Gahu is a drumming, dancing. and singing style of music from the Ewe People of West-Africa. The largest population of Ewe People (6 Million) is located in Ghana and the next largest population can be found in Togo. The Ewe Nation speak Ewe which is from the Gbe family of languages. Gahu is lead by the Gboba drum and supported by the Sogo, Kidi, Kaganu, Bell and Rattle. The Gboba calls each section and signals to the dancers what is happening next. It is all lead by the Master Drummer.

KOKOROKO

"Ti-de" is originally by the London-based group Kokoroko. Radio host Teju Adeleye describes the song as "a soft lullaby taking its cue from a medley of old West African folk melodies. A meditation on remaining present through change, the track is laced with opiating guitar lines, soft percussion and languid vocals that feel at times interchangeable with the grand sway of the horn section"

The eight-piece group is lead by trumpeter Sheila Maurice-Grey. They draw inspiration from jazz, blues, and afrobeat. The group recently won Best Group at the Urban Music Awards. Their debut self-titled album has lead to their rising success across the UK and beyond. In an interview, Shelia Maurice-Grey says that the group hopes to prove that "jazz and afrobeat shouldn't stay with our parents' generation"

Fela Kuti (October 15, 1938 - August 2nd, 1997)

...is the pioneer of Afrobeat. The Nigerian multi-instrumentalist was able to take High Life into a new direction as he blended traditional Yoruba Music with American Jazz and Funk. The Yoruba Nation is an ethnic group of people located throughout West-Africa.

"Colonial Mentality" is off the 1977 album Sorrow, Tears and Blood by Fela Kuti and Afrika 70. The title track "Sorrow, Tears and Blood" was written after the South African apartheid regimes murderous response and crushing of the Soweto Uprising the 16th of June in 1976. He went on to focus on the lyric Colonial Mentality for this song. It "...ridicules the post-colonial cultural inferiority complex of Nigeria's governing elite, in which European manners and customs were regarded as intrinsically superior to traditional African ones. Fela has approached this topic before, most notable 1973's song "Gentlemen." The saxophone solo played by Fela in "Gentlemen" was sampled in the J. Cole song "Let Nas Down." Be sure to check out the first 15 seconds.

The vocal response within "Colonial Mentailty" creates an interesting question:

"Colomentality...He be say you be colonial man. You don be slave man before. Them don release you now BUT you never release yourself."

Borborbor is a traditional dance from the south-eastern part of Ghana and the Ewe People. Dance is such an important part of Ghanaian Culture and when it comes to the Ewe People Borborbor Dance is one the most traditional dances performed at celebrations. The white hankey is added to highlight some additional movement. The customs of waving white handkerchiefs in New Orleans, Louisiana or elsewhere in the United States while marching in second line wedding parades have their sources in the traditional customs of waving or dancing with white handkerchiefs in the Ewe cultures of Ghana, West Africa and Togo, West Africa, and the Igbo culture of Nigeria, West Africa.

"El Sinaleonse" was written by Severiano Briseño in 1944. He originally wrote this song to be played with his family group, Trío Los Tamaulipecos. The song started to gain popularity in the banda genre when it was adopted into the repertoire of Banda Los Guamuchileños. Since then, it has become one of the most popular banda songs of all time.

This song will be sung by the incredible Juan Diego Rojas. Juan is a senior, and plays the trumpet in Varsity Band. He has been singing as a solo artist and in multiple groups that perform all around Chicago for many years. The arrangement was transcribed by Mr. Veren from a live recording by Banda El Recodo.