JumbieRecords

Saakumu brings Ghanaian dance to New York

The Saakumu Dance Troupe, which is based in Accra, Ghana and is lead by Jumbie partner Bernard Woma just had a great performance at the Players Theatre in New York City. It was a wonderful show, and a rare chance to see this range of music and dance from different regions of Ghana. Here is a YouTube clip of their performance of Nmani, a traditional wedding piece from the Dabomba people.

Press round-up of Saakumu tour

There have been many articles written about the Saakumu Dance Troupe tour. Here are links galore:

Ghana grooves

Photos of Black History Month Event (February 22, 2008)

It takes a village: Trips to Ghana shape professor's philosophy

A video of Saakumu

Saakumu dance troupe visits Rondo

The rhythm of a people

Ghanaian dance troupe pays a visit to their Minnesotan 'family'

Saakumu Dance Troupe performs at Fredonia school

I've been dying to hear about the Saakumu Dance Troupe tour. This is the first time Bernard Woma's Ghana-based group has visited the United States- congrats!

A blogger named Deier has written this about Bernard:

The leader of this group is my dear friend, professor, and peer, Bernard Woma who is my Ghana-father. Without him my experience possibly could've been as memorable but not quite as much enjoyable. He makes things happen. Upon returning to my school, I visited the International Education Chairperson and with her help, and the help of Bernard, I organized my next trip to Ghana however this time I wouldn't be traveling solo. Following an academic year of not only schooling, but budgeting, financing, advertising, trip planning, leading, and following, I led a group of 13 students and one 70 yr old woman to Ghana in 2007 for 26 days. My intentions were not only to return to a place that I had grown to love so much that previous year, but to share with others the wonderful things I had experienced. Most importantly, this included my love for the people.

For more, click here.

Also, UticaOD.com has posted videos and photos of the recent Saakumu show. For more, click "Students get into beat of African culture." Here's some screen grabs from their video:

by Mark Stone
from Jumbie Journal, July 2006

Jumbie Partner, Bernard Woma's Dagara Music Centre is busier than ever this summer. Bernard headed straight to Ghana as soon as AXF2 and his classes at Fredonia University were complete. When he arrived in Ghana he already had students from the U.S. waiting for him. Students from Bowling Green State University, Ithaca College, Concordia College, Berklee College of Music, Louis and Clark College, and the University of Arizona have all studied at the Dagara Music Center this year. At the center they learn various forms of traditional drumming, dancing, and xylophone music as well as kente weaving, batik and tie and dye making, drum making and blacksmithing.

The Dagara Music Centre, located in Medie, Ghana (a suburb of the capital city, Accra) was recently designated as an official tourist destination by Ghana's Ministry of Tourism. Bernard established the centre in 1999 to promote and popularize Ghanaian traditional music, especially the Dagara gyil (Ghanaian xylophone). Bernard personally supervises all teaching along with his staff of talented musicians, dancers, and visual artists.       

The center is also the home of the award winning Dagara Dance troupe, one of the leading traditional music and dance groups of Ghana. The troupe has many performance scheduled in Ghana this summer including a concert at the home of the US Ambassador to Ghana. The Dagara Dance Troupe is also preparing to record a DVD that is to be released by the end of the year. The group's repertoire includes a range of spiritual, ceremonial, and recreational genres. Their music and dance is joyful, expressive and highly participatory.

by David Rogers       

from Jumbie Journal, April 2005

For the second year, Jumbie Records has joined with our artists to support xylophone traditions in northwest Ghana by sponsoring the Fielmuo Kukur Bagr Festival. The festival, in the northwest region of the country, provides competitions to develop the next generation of gyil players and dancers in the Dagara community there.

The festival was initiated in December 2001 by the local chiefs and the Fielmuo Area Development Association (FADA) as a harvest festival to support economic development in the region. This kind of community event is popular in Ghana as a forum to meet with government and appeal for development projects in a local area.

