Boom! On Saturday, March 29, St. Louis’ own West African dance troupe Afriky Lolo will join percussion members from the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra for one combustible concert.
Explosions: A Festival of Percussion3 will feature both groups at the Anheuser-Busch Performance Hall in the Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center (8001 Natural Bridge Rd.) on the University of Missouri-St Louis’ campus.
“Can you imagine music made by just clicking pieces of wood together?” asked Tom Stubbs, percussionist for the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. Stubbs, who will be performing in the concert, is a percussion teacher at Saint Louis University.
“It’s an interesting use of percussion,” Stubbs said about the instruments for the festival.
“Explosions” completes the 2007-2008 FUSION series sponsored by Centene. In the first part of the program, members of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra will perform two works by Stephen Reich, “Music for Pieces of Wood” (1973) and “Sextet” (1984).
“He’s a modern and influential composer,” said Rachel Queen, Marketing Directing of Touhill. “These pieces were inspired by Reich’s trip to Ghana in the ’70s.”
“They put you in a dream state when you listen to them,” said Stubbs. “They’re challenging to play and rhythmic in structure.”
The second half of the performance features Afriky Lolo, a West African dance troupe founded by Diadié Bathily (pronounced JAH-jay bah-chee-LEE) in 2003. Bathily is the recipient of the N’gowa Prize for “Best Dancer and Dance Teacher of the Year” in the C?te d’Ivoire in West Africa. Afriky Lolo travels around the country to give workshops and benefit performances, and worked as a guest choreographer in 2002 and 2005 at Washington University. The group is committed to bringing West African dance and culture through teaching and performing.
“This is nothing [students] have experienced before,” said Queen. “It’s classical, with a modern flair.”
Student-discounted tickets are available for $10. The discounted tickets are available online at touhill.org, using the promo code 1189. This price is available now through opening night.
