Pine Lake City Arts is hosting a wonderful, world class African
singing workshop this weekend. Please come join us!
Info below.
Questions? Call/email Elise (404) 297-8398
PAN-AFRICAN SINGING WORKSHOPS
with FRED ONOVWEROSUOKE, ABLAWA REINE & EBENEZER ALLOTEY
presented by City Arts of Pine Lake GA
City Arts of Pine Lake GA is thrilled to announce 2 workshops with
internationally reknowned African vocal music expert Dr. Fred
Onovwerosuoke (Ghana/Nigeria)
http://www.africanchorus.org/fredo/index.html and his colleagues
Ablawa Reine (Benin Republic)
http://www.africanchorus.org/Artists/Reine.htm and Ebenezer Allotey
(Ghana) at the Pine Lake Clubhouse, 300 Clubhouse Drive in Pine Lake
GA 30072. The all-day Saturday March 5 workshop is open to and
appropriate for everyone who loves to sing and is eager to learn more
about the rich cultural heritage of African music. Saturday’s
workshop will include a pot luck lunch. The half-day Sunday Jan. 25
is designed especially for Choral Directors, Music Teachers, and
Community Song Leaders, though everyone is welcome. Both workshops
are offered on a Sliding Scale basis ($30-80 per workshop), so please
come and pay what you can, being affordable and generous!
SAT. MAR. 5 * 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Participants in the Saturday workshop PAN-AFRICAN SINGING & DANCE FOR
EVERYONE, will spend a day immersing themselves in the complex
rhythms and rich harmonies of African vocal music, covering
repertoire from all over Africa and the diaspora. No prior experience
or music reading is required to thoroughly enjoy this exciting day of
singing and dance. Participants will come away with new songs to sing
in their communities, as well as a deepened understanding of the
incredibly rich panorama of African vocal music.
SUN. MAR. 6 * 1:30 – 5:30 p.m.
Participants in the Sunday workshop PAN-AFRICAN SINGING & DANCE FOR
CHORAL DIRECTORS, MUSIC TEACHERS & COMMUNITY SONG LEADERS will come
away with a cache of 4-5 songs to use with their choirs and choruses.
Dr. Onovwerosuoke, Mr. Allotey, and Ms. Reine will help participants
feel confident to use this beloved music from Africa with choral
groups, by grounding participants in each song’s Pronunciation,
Layers of Meaning, Rhythm, Vocal Style, and Cultural Context. The
workshop leaders are experts at teaching non-Africans how to use this
dynamic music with groups, maintaining its authenticity, while making
it accessible for global audiences. Sunday’s workshop is especially
useful for leaders of choirs and choruses, but is open to anyone who
wants to deepen their understanding of this rich cultural heritage.
Teachers who take both workshops are eligible for CEU credits.
Contact
REGISTRATION
Sliding Scale: $30-80 per day (please be affordable & generous)
Send check to: EMWorld Records, PO Box 148, Pine Lake GA 30072
HOUSING
Free housing available for out of town participants. Please contact
INFO: (404) 297-8398
“What a beautiful human and what a beautiful voice. His songs are
like prayers.”
Workshop participant
“The workshop deepened my appreciation and understanding of African
music and culture.”
Teacher participant
“I’m not too much of a singer, but this workshop got me singing
passionately, and that’s the highest praise I can give!”
Workshop participant
Workshop leader DR. FRED ONOVWEROSUOKE
http://www.africanchorus.org/fredo/index.html is one of the world’s
most consulted authorities on African vocal music. Fred O, as he is
affectionately known to his students and colleagues, was born in
Ghana to Nigerian parents. He is fluent in French, English, and
several African languages, and travels extensively in Africa and
around the world. Listed in International Who’s Who in Classical
Music and chronicled in the Marquis 2005 Who’s Who in America, he
maintains an active schedule as conductor, lecturer, and presenter of
African choral music, including the 6th World Choral Symposium in
Minneapolis, the Toronto International Choral Festival, and the Coro
Municipal Juiz de Fora in Brazil. Some of his writings include
“Contemplating African Choral Music: Insights for Non-Indigenous and
Foreign Conductors” (ACDA Choral Journal, May 2002) and “Faqs and
Myths about African Music.” He is editor of the Voice of African
Music (a quarterly newsletter on African music), a trustee of the
International Consortium for Music of African & its Diaspora, and has
served as adjunct professor of African & African-American Music at
Webster University, St. Louis. Fred O is loved and revered by all who
come in contact with him for his generous nature, his zest for life
and art, and his deep love and vast knowledge of the music of Africa.
Joining Dr. Onovwerosuoke for the workshops in Pine Lake will be
ABLAWA REINE http://www.africanchorus.org/Artists/Reine.htm Simply
known as “Reine”(Queen) to her friends, Ablawa Reine has a
fascination with singing and dance and a deep love and knowledge of
the notable traditional custodians in the villages around her
hometown Ouida, in the Benin Republic. “I like all kinds of music,”
she says, ” but the traditional songs touch my innermost soul as no
other genre does.” The rituals, the ceremonials, the call and
responses are among her staples. And she is quick to recount numerous
childhood stories told by her grandmother and other elders in the
family. “Many of my songs were learned in those formative years.” And
she still sings them today. As Assistant Director of the Children’s
Choir of Benin, her expert rapport with children and adults alike
elicit both love and discipline. It was her role as lead soloist, her
dexterity with stylistic nuances,and breadth of knowledge of Africa’s
numerous song traditions that immediately endeared her to African
Chorus directors, who for long scouted for African female
instructors. Reine’s residency with the African Choral Music
Workshops began in 2006 in Ghana and has continued since then in the
United States. In addition to her duties as dance/choral instructor
she serves as Cultural Exchange Consultant & Artistic Liaison at the
St. Louis African Chorus.
EBENEZER ALLOTEY is from Ghana, West Africa and has worked as a
choral director for several choirs in Ghana. He is the founder,and
the first Director for the TEMA YOUTH CHOIR, one of Ghana’s premier
choral groups. He currently serves as Music Director for the Ghana
Calvary Methodist Church, Irvington, NJ, while continuing to source
partnerships between US groups and his beloved Tema Youth Choir of
Ghana.