Finger Lakes Community College will host a performance by Fana Bangoura’s African Drum and Dance Ensemble on Tuesday, April 11, at 1 p.m.
The event is free and open to the public in the main campus auditorium. It will also be broadcast live on Finger Lakes TV, the public access station based at the college. Finger Lakes TV is available on Spectrum channel 1304, Roku, fingerlakestv.org and the college’s main YouTube and Facebook accounts.
Rochester’s only Pan African performing group, Fana Bangoura’s African Drum and Dance Ensemble features musicians and dancers from Guinea, Ghana, the Congo, the Ivory Coast, and the United States.
The group’s drummers bring audiences the vibrant rhythms of West Africa’s iconic djembe hand drum, supported by a trio of drums known as dunun, sangban, and kenkeni. Dancers embody the evolving creative spirit of Africa and the African diaspora.
Under the leadership of artistic director Kerfala “Fana” Bangoura, the performances weave drumming sequences together with high-energy dance. Bangoura, a long-time member of Guinea’s most prestigious national performing groups, Les Ballets Africains and Les Percussions de Guinée, was named master drummer by Guinea’s Ministry of Culture in 2008.
Formerly based in Portland, Fana moved to Rochester in September 2011. He currently teaches drumming and dance classes at the University of Rochester, as well as community drumming and dance classes for the greater Rochester community.
The event is part of the History, Culture and Diversity Series organized by Robert Brown, FLCC professor of history. For information, email to [email protected].
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