While the wintery weather mix may have kept some people home Saturday evening, Hanaway Theatre in Silver Cultural Arts Center was alive with African song, dance, and audience participation. “Voices of Africa,” a group of five women who play traditional African drums and sing, brought their body moving rhythms and witty, upbeat attitudes to a group of some 430 people, beginning the evening by saying, “we’re gonna melt the snow in here.”
“Voices of Africa” has been performing their “soul-stirring a cappella harmonies and traditional West African percussive rhythms” since 1991. Band members include Nana Baakan Agyiriwah (Founder and Managing Director), Adua Tacheampong (Musical Director and Nana’s daughter), Zakiyyah Rashed (Public Relations Coordinator), Angail Abdul-Badee (Wardrobe Consultation), and Akosua Nyo Agyiriwah (Associate Member).
The enthusiasm of the band was not only musically moving but also visually stunning, as the four members (one was unable to make the trip) took the stage in brightly colored dresses, accompanied by the sound of traditional drums. Songs with lyrics like, “Clap your hands, move your feet, move your body to the beat” struck nerves in almost all the audience members, prompting some to get out of their own seats and “shake their booty’s.”
Amid songs, the band members introduced their instruments and themselves, and at times, the humor of the women resembled a Golden Girls episode. But, as Zakiyyah jokingly pointed out in an attempt to get more audience interaction, “This is not television.”
The traditional West African percussion instruments used by the group are the Sakara (sah’ kah rah), which is a hand held frame drum; the Sekere (shay’ ka ray), which are beaded gourds; double headed bells known as agogo (ah goe goe); and Sangba drums found in Ghana and Nigeria.
The Philadelphia based group has been in New Hampshire for the past week, working with the children from Andover, Innerlakes, and Campton elementary schools, among others. After a brief intermission, members of the Campton elementary school joined “Voices of Africa” on stage for a compilation song. Some kids played the traditional drums, while others performed various dances and chants. After the children’s scheduled performance, “Voice of Africa” continued their second set. The enthusiasm of the children carried through the second set, where they could hardly contain their energy. The evening culminated with children dancing in the aisles and the rest of the audience members clapping their hands and shaking whatever they could.