Press Release
For immediate release
Contact Toni Shapiro-Phim: 215.726.1106 or toni@folkloreproject.org
The Philadelphia Folklore Project presents two concerts:
AFRICAN SONG/NEW CONTEXTS
Featuring LIBERIAN AND SOUTH AFRICAN SONG with renowned jazz artists
January 3, 2007. Philadelphia, PA - The Philadelphia Folklore Project presents three remarkable African voices, in two concerts: one special evening of local artists sharing great music, both traditional and innovative, on Saturday, April 21, 2007 at 7:00 PM (special family concert) and 9:00 PM at World Cafe Live, 3025 Walnut Street, Philadelphia. Featured are Liberian singer Fatu Gayflor, renowned as a performer and recording artist throughout West Africa and the African diaspora, Zaye Tete, singer and dancer also formerly of Liberia's National Cultural Troupe, and Mogauwane Mahloele, award-winning South African singer, songwriter and instrumentalist, in a new collaboration with local jazz musicians Bobby Zankel and D. Hotep. .
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To listen to these musicians, visit our artists' pages for Fatu, Mogauwane and Zaye.
A singular evening highlighting immigrant artists of exceptional talent, these two concerts offer a glimpse of the ways in which music can foster connections and continuity as it responds to and helps shape the drastic transformations that people and communities experience. As the Philadelphia Folklore Project's Associate Director, Toni Shapiro-Phim, explains, "Liberia's devastating civil strife in the late 20th century had an enormous impact on the cultural life of the country. In both refugee camps in neighboring West African countries, where so many sought sanctuary from war, and here in the United States, Liberians have purposefully created opportunities to engage in time-honored cultural practices, including music. When Liberian emigres in Philadelphia and beyond ask Fatu Gayflor or Zaye Tete to perform at wedding, graduation, and other celebrations, they are doing what they perhaps couldn't imagine NOT doing - continuing artistic traditions that are still meaningful to them, even as the meanings evolve in these new surroundings." Mogauwane Mahloele, for his part, says that he "hears new sounds, new musical possibilities in my head, growing from the traditions I brought with me" in his adopted home of the United States. South African instruments and languages combine in new ways in his compositions and performances, reflecting an integration of tradition with innovative shifts stemming from both traumatic and fortuitous changes in his life.
Fatu Gayflor, renowned in her native country as the "Voice of Liberia," has been singing and dancing in celebratory, theatrical, and ritual contexts in Liberia and elsewhere in West Africa, and here in the U.S., for more than thirty years. A popular recording artist as well, Gayflor was a lead singer and a dancer in Liberia's National Cultural Troupe. In addition to performing at Liberian events in this region, she works with students at the African Cultural Alliance in Philadelphia. At the concerts, Gayflor will perform graduation, wedding and other ritual songs.
Zaye Tete, also a member of Liberia's National Cultural Troupe where she toured as a singer and dancer, has been in the U.S. just under three years. In the refugee camp in the Ivory Coast where she lived for a decade, she organized and directed a music and dance troupe among the Liberians in exile. She teaches singing to Liberian youth in Philadelphia, and will perform praise songs and laments at our concerts, accompanied by percussionists and additional vocalists.
Mogauwane Mahloele is both a solo artist and the artistic director of a new ensemble that includes local jazz greats saxophonist Bobby Zankel and guitarist D. Hotep. (Mahloele, and Zankel have each been awarded a prestigious Pew Fellowship in the Arts, among other honors.) Mahloele grew up during the era of the racist apartheid regime in South Africa. Through music he struggled to see that system dismantled. Eventually, because of imminent threat of imprisonment, he went into exile in Europe, and then moved to the U.S. He is accomplished in the creation and playing of drums, mouth harps, kalimbas, flutes, sekeres and bowed instruments, and has toured Europe, Africa, Asia and the U.S.
This event is part of the Musicians-in-Residence artist residency and development program, organized by the Philadelphia Folklore Project, a 20-year-old non-profit urban arts agency committed to sustaining local community-based folk arts and culture. The Philadelphia Folklore Project affirms the human right to cultural expression and works to protect the rights of people to know and practice traditional and community-based arts. PFP offers public education in the folk arts, develops community projects and documentary resources, and organizes around issues of concern in the field of folk and traditional arts.
African Song/New Contexts is made possible by support from the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great arts, the Philadelphia Music Project (funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts and administered by the University of the Arts), the Humanities-and-the-Arts Initiative, administered by the Pennsylvania Humanities Council and funded principally by the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and by Philadelphia Folklore Project members.
African Song/New Contexts - Fatu Gayflor, Zaye Tete, and Mogauwane Mahloele in concert. Saturday, April 21st, in a one-hour family concert at 7:00 PM and an all-ages show at 9:00 PM, at World Cafe Live, 3025 Walnut Street, Philadelphia.
Tickets: 7:00 pm show (1 hour family show): $12 general admission ($10 for PFP members); $7 (students/seniors); $16 special reserved VIP seating. 9:00 pm show: $20 general admission ($17 for PFP members), $15 (students/seniors), $25 special reserved VIP seating. Tickets available through April 20 online at our secure site, at our office (with a check or money order mailed to PFP, 735 S. 50th St., Phila., PA 19143). On the day of the event, any remaining tickets may be purchased only through the World Cafe box office (3025 Walnut Street) or website (tickets.worldcafelive.com). Call PFP for more information: 215.726.1106).
Photographs and additional information (including expanded artist bios) available for press: please contact Toni Shapiro-Phim: 215-726-1106; toni@folkloreproject.org.
For high resolution photographs:
