Global Harmonies: Music of Africa at Hoff-Barthelson Music School

Hoff-Barthelson Music School Explores the Music of Senegal and the Congo

4^th Annual Concert in the Global Harmonies Series Music from Around the World

Ngor Hallow and Nkumu Isaac Kataly perform Music of Africa on October 4

Explore the unique melodies, harmonies, rhythms, instruments and dances of Africa at Music of Africa, part of Hoff-Barthelson Music School’s Global Harmonies Series, Music from Around the World, on Sunday, October 4, 2015, at 2:00 p.m. at the Music School, 25 School Lane, Scarsdale, New York. Now in its fourth year, this annual event will take us to Senegal and the Congo for an imaginative performance featuring music, dance and storytelling indigenous to these artistically rich African countries. The program, free of charge, is open to the public.

Ngor Jallow and Nkumu Isaac Kataly, of Education in Dance and the Related Arts, will perform on, and demonstrate several instruments native to Africa including the kora, a 21-string lute-bridge harp, the mbira or kalimba, commonly known as the thumb piano, as well as the djembe, ngoma and cajón drums. Audience members will be offered the opportunity to participate in some simple African dances and call and response songs.

About Global Harmonies:
Music, the connective tissue of melody, harmony and rhythm, acknowledges our individuality, celebrates our diversity, and has the power to inspire global understanding. Over the course of this annual concert series, musical traditions of every country and culture will be represented, creating a colorful mosaic of sound that touches the human spirit and unifies our journey on this planet.

About the performers:
Ngor Jallow is a master drummer and dancer from Dakar, Senegal in West Africa, and has also lived in Gambia and Mauritania. He speaks Arabic, Bambara, English, French, Fulani, Coroboro and Wolof and has trained in the diverse styles of dance and music from West Africa since he was 15 years old. He has performed and toured with Les Ballet D’Afrique Noir, and performed in national concerts held in Dakar including concerts for Nelson Mandela and the Miss Europe contest. Ngor has appeared in several music videos with Senegalese popular musicians, as well as with various renowned musicians including Kine Lam and the band Super Diamono.

Ngor teaches in a number of schools with Education in Dance, as well as individual classes at the Loft Dance Center in Yonkers, Create Bronx Community Center, Bronx Community School for the Disabled and the Harlem YMCA. In addition, he has performed at Lincoln Center – Out of Doors, WTC, Schomburg Center for Black History and Culture, and annually at Dance Africa at BAM, The Ocean Rhythm Festival, and with the Boussou Dance Company.

Born in Kinshasa, the capital city of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nkumu Isaac Kataly moved to New York City in 1996 to pursue his passion for music and International Criminal Justice. To Isaac, “musical notes or beats are pieces of cultures residing within the realm of sound, and the ensemble of their interactions makes music.” While he mainly represents Congolese music and culture, his style is a hybrid of various genres reflecting also the global culture. In 2011, he founded CONTEMPTRA, a dance class concept that combines Congolese contemporary and traditional dances, and also worked with Corinne Robledo aka Eto “Mabina” Tsana, founder of Mabina Banafrica Dance Company.

Isaac Kataly and the Life Long Project Band, in collaboration with other talented artists from various African backgrounds, have presented at the Apollo Theater, Manhattan Center, Prospect Park Summer Stage, St. Nick’s Pub, the Schaumburg Library, Dickson’s place, and in various prestigious Universities throughout the United States.

About Hoff-Barthelson Music School:
One of Westchester County’s most cherished and active cultural resources, Hoff-Barthelson Music School has achieved national recognition as a premier community music school for its unsurpassed leadership in education, performance and outreach for more than half a century.

About Education in Dance and the Related Arts:
Education In Dance and the Related Arts is an integrated arts enrichment program which provides a meaningful introduction and foundation in the arts for lifetime enhancement, teaching pre-school through high school students of all populations in over sixty public and private schools throughout the New York Metropolitan Area.

This program is made possible, in part, by ArtsWestchester with support from Westchester County Government, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.