Jumbie artist Bernard Woma is a native of Fielmuo and member of FADA, as well as the solo xylophonist and master drummer of Ghana's National Dance Company. He appealed to FADA to add a cultural component to the new festival, in order to support traditional music and culture in the region. With Jumbie sponsorship, the festival expanded to 3 days to incorporate a cultural mission.

On the first day chiefs and local government officials meet to discuss development goals for the area. On the second day, parliamentarians and regional ministers are invited to speak to the community about their plans to improve living conditions for the district-which is fighting to attract electricity and a secondary school. On the third day, cultural competitions attract young area groups to perform bewaa and binne styles of xylophone music as well as kaare, a women's style of singing and dance. (Click here to see photos)

"This is so important that we have this festival to make sure that these traditions continue," says Bernard Woma. "The influence of other cultures around us is making people lose the sense of their own traditional music and culture. I grew up in this area. We used to go out and play xylophone in the moonlight as kids. Now, as the electricity and television are coming, people are turning to the information age and forgetting their own culture. Are they going to hold onto these things?"

With the help of the Fielmuo Kukur Bagr Festival, Woma hopes that they will hold on to them. The festival provides a forum where people can come and practice the Dagara music of bewaa and binne and compete for prizes. Once given an incentive to perform, Woma says his people have shown they will spend time practicing music they might otherwise be forgetting. The Jumbie sponsorship pays for construction of a new xylophone as the top prize, and cash prizes for other competing groups. Woma is thrilled by the response in the first two years of the cultural festival and now wants to use it to re-introduce games that youth and older people used to enjoy in his community.

In December 2003, Woma attended the festival with his own Dagara Dance Troupe, and with Mark Stone, a co-founder of Jumbie Records. Woma spoke to the festival attendees about his passion for continuing their musical traditions and the importance of involving the youth. "This is your tradition!" he told them.

Woma also spoke of the promise of cultural tourism for the Fielmuo area. "There is no tourist potential in this area," he told the crowd gathered in this remote rural region far from the beaches of the capital. "The only thing people will come here to see is the amazing culture of our people. The xylophone is our gold. If we can promote it, tourists will like to come and see our music, and will help with the development we want for our lives."

Click here to see photos of the 2003 Fielmuo Kukur Bagr Festival in northwest Ghana.

Saakumu spreads the Ghana beat

I've been dying to hear about the Saakumu Dance Troupe tour. This is the first time Bernard Woma's Ghana-based group has visited the United States- congrats!

A blogger named Deier has written this about Bernard:

The leader of this group is my dear friend, professor, and peer, Bernard Woma who is my Ghana-father. Without him my experience possibly could've been as memorable but not quite as much enjoyable. He makes things happen. Upon returning to my school, I visited the International Education Chairperson and with her help, and the help of Bernard, I organized my next trip to Ghana however this time I wouldn't be traveling solo. Following an academic year of not only schooling, but budgeting, financing, advertising, trip planning, leading, and following, I led a group of 13 students and one 70 yr old woman to Ghana in 2007 for 26 days. My intentions were not only to return to a place that I had grown to love so much that previous year, but to share with others the wonderful things I had experienced. Most importantly, this included my love for the people.

For more, click here.

Also, UticaOD.com has posted videos and photos of the recent Saakumu show. For more, click "Students get into beat of African culture." Here's some screen grabs from their video:

Dagara Music Centre Recognized by Ghanaian Ministry of Tourism

by Mark Stone
from Jumbie Journal, July 2006

Jumbie Partner, Bernard Woma's Dagara Music Centre is busier than ever this summer. Bernard headed straight to Ghana as soon as AXF2 and his classes at Fredonia University were complete. When he arrived in Ghana he already had students from the U.S. waiting for him. Students from Bowling Green State University, Ithaca College, Concordia College, Berklee College of Music, Louis and Clark College, and the University of Arizona have all studied at the Dagara Music Center this year. At the center they learn various forms of traditional drumming, dancing, and xylophone music as well as kente weaving, batik and tie and dye making, drum making and blacksmithing.

