The Centre for Sound Communities Blog
Please join us in attending the Global Musics Local Connections Dance Workshops. Centre for Sound Communities, CBU & McConnell Library, 50 Falmouth Street, Sydney, Nova Scotia. (Beginning March 16, continuing on March 22 and 23.)
Dear Colleagues, Friends, Please note that world-renowned Malian musician Lassana Diabate will be returning to Sydney next week for a series of presentations. I have included his itinerary below. It includes some intercultural music-making and performances, lecture-demonstrations, a film screening, and workshops including one for music educators. Please share the news of Lassana’s visit and these…
Please join us in attending the Global Musics Local Connections Film Festival. McConnell Library, 50 Falmouth Street, Sydney, Nova Scotia. Tuesday and Thursday 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm. February 28 –The Sunjata Story: Glimpse of a Mande Epic The life of Sunjata Keita, the prince who founded West Africa’s greatest empire almost 800 years ago,…
Fodé Lassana Diabaté is a virtuoso balafon player who comes from Guinea, where the balafon originates. The balafon as an instrument played by griotsdates back at least to the 13th Century. Lassana began playing balafon at the age of five at home in Conakry with his father, Djelisory Diabaté, a master balafon player, from Kindia. Lassana makes his own balafons out of the…
This interview and recital was shot in September 2015 at Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota, where Kassé Mady Diabaté performed with his group composed of his cousin, Lansiné Kouyaté(balafon), Badjè Tounkara(nkoni) and Balaké Sissoko(Kora), all jaliw or Mande oral artists. This exchange illustrates the process by which they change the repertoire they inherit from their forebears and…
The digital interns engaged in three poetry exercises today in anticipation of creating an online poetry archive. For the last project of the morning, the interns used digital photographs of different locations around Cape Breton University that they had taken the previous day, while learning how to use the photography app of iPads from the…
Today our ten digital interns began their orientation at the Centre for Sound Communities. We would like to congratulate and thank them for being a part of this project. We are really looking forward to getting started with such a great team! The orientation began with a warm welcome for our interns, an overview of…
Rapper and motivational speaker Donovan Shirt from Edmonton, Alberta, was recently spotted performing a traditional Cree dance on a moving escalator! Donovan participated as part of Singing Storytellers in October 2014 in Cape Breton.
I’m thrilled to be participating in the International Council for Traditional Music World Conference that opened today in Astana, Kazakhstan at the Kazakh National University of Arts! I’m here with more than 400 delegates from over 100 countries, sharing research and engaging in exciting discussions about music and culture from around the world. We began our first day, welcomed by Kazakhstan’s Deputy Prime…
It’s been a wonderful first day at the International Council for Traditional Music World Conference in Astana, Kazakhstan at the Kazakh National University of Arts!