Fanga Song
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Fanga Song
Fanga is a dance "interpretation of a traditional Liberian invocation to the earth and sky". The dance originated in Liberia or Sierra Leone. The first performance of a version of ''Fanga'' in the United States may have been by Asadata Dafora in 1943; Marcia Ethel Heard believes that Pearl Primus hid Dafora's influence on her work. The dance was written by Primus in 1959 in conjunction with the National Dance Company of Liberia. ''Fanga'' was one of the dances through which Primus sought to stylize and perpetuate African dance traditions by framing dance as a symbolic act, an everyday practice, and a ceremony. It was then further popularized by Primus' students, sisters Merle Afida Derby and Joan Akwasiba Derby. Babatunde Olatunji described Fanga as a dance of welcome from Liberia and he, and many others, used a song created by LaRouque Bey to go with the rhythm and dance, assisted by some of the students in his Harlem studio, during the early sixties. Bey used words from the Yorub ...
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Asadata Dafora
Austin Dafora Horton (4 August 1890 – 4 March 1965) also known as Asadata Dafora was a Sierra Leonean multidisciplinary musician. He was one of the first Africans to introduce African drumming music to the United States, beginning in the early 1930s. His artistic endeavours spanned multiple disciplines, but he is best remembered for his work in dance and music. Dafora was a multifaceted artist, talented in opera and concert singing, dancing, choreographing and composing. In 1934, Dafora created ''Kykunkor (The Witch Woman)'', a successful musical/drama production using authentic African music and dance and is considered one of the pioneers of black dance in America. Early years Austin Dafora Horton was born into the Sierra Leone Creole people, Creole ethnic group on 4 August 1890 in Freetown, British Sierra Leone. The son of John 'Johnnie' William Horton, the Freetown city treasurer, and his wife, a concert pianist. Dafora grew up in a privileged household. Some doubt surrou ...
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Pearl Primus
Pearl Eileen Primus (November 29, 1919 – October 29, 1994) was an American dancer, choreographer and anthropologist. Primus played an important role in the presentation of African dance to American audiences. Early in her career she saw the need to promote African dance as an art form worthy of study and performance. Primus' work was a reaction to myths of savagery and the lack of knowledge about African people. It was an effort to guide the Western world to view African dance as an important and dignified statement about another way of life. Background Born in Port of Spain, Trinidad, Pearl Primus was two years old when she moved with her parents, Edward Primus and Emily Jackson, to New York City in 1921. In 1940, Primus received her bachelor's degree from Hunter College in biology and pre-medical science. As a graduate student in biology, she realized that her dreams of becoming a medical researcher would be unfulfilled, due to racial discrimination at the time that imposed l ...
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Merle Afida Derby
Merle may refer to: People *Merle (given name), a given name used by both men and women *Merle (surname), a surname of French origin Others *Merle (dog coat), a pattern in dogs’ coats *Merle (grape), another name for the wine grape Merlot *Akaflieg München Mü17 Merle, a German glider originally built in 1938 for the 1940 Olympics gliding competition * MS ''Phocine'', a ferry formerly named MS ''Merle'' *Merle's Tune, a hymn tune composed by Hal Hopson in 1983 *A Crusader fort near Tantura on the coast of Israel *The French name for the common blackbird See also *Merl (other) *Merles Merles (; oc, Mèrles) is a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne department in the Occitanie region in southern France. See also *Communes of the Tarn-et-Garonne department The following is a list of the 195 communes of the Tarn-et-Garonne depar ...
, a commune in southern France {{disambiguation ...
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Joan Akwasiba Derby
Joan may refer to: People and fictional characters *Joan (given name), including a list of women, men and fictional characters *:Joan of Arc, a French military heroine *Joan (surname) Weather events *Tropical Storm Joan (other), multiple tropical cyclones are named Joan Music * ''Joan'' (album), a 1967 album by Joan Baez *"Joan", a song by The Art Bears from their 1978 album ''Hopes and Fears'' *"Joan", a song by Lene Lovich from her 1980 album ''Flex'' *"Joan", a song by Erasure from their 1991 album ''Chorus'' *"Joan", a song by The Innocence Mission from their 1991 album ''Umbrella'' *"Joan", a song by God Is My Co-Pilot from their 1992 album ''I Am Not This Body'' Other uses *Jōan (era), a Japanese era name * ''Joan'' (play), 2015 one-woman play written by Lucy J. Skillbeck *Joan Township, Ontario, a geographic township See also *''Jo-an'' tea house, National Treasure in Inuyama, Aichi Prefecture, Japan * *Jane (other) *Jean (other) *Jeanne (di ...
