Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 10, 1995 TAG: 9502100065
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SETH WILLIAMSON
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The solution: Professor Al Wojtera and the Radford University Percussion Ensemble. Wojtera is director of percussion and jazz studies at Radford and a frequent performer with the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra.
It was a lucky fluke that Radford University happened to have just the kind of instruments needed for David Fanshawe's "African Sanctus." Wojtera's student players will sit in with the RSO for Monday night's performance.
"The music department acquired a complete set of instruments for a djembe orchestra. The djembe (pronounced JIM-bay) is a hand drum that originated in Ghana. It's the lead drum in ceremonial use for religious services and social activities.
"There are four lead drums: the bass drums or djun djun; the second bass drum, or sangba; the high bass drum called the ken kene; and the ganjkui, which are the bells indigenous to most cultures in that region.
"We're also bringing along a Baliphone, which is a kind of African xylophone that plays in quarter-tones," said Wojtera.
The percussionist says his ensemble has wide latitude in "African Sanctus."
"It's very much improvised. We've got the chart to tell us when to start and when to finish, and the rest is pretty much up to us - we'll incorporate a number of indigenous African rhythms," said Wojtera.
Wojtera studied African music with ethnomusicologist Paul Berliner at Northwestern University. He and his students learned to play the djembe drums from Khalid Saleem, who teaches percussion at the State University of New York, Brockport.
Wojtera and the Radford University Percussion Ensemble will demonstrate the djembe orchestra for interested listeners during the Illuminations lecture at 6:30 p.m. before the Monday concert on the Civic Center stage.
by CNB