by the Society for American Music with a panel
session and interview-recital at the organization's conference in Cleveland=
,
Ohio.  In August 2005, El-Dabh was the keynote speaker at a symposium
dedicated to the late Nigerian composer Chief Fela Sowande at Churchill
College in Cambridge, England.  In September 2005, he was the featured
performer and presenter at the Unyazi Festival of Electronic Music in
Johannesburg and Soweto, South Africa, the first festival of electronic
music on the African continent.  In October 2005 he was the featured
composer at a symposium on African and Asian music at the Central
Conservatory of Music in Beijing, China.

2006, his 85th year, will feature numerous performances of his music in the
United States, Egypt, and Europe, with a festival taking place at Kent Stat=
e
University.  Email heldabhATyahoo.com for a full schedule or more
information.

-- David Badagnani

SOGBETY DIOMANDE BIOGRAPHY:

Sogbety Diomande was born in the village of Toufinga, a smallfarming
community located in the Northwest region of the Ivory Coast near the borde=
r
of Guinea in Africa. He started his career as a drummer and dancer at a ver=
y
early age. He trained as a stilt dancer with his uncle, Vado Diomande, the
reigning national stilt dancing champion. Sogbety has been stilt dancing
since the age of ten and possesses the ability, through his stilt mask, to
act as a mediator between the world of the living and the spiritual world o=
f
the ancestors. Sogbety moved to Abidjan in 1990 to perform with Kotchegna, =
a
dance company led by his uncle Vado. There he met artists from the Ballet
National de Cote d=B9 Ivoire and began to spread his name.

In 1994 Sogbety was invited by the Ballet National to perform in North
America at several large festivals. On this tour he played doundoun and
djembe . Sogbety moved to North America permanently in December of 1997 and
found his niche in New York City. For the next three years he performed wit=
h
the Mask Dance Company led by Bley Zagae, the Kotchegna Dance Company led b=
y
his uncle Vado, Company Kobake led by Siakka Dosso, the Djoniba Dance
Company, and the 7th Principle led by Yaya Kamate, as well as with many
other companies and artists. He found himself performing in venues such as
S.O.B.=B9s, Pangia, Symphony Space, Aaron Davis Hall, Lincoln Center, the
Plaza Hotel, Museum of Natural History, Brooklyn Academy of Music, and The
Kitchen, where he shared the stage with Herbin (Tamango) Van Cayseele, one
of the greatest tap artists of today.

In addition to his incredible performing schedule he also found time to
accompany dance classes at Djoniba Dance and Drum School, Abizaid, New York
Sports Club, and the Mariebass School, and held his own djembe class weekly
at Djoniba. During the Spring and Summer of 2000 Sogbety was featured as th=
e
lead djembe drummer on cult legend Jimmy Buffett=B9s No Passport Required
tour. For most of 2001 Sogbety was a resident artist at Disney World in
Orlando, Florida. There he performed at Harambe African Village with Kobake=
,
an impressive Ivoirenne quartet. In February 2002 Sogbety was a featured
artist in a tour of the Northwest showcasing mask culture in the Ivory
Coast, where he drummed to critical acclaim. During the next month he
performed for the king of Cameroon. And during that same year he recorded
with jazz pianist Joseph Diamond.

Sogbety has been featured with Tokounou, a Guinean dance and drum company
led by Sidiki Conde. With Tokounou Sogbety has traveled around the U.S. in
addition to doing local clinics at various schools, which included a
residency at a school in the Bronx for disabled children where they
encouraged the children to dance and play despite their disabilities. In
August 2004 he performed with Kotchegna at the National Folk Festival in
Bangor, Maine. In October 2004 he was featured drum instructor alongside
Mamady Keita, master drummer from Guinea at Canaan Valley Resort in West
Virginia. In Janurary 2005 Sogbety performed with Kikombe Cha Umoja! in
Pittsburgh at the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater. In February he performed with
Balafon West African Dance Ensemble at the Kennedy Center in Washington,
D.C. Both of these shows were directed by Kadiatou Conte-Forte.

