Local AfroPop Sex­tet to back Bolokada

Six of the Sum­mit City’s most accom­plished musi­cians will back vis­it­ing artist Moussa Bolokada Conde when he per­forms in con­cert on Sat­ur­day, Octo­ber 29, 7:30PM. The FREE con­cert is in the Auer Per­for­mance Hall, at IPFW’s Rhine­hart Music Center.

Bolokada will per­form with the Sum­mit City AfroPop Sex­tet, fea­tur­ing Abass Camara on vocals, and the tra­di­tional Malinké dunun drums and bolon; Jim Steele on key­boards, Clif Wal­lace on drums, and Brian Derek on bass round­ing out the rhythm sec­tion. Bring­ing the melody are Phil Shurger on gui­tar and Matt Cash­dol­lar on sax. 

AfroPop is a catchall term encom­pass­ing the rich vari­ety of con­tem­po­rary African music styles—typically urban, elec­tric dance music. As each of Africa’s 54 coun­tries lays claim to dozens of dis­tinct lan­guages and musi­cal tra­di­tions, Afro-Pop is a blan­ket descrip­tion of the continent’s many diverse styles, from Alger­ian rai to Sene­galese mbalax to East African taarab.

Camara who arranged the music with the local sex­tet, said he and Bolokada want to show the pop­u­lar Guinea AfroPop and how it is con­nected to the jenbé and dunun tra­di­tion. Con­cert selec­tions will include the music of Salif Kéita, Sek­ouba Bam­bino, Ibro Dia­baté, and Ker­fala Kanté, among oth­ers. Work­ing with these accom­plished play­ers, “This promises to be an evening of tra­di­tion and eclec­tic con­tem­po­rary AfroPop not to be missed,” said Oladuwa.

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