Crossroads Music presents:
BERNARD WOMA
Master of the Gyil (Ghanaian xylophone)
appearing with Alokli and Gyil Fusion
Saturday, October 4 at 7:30 pm
Concert at 48th St. and Baltimore Ave. in West Philadelphia (in
Calvary Church)
Sunday, October 5 at 12 noon
African Percussion Workshop (not a second concert) at Studio 34, 4522
Baltimore Ave., 2nd floor. All experience levels welcome.
http://www.crossroadsconcerts.org or 215-729-1028
Bernard Woma is a master of the gyil, a complex and beautiful
xylophone that is the national instrument of the Dagara, Lobi,
Birifor, and Sissala peoples of Ghana and Burkina Faso. The gyil is
made from fourteen slats of fire-dried hardwood that are suspended
with leather cords on a frame of gourds (calabash) resonators. A
spider egg sack casing is stretched over one or more holes in each
gourd, giving the instrument its distinctive buzzing sound. For
centuries, Dagara gyil players have developed an intricate polyphonic
style that It includes both sacred compositions for festivals,
weddings, funerals, and other ceremonies and secular Bewaa music for
dancing and entertainment and is some of the most rhythmically complex
music ever recorded.
Woma is from the Gbanne Clan of the Dagara people and was born in
Northwestern Ghana, near the border with Burkina Faso. He was born
with hands were clenched in fists as if he was clutching xylophone
mallets, a sign that he would become a xylophone player. Bernard began
formal study of the gyil as a small child, and was soon playing at at
funerals, weddings, and in church throughout the region. There he
began to set his own words to traditional melodies and compose his own
music. In 1982, he was no longer able to afford school fees and moved
to the capital city of Accra, where he worked as a steward. On
occasional Sunday evenings off, he played the gyil for traditional
dancing in the Dagara neighborhood of Mamobi and he became well-known
in the community.
As his musical reputation spread, Woma was offered the position of
solo xylophonist for the Ghana Dance Ensemble and was honored with the
Drummer of the Year award, the only time such an award has been given
to a xylophonist. When, the Company moved from the University of Ghana
to the National Theatre in 1992, Bernard retained his title as solo
xylophonist and was also appointed as the master drummer of the Company.
Bernard maintains a busy schedule on three continents. He frequently
performs with his traditional Bewaa ensemble, the Saakumu Dance
Troupe, continues to be a principal member of the National Dance
Company of Ghana, and has been the ceremonial Atumpan Drummer for
Ghanaian State functions and performed for Bill Clinton and Jerry
Rawlings, when the US President visited the Ghanaian president in
Accra. He also owns and operates the Dagara Music Center, a school
near Accra, gives workshops, lectures and private lessons for
musicians throughout Europe and America. He is currently adjunct
faculty and director of the African Drumming Ensemble at SUNY Fredonia.
ALOKLI WEST AFRICAN DANCE is a community dance-drumming club based in
Philadelphia, PA. They teach and perform Anlo-Ewe and other West
African music & dance styles from Ghana, Togo, Benin, and Nigeria.
Modelled after traditional dance-drumming societies, Alokli adapts an
ancient cultural heritage to enhance the lives of modern town dwellers.
GINA FERRERA is an American musician who has studied a wide variety of
African percussion traditions, including study with Kakraba Lobi,
Bernard Woma, and Valerie Naranjo in Ghana. She has recorded five
albums of which the most recent, Gina Ferrera & GYIL FUSION, brought
together a production team of thirty of Philadelphia’s most talented
and innovative world music artists. She teaches gyil at Swathmore
College and founded “Gina’s Gyil and World Music Magic,” an
educational program to offer youth and children access to
traditionally-based artistic and cultural music expression.
SOUND SAMPLES AND MORE INFORMATION
http://www.crossroadsconcerts.org
TICKET PRICING
Standard price: $15
Special Supporters: $20
Discount price: $10 (for students, seniors, or if you can’t afford to
come otherwise)
Children under 12: $5
Crossroads events are priced on a sliding scale. We are a not-for-
profit organization and want as many people as possible to be able to
come. If you’re unable to come otherwise, please pay the discount
price, and, if you can afford it, please consider paying the supporter
price so we can continue this policy.
The Sunday workshop costs $5. Please register at the concert so we
know how many people to expect.
UPCOMING CONCERTS
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
ETRAN FINATAWA
Nomad Blues from Niger's Tuareg and Wodaabe peoples
Saturday, November 8, 2008
VENISSA SANTI
Cuban jazz standards and Afro-Cuban folkloric song
SONIC LIBERATION FRONT
Afro-Cuban Yoruba roots meet free jazz and electronica
Saturday, November 22, 2008
METROFOLK BAND
Traditional Music from Hungary and Romania.
Saturday, December 6, 2008
APRIL VERCH BAND
Ottawa Valley fiddle and stepdance
Saturday, January 17, 2009
PETER OSTROUSHKO
Heartland Americana (with a Ukranian twist)
with SVITANYA EASTERN EUROPEAN WOMEN'S VOCAL ENSEMBLE
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
INTERNATIONAL GUITAR NIGHT, featuring
PIERRE BENSUSAN (France)
BENJAMIN VERDERY (New York)
CECILIA ZABALA (Argentina)
BRIAN GORE (San Francisco)
Crossroads events are in part funded by grants from the Philadelphia
Cultural Fund, Stockton Rush Bartol Foundation, Samuel S. Fels Fund,
and 5-County Arts Fund.