The last weekend in February he participated as a performer and teacher at
Drum Talk 2005! at the University of Pittsburgh along with Elie Kihonia, Ji=
m
Donovan, and Mamady Keita. Sogbety=B9s most recent projects include forming
his own West African Drum and Dance Company, touring with Jim Donovan=B9s Dru=
m
the Ecstatic, and performing for schools and universities. In February of
2005 he formed his own troupe and performed for Black History events in
Ohio. As a trio, he performed 13 shows for the Mansfield Summer Library
Program.=20

www.sonicbids.com/sogbety


  =20
   =20
Thank you for supporting the Arts,

Standing Rock Cultural Arts
257 N. Water St.
Kent, OH 44240
330-673-4970
info at standingrock.net




--MS_Mac_OE_3242117119_383004_MIME_Part
Content-type: text/html; charset="ISO-8859-1"
Content-transfer-encoding: quoted-printable

<HTML>
<HEAD>
<TITLE>African Drum Festival and Workshops at Kent Stage</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<B>Greetings,<BR>
<BR>
<FONT SIZE=3D"5"><FONT FACE=3D"Helvetica">WHO:  Standing Rock Cultural Art=
s and Brian Klempp<BR>
</FONT></FONT></B><FONT FACE=3D"Helvetica"><H2><BR>
WHAT:  African Drum and Dance Festival<BR>
</H2><B>-<FONT SIZE=3D"4">Fundraiser for Brian Klempp=B9s voyage to Mamady Keit=
a=B9s Drum Camp in the Republic of Guinea, Africa<BR>
</FONT><BR>
-DRUM WORKSHOPS<BR>
<BR>
- PERFORMANCES FEATURING SOGBETY DIOMONDE AND HIS WEST AFRICAN DRUM AND DAN=
CE COMPANY<BR>
<BR>
- HALIM EL-DABH <BR>
<BR>
- THE KENT AFRICAN DRUM COMMUNITY<BR>
<BR>
- GYPSY SOUL AND *STAR KIDS* TRIBAL BELLY DANCE TROUPE<BR>
</B><H2><BR>
WHEN:  Saturday, October 14,  1pm-11pm<BR>
</H2><B>-<FONT SIZE=3D"4"> 3 Drum Workshops from 1:00-5:00pm<BR>
</FONT>- <FONT SIZE=3D"4">Performances begin at</FONT> <FONT SIZE=3D"4">7:30pm<=
BR>
</FONT></B><H2><BR>
WHERE: The Kent Stage, 175 E. Main St., Downtown Kent<BR>
<BR>
COST: <BR>
</H2><H3>- Workshop: $20 per workshop<BR>
- Performances:  $10 General Admission, $8 Students/Seniors<BR>
- All Day Pass (covers workshops and performances) $60  <BR>
</H3><H2><BR>
CONTACT:  330-673-4970<BR>
<BR>
</H2><B>Anyone wishing to help sponsor Brian Klempp=B9s voyage to Africa, ple=
ase contact Jeff Ingram at info at standingrock.net or call 330-673-4970. &nbsp=
;Standing Rock Cultural Arts is a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization based i=
n Kent Ohio.  Donations are tax deductible and greatly appreciated.<BR>
</B><H2><BR>
</H2><H3>www.standingrock.net for updates<BR>
<BR>
</H3><B><U>BRIAN KLEMPP BIOGRAPHY<BR>
</U></B><H3><BR>
</H3></FONT><FONT FACE=3D"Times New Roman">    </FONT><FONT FA=
CE=3D"Times"><B>Brian Klempp is the founder and leader of the Kent Community R=
umba Society, a group that began as a class for children in 2002.  The =
Rumba Society now consists of 40 people from ages 6 to 70 and performs for f=
estivals and community events on a regular basis.  Brian teaches the me=
mbers of the group songs and rhythms of Africa, Cuba and Brazil.<BR>
<BR>
    Brian studied for two years with Baba David Coleman, fou=
nder and leader of Iroko, one of the first professional African drum and dan=
ce ensembles in Northeast Ohio.  He also studied with Dr. Kazadi wa Muk=
una, in the Ethnomusicology Department at Kent State University.  Brian=
 performed with and co-directed the Kent State University African Music Ense=
mble for several years.   He also counts Halim el Dahb, Sogbety Di=
omande, and Mamady Keita among his many teachers.  Brian has appeared o=
n several recordings including Muzki ki wa Afrika, a compilation of music fr=
om around the continent of Africa. <BR>
<BR>
    Brian has now been presented with an opportunity to atte=
nd a drum camp in Conakry Guinea with world renowned djembe master Mamady Ke=
ita. Mamady is the first percussionist to organize a drum and dance workshop=
 in collaboration with the Republic of Guinea=B9s Secretary of Arts & Cult=
ure. He opened his first camp in 1990. The camp was officially recognized as=
 an international cultural exchange in which 35 European students were hoste=
d by the Secretary of Arts & Culture in Conakry. Mamady has continued to=
 bring students to Guinea each year since. <BR>
<BR>
    In December 2006, Mamady Keita will host 28 intermediate=
 and advanced students from around the world in his home in the heartland of=
 djembe music for four weeks of intensive classes focusing on the musical tr=
aditions of the Mandingue people. The camp, which includes classes, lodging =
and meals, will provide Brian an occasion to further his own skills and deep=
en his knowledge of this ancient tradition.  Brian will use this experi=
ence to bring this tradition to his community in Kent, Ohio through performa=
nces and education. <BR>
<BR>
<U>MAMDY KEITA BIOGRAPHY<BR>
<BR>
</U>MAMADY KE=CFTA BIOGRAPHY <BR>
Mamady Ke=EFta was born in 1950 in Balandugu, Guinea, a village of Wassolon, =
near the F=E9 River. From when he was old enough to crawl, Mamady descended on=
 all the pots and pans in order to turn them over and beat on them.  Ve=
ry quickly he surprised everyone by his natural gifts. No one could believe =
their ears and they would ask themselves how such a small boy could draw suc=
h a sound from a drum. Mamady =B3Nankama=B2 (Mamady-who-was-born-for-that), and =
=B3Balandugudjina=B2 (the devil of Balandugu) are his two nicknames. He owed his=
 initiation into the history of the Mandeng and its music to Karinkadjan Kon=
d=E9, an old djembefola (djembe player) of his village. Curious about everythi=
ng, he would not rest until he knew, firstly all the rhythms of the Wassolon=
, then of the Mandeng and those of the neighboring ethnic groups. <BR>
<BR>
At the age of fourteen, Mamady Keita was selected by Sekou Tour=E9 to represe=
nt Guinea in the National Ballet =B3Djoliba.=B2  For over twenty years, Mam=
ady traveled around the world with Djoliba, only resting between tours for s=
hort periods in his native country. He was named lead djembe soloist only on=
e year after Djoliba was formed. At seventeen, the young drummer was cast in=
 a Harry Belafonte film titled Africa Dance. After 15 years in the Ballet Dj=
oliba, at the age of 29, Mamady became the Artistic Director and fulfilled t=
his function until 1986 when he left the Ballet for good; this was the first=
 time that a drummer was given the position of Artistic Director.<BR>
<BR>
By 1988 Mamady=B9s name began to travel beyond West Africa.  Mamady trav=
eled to Brussels to teach and perform at a school formed by the non-profit o=
rganization Zig Zag and established his own performance ensemble, Sewa Kan. =
  He also founded his own school of percussion called Tam Tam Mand=
ingue, =B3drums of the Manding.=B2  The school rapidly gained an internatio=
nal reputation and in just a few years he opened branches in Paris, Munich, =
Conakry, USA, Japan and Israel. Today there are eighteen Tam Tam Mandingue s=
chools around the world.<BR>
<BR>
In 1991, Mamady=B9s own life-story was put on the big screen in an award-winn=
ing documentary film titled =B3Djembefola, the Man Who Makes the Djembe Speak=B2=
. Directed by Laurent Chevallier, this film introduces Mamady Keita, the wor=
ld=B9s greatest djembe player and shares his magical and emotional journey bac=
k to his birth village of Balandugu, Guinea after a 26-year absence. Mamady =
hears from his older brother how the local soothsayer predicted Mamady=B9s des=
tiny when he was still in his mother=B9s womb. The film won several internatio=
nal awards and propelled the culture of the djembe around the world. <BR>
<BR>
Mamady has released numerous albums and travels extensively around the worl=
d teaching and performing. Mamady has co-written the book =B3Mamady Keita: A L=
ife for the Djembe=B2 (with Uschi Billimeier), which provides sixty rhythms no=
tated and an instructional CD with 21 rhythms included. It also gives histor=
ical and cultural information on the instruments and the rhythms themselves.=
  The book is regarded as the best reference on the djembe and traditio=
nal rhythms; it is on its fifth edition and available now in 4 languages (Ge=
rman, French, English and Japanese). <BR>
In 2004, Mamady moved to the United States and set up his school=B9s headquar=
