Cul­tural berth at the con­flu­ence of three rivers

From TRJE to TRIAAC a birthing and a berth

TRIAAC is an acronym for the Three Rivers Insti­tute of Afrikan Art & Cul­ture, tak­ing its name from its loca­tion at the junc­tion of three his­tor­i­cally sig­nif­i­cant rivers—the St. Marys, St. Joseph, and Maumee that were essen­tial trade routes in the lives of the Miami nation from the 1600s to 1794.

The Three Rivers Jenbé Ensem­ble (TRJE) was estab­lished in 1999 to give 6–18-year-olds a chance to dis­cover Afrika through drum and dance. We have focused on the Mande-speaking peo­ple of West Afrika as the source of our inspi­ra­tion, using the back­story of the Sun­jata epic and its extended fam­ily for­ma­tion as prin­ci­pal for our com­mu­nity engagement.

Inspired by our young people’s acqui­si­tion of indi­vid­ual skills and ensem­ble work and respon­si­bil­ity TRJE is able to lift their self-esteem, spur their con­scious iden­tity with Afrika, and cul­ti­vate for them roots of extended fam­ily. Our first six years were nur­tured at the lit­eral junc­tion of the three rivers as stu­dents of learned Mandé mas­ter artists and folk­lorists; thus our identity.

TRIAAC is now home to the Jenbe Ensem­ble (TRJE), Mande Music School, Vis­it­ing Artist Forum, Acoustic Spo­ken­Word Cafe, and A Breath of Afrika Cul­tural Arts Fes­ti­val. The drum­ming, dance, and song of the Mandé-speaking peo­ple of Guinea, West Afrika is our focus for TRJE and the Mande Music School. Here young peo­ple learn within a tra­di­tional frame of Afrikan Amer­i­can elder-youth relations.

Adult drum­ming occurs weekly in a 7-week rotat­ing work­shop. The Acoustic Spo­ken­Word Cafe gives adults an invit­ing forum for pre­sen­ta­tion, song, acoustic music, and the expres­sion of ideas. The Vis­it­ing Artist Forum pro­vides short and long-term res­i­den­cies for Afrikan and Dias­pora artists and edu­ca­tors to exchange with both youth and adults.

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