Visiting musicians performed West African songs for Lake Placid Elementary Faculty college students on Friday, Might 24. From left are Theresa Hartford, Dian Oury Bah and Seny Daffe. (Information photograph — Andy Flynn)
LAKE PLACID — The Lake Placid Elementary Faculty gymnasium Friday morning, Might 24, was stuffed with the rhythmic sounds of West African music — drumming and singing — as college students, college and workers listened and danced to songs from 4 musicians.
Dian Oury Bah — grasp drummer and musical director of Badenyah Drum & Dance — was enjoying drums along with his spouse, Theresa Hartford, and longtime buddy Seny Daffe, a Burlington, Vermont, resident who taught drumming within the African dance firm Jeh Kulu. Bah and Daffe are initially from Guinea on the West African coast.
And Hartford?
“Maine,” she informed the LPES college students in grades 3 by way of 5.
Hartford and Bah at the moment stay in Saranac Lake.
North Nation Faculty Director of Variety, Fairness and Inclusion Yunga Webb, far left, exhibits Lake Placid Elementary Faculty college students some African dance strikes on Friday, Might 27. (Information photograph — Andy Flynn)
The fourth musician, singer Yunga Webb, is initially from Las Vegas, Nevada, and is at the moment the director of variety, fairness and inclusion at North Nation Faculty and Camp Treetops in Lake Placid.
“I like educating youngsters,” Daffe mentioned after the second meeting. The primary efficiency was for college kids in kindergarten by way of grade 2, the second for grades 3 to five.
“Seny is an unbelievable dancer and dance trainer,” Hartford mentioned. “He’s been in demand all up and down the coast at totally different dance conferences. We’re fortunate to have him right here right now.”
The troupe carried out on quite a lot of West African drums, the most well-liked being the djembe, which appears to be like like a big goblet. The opposite three drums are a part of a set — from bigger measurement to smallest — the dunun (additionally spelled dundun or doundoun), sangban and kenkeni. Webb taught the scholars some West African dance strikes and a standard track she discovered from her mom.
Requested what she likes probably the most about performing West African music, Hartford mentioned, “It’s my husband’s tradition, so it’s essential to us to proceed the West African tradition for him and for our baby. You possibly can’t replicate the power and the love that you just get from West African dance. It’s simply laborious to copy. There’s nothing that compares to it for me.”
North Nation Faculty Director of Variety, Fairness and Inclusion Yunga Webb teaches Lake Placid Elementary Faculty college students an African track on Friday, Might 27. (Information photograph — Andy Flynn)
North Nation Faculty Director of Variety, Fairness and Inclusion Yunga Webb, far proper, exhibits Lake Placid Elementary Faculty college students some African dance strikes on Friday, Might 27. (Information photograph — Andy Flynn)
Theresa Hartford is middle stage Friday, Might 27 within the Lake Placid Elementary Faculty health club enjoying a West African drum in entrance of Yunga Webb, left, Seny Daffe, center, and her husband Dian Oury Bah. Daffe and Bah are initially from the West African nation of Guinea. (Information photograph — Andy Flynn)