The Dagara Music Centre, located in Medie, Ghana (a suburb of the capital city, Accra) was recently designated as an official tourist destination by Ghana's Ministry of Tourism. Bernard established the centre in 1999 to promote and popularize Ghanaian traditional music, especially the Dagara gyil (Ghanaian xylophone). Bernard personally supervises all teaching along with his staff of talented musicians, dancers, and visual artists.       

The center is also the home of the award winning Dagara Dance troupe, one of the leading traditional music and dance groups of Ghana. The troupe has many performance scheduled in Ghana this summer including a concert at the home of the US Ambassador to Ghana. The Dagara Dance Troupe is also preparing to record a DVD that is to be released by the end of the year. The group's repertoire includes a range of spiritual, ceremonial, and recreational genres. Their music and dance is joyful, expressive and highly participatory.

Jumbie Supporting Xylophone Traditions at Ghana's Fielmuo Kukur Bagr Festival

by David Rogers       

from Jumbie Journal, April 2005

For the second year, Jumbie Records has joined with our artists to support xylophone traditions in northwest Ghana by sponsoring the Fielmuo Kukur Bagr Festival. The festival, in the northwest region of the country, provides competitions to develop the next generation of gyil players and dancers in the Dagara community there.

The festival was initiated in December 2001 by the local chiefs and the Fielmuo Area Development Association (FADA) as a harvest festival to support economic development in the region. This kind of community event is popular in Ghana as a forum to meet with government and appeal for development projects in a local area.

Jumbie artist Bernard Woma is a native of Fielmuo and member of FADA, as well as the solo xylophonist and master drummer of Ghana's National Dance Company. He appealed to FADA to add a cultural component to the new festival, in order to support traditional music and culture in the region. With Jumbie sponsorship, the festival expanded to 3 days to incorporate a cultural mission.

On the first day chiefs and local government officials meet to discuss development goals for the area. On the second day, parliamentarians and regional ministers are invited to speak to the community about their plans to improve living conditions for the district-which is fighting to attract electricity and a secondary school. On the third day, cultural competitions attract young area groups to perform bewaa and binne styles of xylophone music as well as kaare, a women's style of singing and dance. (Click here to see photos)

"This is so important that we have this festival to make sure that these traditions continue," says Bernard Woma. "The influence of other cultures around us is making people lose the sense of their own traditional music and culture. I grew up in this area. We used to go out and play xylophone in the moonlight as kids. Now, as the electricity and television are coming, people are turning to the information age and forgetting their own culture. Are they going to hold onto these things?"

With the help of the Fielmuo Kukur Bagr Festival, Woma hopes that they will hold on to them. The festival provides a forum where people can come and practice the Dagara music of bewaa and binne and compete for prizes. Once given an incentive to perform, Woma says his people have shown they will spend time practicing music they might otherwise be forgetting. The Jumbie sponsorship pays for construction of a new xylophone as the top prize, and cash prizes for other competing groups. Woma is thrilled by the response in the first two years of the cultural festival and now wants to use it to re-introduce games that youth and older people used to enjoy in his community.

In December 2003, Woma attended the festival with his own Dagara Dance Troupe, and with Mark Stone, a co-founder of Jumbie Records. Woma spoke to the festival attendees about his passion for continuing their musical traditions and the importance of involving the youth. "This is your tradition!" he told them.

Woma also spoke of the promise of cultural tourism for the Fielmuo area. "There is no tourist potential in this area," he told the crowd gathered in this remote rural region far from the beaches of the capital. "The only thing people will come here to see is the amazing culture of our people. The xylophone is our gold. If we can promote it, tourists will like to come and see our music, and will help with the development we want for our lives."

Click here to see photos of the 2003 Fielmuo Kukur Bagr Festival in northwest Ghana.