Senegalese Prince to Perform as Musician in Cuba

HAVANA, Cuba, Dec 9 (acn) Mamour Ba, a prince from Senegal, musician, composer, vocalist, arranger, educator, dancer and percussionist, with extensive experience in Africa, will perform in Cuba in the 8th Afro Word Oral Festival from January 5 to 10.

Mirta Portillo, coordinator of the meeting, told ACN that this elite artist will be in Havana with his group and his son, another prominent instrumentalist.

She also said that he will impart workshops for children and adults about his art, in which he uses voice, rhythm, expression and song, as tools for growth and inner transformation of human beings.

Son of the king of the Masai tribe, Mamour Ba, studied at the University of Arts in Dakar, Mudra -Dakar Faculty of Modern Dance and is a music teacher at the University of Versailles, France.

With the support of UNESCO, Mamour Ba has undertaken exchanges in France, USA, Canada, Spain, Italy, USSR, Germany, Holland, Japan and China; currently he resides in Brazil, where he leads the band Conexão African Beat.

Ba has declared that his experience with music began when he was a child, because that is the tradition in Africa, teaching the knowledge of the culture from an early age.

I had to sing, he says; culture and traditions are very important in my country. My first school was my tribe, so my family was before college, something essential to my education and for understanding life.

Mirta assures that the event will be attended by top quality Cuban artists and from all manifestations because there will be oral works, poetry, music -jazz, rumba and African rhythms fused with many other sources, dance and theater.

Headquartered in the House of Africa, they will make extensions of the festival to the Yoruba Association of Cuba, Havana Vieja parks and Guanabacoa -Theater of Esculapios- where Oceano theater group will present the puppet show for adults Chango de Ima.

The festival opening will also include lyrical singing, choral music, and contemporary dance and more, Mirta stated.

This event is sponsored by the Council for the Performing Arts, the National Union of Cuban Writers and Artists, the Havana Theater Center and Ceiba Obá project.