The West VirginiaUniversityWorldMusicCenters African Ensemble will present a festival of traditional and contemporary African music and dance during its annual concert Sunday, Feb. 2, at the Mountainlair Ballrooms.


“Aza!”is the title of this years concert, which features music and dance from Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and South Africa. Performances begin at 3:15 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.


Special guest artist will be Zelma Badu-Younge, an award-winning performer, world dance professor and choreographer of African dance who has trained in the United States, Canada and Ghana. Dr. Badu-Younge is currently on the faculty of WVU and DenisonUniversity.


Also featured will be African ensembles from the following local schools: SuncrestMiddle School, directed by Kris Olsen; NorthElementary School, directed by Jonathan Burbank; WestwoodMiddle School, directed by Zack George; FairmontSenior High School, directed by Andy Wilmoth; WaynesburgCentralHigh School, also directed by Zack George; and UniversityHigh School, directed by Gordon Nunn.


The concert is directed by Paschal Yao Younge, a native of Ghana who is in charge of the Colleges WorldMusicCenter, African Music Program, and directs the African Ensembles. Dancers with the Ensemble are WVU students from throughout the University.


The first half of the concert will feature Suncrest Middle School in”Gota,”recreational music and dance of the southern Ewe people of Ghana; North Elementary School in”Kpatsa,”the principal traditional entertainment music and dance of the Dangme of Ghana; and Westwood Middle School in”Kpanlongo,”called”the dance of the youth”in Ghana, where it is performed at festivals and political rallies.


Other highlights include Fairmont Senior High in”Kundum,”a harvest dance of the Ahanta and Nzema people of Ghana; Waynesburg High School in”Kinatsu,”a warrior/hunter dance of the Konkonba tribal of northern Ghana; and University High School in”Sanga,”a flirtatious social dance of the Ashanti-Akan of Ghana.


The second half of the concert will feature the WVU African Ensemble in”Totobli,”an African contemporary composition for six instruments. This will be followed by”Isukuti,”a dance from the Kakamega people of the western province of Kenya, where it is performed mainly during festivals and ceremonies associated with events such as weddings and bull fights.


The Ensemble will then perform the most popular social music and dance of the Dagbamba people of North Ghana,”Bamaaya,”which means”the river valley is wet.”There will also be royal music for the king of the Buganda people of Uganda.


The concert ends with”Malivata,”a contemporary presentation of the huntersmusic and dance of eastern Tanzania, incorporating a variety of props and other visual elements from the southern region of Africa.


Paschal Younge came to WVU from the University of Ghana, where he was principal music instructor, founder/director of the Philharmonic Voices, and director of the award-winning Aflao Roman Catholic Brass Band. At WVU he gives lectures, workshops and clinics at the University, as well as at elementary, junior high and high schools throughout the state, as well as other parts of the United States and internationally. During 2003 he will be teaching and performing at a World Music Festival in Hong Kong, at the University of Madrid in Spain and at the Taiwan International Percussion Festival.


Zelma Badu-Younge holds a B.F.A. in dance choreography from ConcordiaUniversity and a M.F.A. in dance ethnology from YorkUniversity. Her M.F.A. research took her to West Africa, where she studied the music and dances of Ghana. While in Ghana, she taught afro-modern to its national dance company, The Ghana Dance Ensemble. She has also trained at the National Ballet School of Canada, the AlvinAileyAmericanDanceCenter and Dance Theatre of Harlem.


She was dance coordinator at DeKalbSchool of the Arts and on the faculty at EmoryUniversitys department of dance. In 1993 she was nominated for Outstanding Choreography by the Dora Mavor Moore Awards (Canadas equivalent to an Emmy).


Tickets for the WVU African Ensemble Concert are $12 for the general public, $10 for WVU faculty/ staff and senior citizens and $8 for WVU students. For more information, contact the Mountainlair Box Office at 304-293-SHOW.