ters in San Diego, California. At this time he also released his 9th album, =
Sila Laka, recorded live in Conakry as well as a new set of instructional DV=
D=B9s, titled =B3Les Rythmes du Mandingue=B2 Volumes I, II and III. With his move =
to the United States, Mamady also set up his own production company, called =
Djembefola Productions, which will allow him to manufacture and distribute p=
ast and future products around the world. Mamady continues to teach at his s=
chool in San Diego alongside his wife Monette Marino-Keita. Together they tr=
avel the world carrying out his mission to preserve the tradition and the mu=
sic of the djembe. <BR>
<BR>
Biography used with permission of Mamady Keita, June 2006. <BR>
Source: Tam Tam Mandingue USA.  http://www.ttmusa.org<BR>
<BR>
HALIM EL-DABH  BIOGRAPHY<BR>
<BR>
</B></FONT><B><FONT FACE=3D"Times New Roman">Halim El-Dabh<BR>
(b. Halim Abdul Messieh El-Dabh, Cairo, 4 March 1921)<BR>
<BR>
Composer, performer, ethnomusicologist, and educator Halim El-Dabh is inter=
nationally regarded as Egypt's foremost living composer of classical music, =
and one of the major composers of the twentieth century.  His numerous =
musical and dramatic works have been performed throughout Africa, Asia, Euro=
pe, and the Americas.  Among his compositions are eleven operas, four s=
ymphonies, numerous ballets, concertos, and orchestral pieces, works for ban=
d and chorus, film scores, incidental music for plays, chamber and electroni=
c works, music for jazz and rock band, works for young performers, and piece=
s for various combinations of African, Asian, and Western instruments. &nbsp=
;His extensive ethnomusicological researches, conducted on several continent=
s, have led to unique creative syntheses in his works, which, while utilizin=
g contemporary compositional techniques and new systems of notation, are fre=
quently imbued with Near Eastern, African, or ancient Egyptian aesthetics.<B=
R>
<BR>
Born into a musical family in Cairo, El-Dabh studied piano and <I>derabucca=
</I> (goblet-shaped ceramic drum), and began composing at an early age. &nbs=
p;Although trained for a career as an agricultural engineer, his musical tal=
ent and immersion in Egypt's cosmopolitan musical life (including village dr=
umming and local festivals, Arabic and European classical music, and the jaz=
z clubs of Alexandria) increasingly led him toward a life in music.  An=
 early introduction to contemporary music came in 1932, when the young El-Da=
bh was able to meet the composers B=E9la Bart=F3k and Paul Hindemith at an inter=
national music conference organized by King Fuad in Cairo.  By 1949 El-=
Dabh had gained such notoriety for his avant-garde compositions and piano pl=
aying--among both the general public and the royal family--that the cultural=
 attach=E9s of various nations began to invite him to pursue further musical s=
tudies in their countries.  El-Dabh chose to apply to study music in th=
e United States, and was one of only seven Egyptians (out of 500 applicants)=
 to receive a Fulbright grant in that year.<BR>
<BR>
Arriving in the United States in the summer of 1950 (and later acquiring U.=
S. citizenship), El-Dabh traveled to the Aspen Music Center in Colorado, whe=
re he met and assisted Igor Stravinsky.  After researching Native Ameri=
can music in New Mexico, he began studies with Aaron Copland and Irving Fine=
 at the Berkshire Music Center in Massachusetts.  Later, in New York's =
vibrant musical scene, he developed close associations with many prominent a=
nd like-minded figures in twentieth-century music, including Henry Cowell, J=
ohn Cage, Alan Hovhaness, Leonard Bernstein, Edgard Var=E8se, Otto Luening, Vl=
adimir Ussachevsky, Ernst K_enek, and Luigi Dallapiccola.  During the 1=
950s and =8C60s, El-Dabh was grouped with fellow composers Hovhaness, Lou Harr=
ison, Colin McPhee, Paul Bowles, and Peggy Glanville-Hicks, under the rubric=
 =B3Les Six d=B9Orient=B2 (the term coined by Glanville-Hicks), representing the v=
anguard of contemporary composers writing music inspired by musics of the Ea=
