African Percussion Group to Perform

Betsy Goolian

November 2008

Don’t miss the Biakuye Percussion Ensemble who will perform at Stamps Auditorium in the Walgreen Center on Monday, November 24, 8:00 p.m. Among the Akan people of Ghana, West Africa, “biakuye” means unity. Formed in 1993 by Mark Stone, a performer of global melodic percussion, the group brings American and African members together to perform music that unites the cool sound of American jazz vibraphone, drum-set, and electric bass with the richness of African marimba, kalimba, and hand drums. The group's original compositions and arrangements draw on a wealth of American and African melodic-percussion traditions including the Ghanaian gyil, Ugandan embaire, South African kalimba, Guatemalan marimba, and United States vibraphone. Biakuye includes master Ghanaian drummer Kofi Ameyaw, virtuoso American percussionist Roger Braun, and dynamic Senegalese bass player Issa Sall.