Saturday, November 13, 2004
SVITANYA
WOMEN’S SEKERE ENSEMBLE
Calvary Center for Culture and Community
48th Street and Baltimore Avenue in Philadelphia
Concert starts at 7:30 pm. (doors open at 7:00, cafe and box office at
6:15)
Tickets are priced on a $10-5-15 sliding scale.
SVITANYA (whose name means "the light at sunrise" in Ukrainian,
Croatian and Serbian) is a seven-woman a cappella ensemble specializing
in music from Eastern Europe. They perform folk and composed folk songs
that exude the spirit of traditional village music through the timbres,
rhythms and languages indigenous to the region. While the repertoire
celebrates the mundane events of daily life, such as cutting wheat in
the fields or strolling in the street with musicians, it also depicts
more poignant moments -- the loss of a loved one to war, or being sent
away into marriage too young.
The group is a seven-member, multi-generational ensemble that includes
two mother-daughter duos -- most fitting in a genre where songs have
been passed through generations from mother to daughter. Several
members are of Eastern European heritage; some are fluent in Slavic
languages. The group's repertoire includes songs from Armenia, Bosnia,
Bulgaria, Croatia (Dalmatia, Istria and Slavonia), Czech Republic,
Georgia, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia and Ukraine.
Svitanya was formed in Fall 2000 as “Svitanje” and switched from a
Croatian to Ukrainian spelling in the summer of 2004. Most of the
members previously sang with the Slaveja Eastern European Folk
Ensemble, a larger, gender-mixed group based at Bryn Mawr and Haverford
Colleges from 1995 to 2000.
Founded by Omomola Iyabunmi in 1988, the WOMEN’S SEKERE ENSEMBLE is a
group of percussionists dedicated to making West African traditional
music a resource for communities. As Africans born here in America,
Women's Sekere Ensemble members are committed to reclaiming African
culture and sharing it. They work to foster an appreciation for African
music. Through performances, workshops, classes,
lecture/demonstrations, and residencies. Students of West African music
for well over twenty-five years now, the women's group offers
performances featuring a range of traditional, secular, and festive
music originating among the peoples of Nigeria and Ghana, and found in
Cuba, Haiti and other locales throughout the African diaspora. Ensemble
members make and play sekeres (hand drums made from gourds and covered
with intricate beadwork) and other traditional percussion instruments.
Omomola Iyabunmi, the ensemble's Director, has pursued her study of
African culture and percussion for more than 30 years. Her teachers
have included Leonard "Doc" Gibbs, Baba Ibekunle Bey (Robert Crowder),
Baba Ishangi Rasak, Peache Jarman, and others.
--
Crossroads events fall into three groups. Monthly Philadelphia
Crossroads concerts brings together contrasting but related music from
two different Philadelphia communities. The Root and Branch series
continue the former Cherry Tree Music Co-op's series of concerts by
nationally-known touring artists. Finally, the Folklife Center's Nada
Brahma (Sanskrit for "The World is Sound") events presents
locally-based and national and international touring artists from
culturally-specific traditions around the world. In addition, we
collaborate with other organizations in producing several free
community events at other West Philadelphia locations each year.
All concerts take place at 7:30 pm in the historic Calvary United
Methodist Church at the corner of 48th Street and Baltimore Avenue. The
34 subway-surface trolley stops at the door, and a free, well-lit, and
city-maintained parking lot is located on the block. Dinner and
refreshments are available at the concerts and at excellent restaurants
nearby.
For advance tickets, directions, or other information:
http://www.crossroads.calvary-center.org
215-729-1028
Crossroads is in part funded by grants from the Stockton Rush Bartol
Foundation and the 5-County Arts Fund. Some of our publicity costs are
paid for by a marketing grant from the Citizens Bank Foundation to our
parent organization, the Calvary Center for Culture and Community.
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