st.<BR>
<BR>
Having also achieved renown for his virtuoso <I>derabucca </I>playing, in 1=
958 El-Dabh played the solo part in the premiere of his <I>Fantasia-Tahmeel<=
/I> (for <I>derabucca</I> and strings), with the American Symphony Orchestra=
 under Leopold Stokowski.  Also in 1958, he began working closely with =
the great American choreographer Martha Graham, composing the epic opera-bal=
let <I>Clytemnestra</I> (1958), which is considered Graham=B9s masterpiece; he=
 eventually composed three more ballet scores for her.  El-Dabh=B9s orche=
stral/choral score for the light show at the pyramids of Giza has been playe=
d there each evening since 1961, and is probably his most frequently heard w=
ork.  His <I>Opera Flies</I> (1971) is the only opera to have been comp=
osed on the theme of the Kent State tragedy of May 1970.<BR>
<BR>
In addition to his compositional activity, El-Dabh has also conducted music=
al field research and recording throughout Egypt and Ethiopia, as well as in=
 Eritrea, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zaire, Central African Republic, N=
igeria, Ghana, Senegal, Gambia, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Morocco, Greece, Macedo=
nia, Uzbekistan, Brazil, Mexico, and Jamaica.  He has also studied the =
Native American cultures of the American Southwest and the African American =
cultures of the southeastern U.S.  El-Dabh is also considered an expert=
 on the subject of traditional Egyptian and African puppetry, and has helped=
 to present a number of such puppetry troupes in the United States.  Wh=
ile in Ethiopia (1962-64), he formed Orchestra Ethiopia, the first pan-Ethio=
pian performing group.<BR>
In his works, El-Dabh frequently draws on his Egyptian heritage, as in <I>M=
ekta' in the Art of Kita'</I> (1955), <I>The Eye of Horus</I> (1967), <I>Pta=
hmose and the Magic Spell</I> (1972), <I>Ramesses the Great (Symphony no. 9)=
</I> (1987), and many others.  He has created new systems of notation f=
or the <I>derabucca</I>, and has revived interest in ancient Egyptian langua=
ge and musical notation.  Many of his works from the 1960s on are also =
heavily influenced by West African traditional musics, such as <I>Black Epic=
</I> (1968) and <I>Kyrie for the Bishop of Ghana</I> (1968), and still other=
 works bear the influences of the musics of Ethiopia, Brazil, India, China, =
Japan, Korea, and other nations.<BR>
<BR>
Also a pioneer in the field of electronic music, El-Dabh began early sonic =
experiments with wire recorders at the Middle East Radio Station of Cairo in=
 1944.  In 1959 he was invited by Otto Luening and Vladimir Ussachevsky=
 to join the first group of composers at the newly set up Columbia-Princeton=
 Electronic Music Center in New York, where he created a number of significa=
nt works.  His <I>Leiyla and the Poet</I> (1959-61), recorded for Colum=
bia Masterworks in 1964, is considered a classic of the genre.  A long-=
awaited CD compilation of many of these pioneering electronic works, entitle=
d <I>Crossing Into the Electric Magnetic</I>, was released in 2001 by Withou=
t Fear Recordings.  In 2005,<BR>
El-Dabh was commissioned by the American Music Center's Siday Music on Hold=
 Program to compose a new electroacoustic work to be used for the American M=
usic Center's telephone system.<BR>
<BR>
El-Dabh's recent works include the ballet score <I>In the Valley of the Nil=
e</I> (1999), composed for the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Company; the piano=
 concerto <I>Surrr-Rah </I>(2000), written for pianist Tuyen Tonnu; and <I>O=
g=FAn:  Let Him, Let Her Have the Iron </I>(2001), for soprano and chambe=
r ensemble.  His most recent project, the opera/theater piece <I>Blue S=
ky Transmission:  A Tibetan Book of the Dead</I>, was presented in Sept=
ember 2002 in Cleveland, Ohio and in New York.<BR>
<BR>
El-Dabh has served on the faculty of Kent State University's School of Musi=
c since 1969, and has also taught at Haile Selassie I University in Ethiopia=
 (1962-64) and Howard University in Washington, D.C. (1966-69)  He is o=
