Musical magic created through the combination of international experts’ individual styles.
The African Guitar Summit, a star-studded collaborative project uniting the talents of Canada’s best guitarists of African origin, is coming to the Algonquin Theatre July 12 as part of the Huntsville Festival of the Arts summer season.
The 8 p.m. concert will include Madagascar Slim, Alpha Yaya Diallo, Pa Joe and Mighty Popo. Each one is an expert with his individual style. Together they create real musical magic.
REACH FOR THE TOP: The African Guitar Summit unites the talents of Canada’s best guitarists of African origin. The group plays in a Huntsville Festival of the Arts concert at the Algonquin Theatre on July 12.Madagascar Slim (Randriamananjara Radofa Besata Jean Longin) was born on Halloween night in 1956 in Madagascar. He didn’t really decide what he wanted to do with his life until he heard Hey Joe by Jimi Hendrix on the radio.
While he didn’t speak a word of English, he spent many long hours trying to duplicate the solo from that song. Later he heard the records of B.B. King and came to appreciate the more direct and simple form that Hendrix had used as a starting point.
Slim’s first CD, OmniSource, won the 2000 Juno for Best World Music Album.
Guitarist and singer Alpha Yaya Diallo is originally from Guinea, West Africa. He has earned a matchless reputation internationally for the excellence of his musicianship and the excitement of his live shows, whether performing solo or with his band Bafing.
His dexterous guitar playing, with its fluid melodic lines and compelling grooves, places him in the front ranks of African musicians. Since then he has recorded five highly acclaimed albums of his own compositions, resulting in several Juno Award nominations and two Junos in the Best Global Recording category.
The Mighty Popo was born in Ngagara, a neighbourhood in Bujumbura, Burundi populated largely by Rwandan and Congolese emigrés and refugees. He grew up listening to local contemporary and traditional music along with music from the rest of Africa and beyond, as Ngagara was a soundscape in which Soweto, Kingston, Bahia and New Orleans lived side by side.
To Popo all this music formed one continuum, and when he left Burundi for Canada his musical journey took him down paths his ears had already travelled at home. As Popo gained experience as a performer, the various musical elements he first began absorbing in Ngagara became integrated in a mature musical vocabulary, and a brilliant and versatile sideman developed into a leader whose creative vision has given a voice to his old neighbourhood.
Pa Joe was born in the twin cities of Sekondi-Takoradi, Ghana. His musical talent emerged early in his childhood, and he picked up the guitar at eight years old. He was informally schooled in guitar by C. K. Mann and Deroy Ebo Taylor, but considers himself primarily self-taught.
Pa Joe is the only actual musician in his family, although the family has been in the music business for over 50 years. Pa Joe was introduced to African music stars of all kinds, including Jewel Ackah, with whom he played and toured. After completing school he took over the leadership of Osamirima Band.
Since coming to Canada Pa Joe has played with Samara, Highlife Stars, Show-D-Man, and the legendary AfroNubians.
Tickets for African Guitar Summit are $32 for adults and $20 for youth under 18 and are available from the Algonquin Theatre box office, 789-4975, or online at www.algonquintheatre.ca.
