The FAMU Center for Caribbean Culture and Student Government Association hosted their 15th Annual African Caribbean concert in Lee Hall on Nov. 8 at 7:30 p.m.
The concert gave students the opportunity to experience Afro-Caribbean culture, said Jan DeCosmo, FAMU associate professor. It also gave the culture groups a chance to perform.
The concert, which was student-run, demonstrated various types of Caribbean music and dance.
Members of the Caribbean Student Association danced to the sounds of calypso, soca and reggae.
The electrifying dance movements captured the audience and received a powerful applause.
The theatrical performance Kufere Ikemba Bandele, was about domestic violence and a spiritual dance ritual that purified the couple’s souls and uplifted them. The scene showed how marital problems could be resolved by returning to one’s ancestral traditions.
The Corazon dancers performed synchronized rhythms of the Latin tradition. They showed the audience exuberant techniques of salsa and merengue dancing. The Haitian culture club danced to island music called kompa. The African and Spanish-influenced beats allowed the dancers to sway and move to the rhythms along with typical and choreographed movements.
The Orchesis Contemporary Dance Theatre performed a piece about ancestral call. The performance depicted a walk in the park during which the characters encounter Guede, who represents the mystery of death and cemeteries.
The vibrant costumes and subtle sound of the flute, enhanced the performance, which was well received by the audience.
“I enjoyed the event,” said Giltricia Head, an Orchesis dancer and senior architecture student from Tallahassee. It opened a lot of doors in terms of diversity of the arts and allowed people to listen to various music from other countries,”
The concert also featured a performance from Quick 6, a dancehall reggae group.
Dromatala, an African percussion group gave the audience a magnetic performance filled with the fast paced improvisation yet smooth melodic rhythms of the Bjembe, Djum, Bjum, and Xylophone instruments.
” The audience participation and jubilating excitement was inspiring for us,” said Akinlana Lowman Bejembe player in Dromatala.
“Their performance was like a jam session, because of the spontaneity,” said Jessica Bryant, a junior business administration student from West Palm Beach.
The concert featured special guests, Dikki DU and The Zydeco Crew. The Louisiana based group played traditional Zydeco music, a genre that is primarily played by Louisiana’s black Creoles. The group performed original pieces and renditions of the Temptations’ “Papa was a Rolling Stone” and “My Girl.
The concert ended with a performance by Tallahassee’s Bahamas Junkanoo group, Junkanoo Rush.
The performance was like that of West Indian Carnival, including the loud, effervescent, colorful and festive costumes.
“The concert was invigorating,” said James Singleton, a junior business administration student from New Jersey. The concert tapped into other cultures’ traditions, he said.
“A lot of people have said FAMU doesn’t have any culture, but this concert lets them know different,” DeCosmo said.