ne of only eight Kent State University faculty members to hold the title of =
University Professor, Kent State's highest faculty distinction, and is a rec=
ipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award (1988).  Retiring in 1991, E=
meritus Professor El-Dabh continues to teach and compose prolifically, in ad=
dition to conducting workshops for children.  Presently, El-Dabh is an =
adjunct professor at Kent State University's Department of Pan-African Studi=
es, where he teaches a course entitled African Cultural Expression.  In=
 this course, students are immersed in and participate in a holistic experie=
nce of music, art, song, dance, and drama as it is found in the environment =
of a pristine African village (which El-Dabh experienced during his years of=
 living in villages while traveling throughout Africa).<BR>
<BR>
El-Dabh's music is published by C. F. Peters, and his works have been recor=
ded by the Columbia Masterworks, Folkways, Egyptian Ministry of Culture and =
National Guidance, Auricular, Pointless Music, Luna Bisonte, Zentrum f=FCr Kun=
st und Medientechnologie Karlsruhe, NCG, Without Fear, Tedium House (Bananaf=
ish), Association for Consciousness Exploration, and Innova labels.  Th=
ere are entries on El-Dabh in nearly all major musical reference works, and =
his work is discussed in books by Akin Euba, Ashenafi Kebede, Adel Kamel, Ga=
rdner Read, and others.  The first-ever biography of the composer, <I>T=
he Musical World of Halim El-Dabh</I>, by Kent State University professor De=
nise A. Seachrist, was published by the Kent State University Press in April=
 2003.<BR>
<BR>
El-Dabh holds degrees from Cairo University, the New England Conservatory o=
f Music, and Brandeis University.  He has served as a cultural and ethn=
omusicological consultant to the Smithsonian Institution=B9s Folklife Program =
(1974-1981), and his numerous grants and awards include two Guggenheim Fello=
wships (1959-60 and 1961-62), two Fulbright Fellowships (1950 and 1967), two=
 Rockefeller Fellowships (1961 and 2001), the Cleveland Arts Prize (1990), a=
 Meet-the-Composer grant (1999), and an Ohio Arts Council grant (2000). &nbs=
p;In May 2001 he received an honorary doctorate from Kent State University. =
 In 2001, the composer celebrated his eightieth birthday with a festiva=
l of his music, which included more than 15 concerts and lectures, both in t=
he U.S. and around the world.  In March 2002 he was invited to celebrat=
e his eighty-first birthday with a series of four concerts of his music at t=
he recently reconstructed Bibliotheca Alexandrina (Library of Alexandria) in=
 Alexandria, Egypt.<BR>
<BR>
In 2004, El-Dabh was honored by the Society for American Music with a panel=
 session and interview-recital at the organization's conference in Cleveland=
, Ohio.  In August 2005, El-Dabh was the keynote speaker at a symposium=
 dedicated to the late Nigerian composer Chief Fela Sowande at Churchill Col=
lege in Cambridge, England.  In September 2005, he was the featured per=
former and presenter at the Unyazi Festival of Electronic Music in Johannesb=
urg and Soweto, South Africa, the first festival of electronic music on the =
African continent.  In October 2005 he was the featured composer at a s=
ymposium on African and Asian music at the Central Conservatory of Music in =
Beijing, China.<BR>
<BR>
2006, his 85th year, will feature numerous performances of his music in the=
 United States, Egypt, and Europe, with a festival taking place at Kent Stat=
e University.  Email heldabhATyahoo.com for a full schedule or more inf=
ormation.<BR>
 <BR>
-- David Badagnani<BR>
</FONT></B><FONT SIZE=3D"2"><FONT FACE=3D"Times"><BR>
</FONT></FONT><FONT FACE=3D"Arial"><H3>SOGBETY DIOMANDE BIOGRAPHY:<BR>
</H3><B><BR>
Sogbety Diomande was born in the village of Toufinga, a smallfarming commun=
ity located in the Northwest region of the Ivory Coast near the border of Gu=
inea in Africa. He started his career as a drummer and dancer at a very earl=
y age. He trained as a stilt dancer with his uncle, Vado Diomande, the reign=
ing national stilt dancing champion. Sogbety has been stilt dancing since th=
