This Saturday!! Reserve your spot today!
The Hornell Public Library is excited to host an exciting drumming and dance performance by the group Womba Africa on Saturday, January 27th at 1:00 PM at the Hornell Community Arts Center. Womba is a cultural drum and dance group whose members are part of the Ga Adangbe People in greater Accra, Ghana. This performance is the second part of the library’s project Intro to West Africa: A Cultural Programming Series funded by a Community Arts Grant from the ARTS Council of the Southern Finger Lakes.
Back in December, the library held an Adinkra T-Shirt Printing Workshop led by teaching artist Jennifer Jones. Participants were able to paint their own Adinkra symbols onto shirts after learning about the history of these meaningful symbols from West Africa. It was a great opportunity for library patrons to learn more about another culture while testing out their artistic skills.
Womba Africa’s performance is culturally unique in a variety of ways, including their costumes, instruments, rhythms, dance, and songs. Participants of the December Adinkra workshop who attend this performance may recognize the Adinkra symbols embedded in the fabric of the costumes they wear. Womba’s songs are mainly sung in their native Ga language and sung in a polyphonic manner. The music is performed in a criss-cross rhythm where the master drummer plays a beat and the supporting drummers follow their own rhythm while the timer, who plays the bell, keeps the timing. Check out their past performances on their YouTube channel!
Reserve your spot at Womba’s performance today by calling the library at 607-324-1210, sending an email to hornellpubliclibrary@gmail.com, or contacting the library on Facebook to register.
This project is made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrant program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by The ARTS Council of the Southern Finger Lakes.