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Babatunde Olatunji
Michael Babatunde Olatunji (April 7, 1927 – April 6, 2003) was a Nigerian drummer, educator, social activist, and recording artist. Early life Olatunji was born in the village of Ajido, near Badagry, Lagos State, in southwestern Nigeria. A member of the Ogu people, Olatunji was introduced to traditional African music at an early age. His name, Bàbátúndé, means 'father has returned', because he was born two months after his father, an Ogu (Egun) man, Zannu died, and Olatunji was considered to be a reincarnation. His father was a local fisherman who was about to rise to the rank of chieftain, and his mother was a potter who was a member of the Ogu people. Olatunji grew up speaking the Gun (Ogu/Egun) and Yoruba languages. His maternal grandmother and a great-grandmother were priestesses of the Vodun and Ogu religions, and they worshipped the Vodun, such as Kori, the goddess of fertility. Because of his father's premature death, from an early age he was groomed to take ...
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Li'l Liza Jane
"Li'l Liza Jane", also known as "Little Liza Jane", "Liza Jane", and "Goodbye Liza Jane", is a song dating back at least to the 1910s. It has become a perennial standard both as a song and an instrumental in traditional jazz, folk music, and bluegrass, and versions have repeatedly appeared in other genres including rock and roll. Numerous scholars and musicologists have written about the song, and it is one of the standards of the New Orleans brass band tradition. Origins "Li'l Liza Jane" was first published in 1916 by Sherman, Clay & Co of San Francisco, California as a composition by Countess Ada de Lachau (Ada Louise Metz, 1866-1956). It was described as a "Southern dialect song". The tune was featured as entr'acte entertainment during the 1916-1917 Broadway show ''Come Out of the Kitchen''. The song's origins, however, seem to go back even earlier. Lucy Thurston remembered a song with the refrain "Ohoooooooo lil Liza, lil Liza Jane" being sung by slaves in the area of Cov ...
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African Dances
African or Africans may refer to: * Anything from or pertaining to the continent of Africa: ** People who are native to Africa, descendants of natives of Africa, or individuals who trace their ancestry to indigenous inhabitants of Africa *** Ethnic groups of Africa *** Demographics of Africa *** African diaspora ** African, an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to the African Union ** Citizenship of the African Union ** Demographics of the African Union **Africanfuturism ** African art ** *** African jazz (other) ** African cuisine ** African culture ** African languages ** African music ** African Union ** African lion, a lion population in Africa Books and radio * ''The African'' (essay), a story by French author J. M. G. Le Clézio * ''The African'' (Conton novel), a novel by William Farquhar Conton * ''The African'' (Courlander novel), a novel by Harold Courlander * ''The Africans'' (radio program) Music * "African", a song by Peter T ...
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Liberian Music
The music of Liberia uses many tribal beats and often one of the native dialects, or vernacular. Liberian music includes traditional Gbema music, as well as the popular genre Hipco. Gbema music or traditional music Liberian music makes particular use of vocal harmony, repetition and call-and-response song structure as well as such typical West African elements as ululation and the polyrhythm typical of rhythm in Sub-Saharan Africa. Christian music was introduced to Liberia by American missionaries and Christian songs are now sung in a style that mixes American harmonies with West African language, rhythm and the call-and-response format. Traditional music is performed at weddings, naming ceremonies, royal events and other special occasions, as well as ordinary children's song A children's song may be a nursery rhyme set to music, a song that children invent and share among themselves or a modern creation intended for entertainment, use in the home or education. Although child ...
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Modern Dance
Modern dance is a broad genre of western concert or theatrical dance which included dance styles such as ballet, folk, ethnic, religious, and social dancing; and primarily arose out of Europe and the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It was considered to have been developed as a rejection of, or rebellion against, classical ballet, and also a way to express social concerns like socioeconomic and cultural factors. In the late 19th century, modern dance artists such as Isadora Duncan, Maud Allan, and Loie Fuller were pioneering new forms and practices in what is now called aesthetic or free dance. These dancers disregarded ballet's strict movement vocabulary (the particular, limited set of movements that were considered proper to ballet) and stopped wearing corsets and pointe shoes in the search for greater freedom of movement. Throughout the 20th century, sociopolitical concerns, major historical events, and the development of other art forms contributed to ...
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