Riverfolk project continues The Journey

The Pan African Youth Orchestra (courtesy the PAYO Facebook page)

This week’s inspirational video from the Pan African Youth Orchestra (PAYO), The Journey: The Music, can be found at https://youtu.be/mUkVX6zZiAA. The clip contains segments from three different concerts, sharing some of the classical sounds of Ghanan/African music with audiences who may or may not be familiar with their particular style.

The first was from MASA 2020, played in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. The performance was held in a very large outdoor auditorium, for an audience of students, most of whom had likely not heard much of this kind of traditional African music. The segment from FELABRATION 2019 held in Freedom Park, Victoria Island, Nigeria, celebrated the late Fela Kuti, one of Nigeria’s most famous musicians and activists. This was an evening performance at a large festival,  featuring a call and response vocal style.

The last, a Collaboration with Accra Symphony Orchestra, leads to the upcoming collaboration that PAYO currently is working on with Riverfolk. PAYO director Kweku Kwakye explains, “Through collaborations, workshops, and lecture performances, Pan African Youth Orchestra has raised an interest in neoclassical African music (both) locally and internationally.”

In this performance, Kwakye is conducting his young students (those not reading music and playing traditional African instruments) together with the adults of the Accra Symphony (those reading music and playing “Western classical” instruments such as strings, brass and woodwinds).

It is hoped that viewing these video clips will inspire Manchester audiences to create varied works of art, music or written essays/poetry/thoughts inspired by listening and viewing these videos. All works will become part of a compilation that will be gifted to the PAYO. It will also become a  treasured community publication that will showcase our shared project. This week features The Journey: The Music.

Send copies of your inspired works to Riverfolk Music and Arts at PO Box 146, Manchester, MI 48158 or by email to riverfolkmusicandarts@gmail.com. Accepted formats include photocopy, or if sending electronically PDF, JPG, MP4, PNG. Shared via google drive or dropbox is also acceptable.

And don’t forget to register for the upcoming PAYO “Blacksmith Shop” concert — Saturday, February 27 — on Crowdcast. https://www.crowdcast.io/e/blacksmith-shop-concerts-9 Sliding-scale tickets are available.

This project is sponsored by Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs, the National Endowment for the Arts, Arts Midwest, Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation.

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by Marsha Chartrand

Marsha Johnson Chartrand, a founder, writer, and copy editor with the Manchester Mirror, is a 50-year resident of Manchester. She has a long history of volunteer and community involvement.