Djapo Cultural Arts Institute - African Heritage Day
Djapo Cultural Arts Institute African Heritage Day Cleveland Cultural Gardens World on Stage St. Casimir Church Hall East 82nd St. and Sowiniski Ave. Cleveland July 1, 2023
The grand finale performance of the first annual African Heritage World on Stage event of the Cleveland Cultural Gardens Federation was an energetic and colorful drum and dance performance by the Djapo Cultural Arts Institute. Djapo is a Wolof word meaning "come together."
Community Dance & Drum is one of many components to Djapo Cultural Arts Institute founded by Talise A. Campbell, Artistic Director. The main focus is to bring individuals from various backgrounds together to learn about their similarities and differences through traditional dance and music. After an introduction they played their first drum performance.
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In this second performance the drummers were joined by ladies in colorful costumes who danced.
Next came a powerful spoken word performance called 'Welcome Back to Africa.'
Another energetic drum performance included the ladies dancing in colorful costumes and then a man dancing to the rhythms.
In this amazing grand finale, the lead drummer introduced the other drummers. He then taught the audience about the Djembe Drum from Mali in West Africa. A djembe is a rope-tuned skin-covered goblet drum played with bare hands, originally from West Africa. According to the Bambara people in Mali, the name of the djembe comes from the saying "Anke djé, anke bé" which translates to "everyone gather together in peace" and defines the drum's purpose.
He also taught some words and a clapping pattern for the audience. They then performed on the drums and ladies and a man in colorful African clothing danced to the rhythms. It was a terrific performance!
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