e age of ten and possesses the ability, through his stilt mask, to act as a =
mediator between the world of the living and the spiritual world of the ance=
stors. Sogbety moved to Abidjan in 1990 to perform with Kotchegna, a dance c=
ompany led by his uncle Vado. There he met artists from the Ballet National =
de Cote d=B9 Ivoire and began to spread his name. <BR>
<BR>
In 1994 Sogbety was invited by the Ballet National to perform in North Amer=
ica at several large festivals. On this tour he played doundoun and djembe .=
 Sogbety moved to North America permanently in December of 1997 and found hi=
s niche in New York City. For the next three years he performed with the Mas=
k Dance Company led by Bley Zagae, the Kotchegna Dance Company led by his un=
cle Vado, Company Kobake led by Siakka Dosso, the Djoniba Dance Company, and=
 the 7th Principle led by Yaya Kamate, as well as with many other companies =
and artists. He found himself performing in venues such as S.O.B.=B9s, Pangia,=
 Symphony Space, Aaron Davis Hall, Lincoln Center, the Plaza Hotel, Museum o=
f Natural History, Brooklyn Academy of Music, and The Kitchen, where he shar=
ed the stage with Herbin (Tamango) Van Cayseele, one of the greatest tap art=
ists of today. <BR>
<BR>
In addition to his incredible performing schedule he also found time to acc=
ompany dance classes at Djoniba Dance and Drum School, Abizaid, New York Spo=
rts Club, and the Mariebass School, and held his own djembe class weekly at =
Djoniba. During the Spring and Summer of 2000 Sogbety was featured as the le=
ad djembe drummer on cult legend Jimmy Buffett=B9s No Passport Required tour. =
For most of 2001 Sogbety was a resident artist at Disney World in Orlando, F=
lorida. There he performed at Harambe African Village with Kobake, an impres=
sive Ivoirenne quartet. In February 2002 Sogbety was a featured artist in a =
tour of the Northwest showcasing mask culture in the Ivory Coast, where he d=
rummed to critical acclaim. During the next month he performed for the king =
of Cameroon. And during that same year he recorded with jazz pianist Joseph =
Diamond.<BR>
<BR>
Sogbety has been featured with Tokounou, a Guinean dance and drum company l=
ed by Sidiki Conde. With Tokounou Sogbety has traveled around the U.S. in ad=
dition to doing local clinics at various schools, which included a residency=
 at a school in the Bronx for disabled children where they encouraged the ch=
ildren to dance and play despite their disabilities. In August 2004 he perfo=
rmed with Kotchegna at the National Folk Festival in Bangor, Maine. In Octob=
er 2004 he was featured drum instructor alongside Mamady Keita, master drumm=
er from Guinea at Canaan Valley Resort in West Virginia. In Janurary 2005 So=
gbety performed with Kikombe Cha Umoja! in Pittsburgh at the Kelly-Strayhorn=
 Theater. In February he performed with Balafon West African Dance Ensemble =
at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Both of these shows were directed =
by Kadiatou Conte-Forte. <BR>
<BR>
The last weekend in February he participated as a performer and teacher at =
Drum Talk 2005! at the University of Pittsburgh along with Elie Kihonia, Jim=
 Donovan, and Mamady Keita. Sogbety=B9s most recent projects include forming h=
is own West African Drum and Dance Company, touring with Jim Donovan=B9s Drum =
the Ecstatic, and performing for schools and universities. In February of 20=
05 he formed his own troupe and performed for Black History events in Ohio. =
As a trio, he performed 13 shows for the Mansfield Summer Library Program. <=
BR>
<BR>
www.sonicbids.com/sogbety<BR>
</B></FONT><FONT SIZE=3D"2"><FONT FACE=3D"Times"><BR>
</FONT></FONT><FONT FACE=3D"Times"><BR>
    <BR>
     <BR>
</FONT><FONT FACE=3D"Helvetica"><H3>Thank you for supporting the Arts,<BR>
<BR>
Standing Rock Cultural Arts<BR>
257 N. Water St.<BR>
Kent, OH 44240<BR>
330-673-4970<BR>
</H3><FONT COLOR=3D"#0000FF"><B><U>info at standingrock.net<BR>
</U></B><U><H3><BR>
<BR>
</H3></U></FONT></FONT>
</BODY>
</HTML>


--MS_Mac_OE_3242117119_383004_MIME_Part--