THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 11, 1996 TAG: 9601100153
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 14 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK ROBERTS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 52 lines
Listen to the zequere, hear the beats of the kitira, bata and stabauqe.
The zequere, as you may learn Friday at the Suffolk Museum, is a gourd; the kitira, bata and stabauqe are drums.
Along with the agogo bell, a cow bell, they will be demonstrated by Morgan and Morgan, a father-son team using dance and instrumentation to illustrate ``Afro-Brazilian Dance and Music.''
Clyde Morgan and Clyde Goes Morgan Jr. expect you to join their performance. By the time they - and you - finish, you should be fairly well versed when it comes to the rhythms and dances of the West African, Yoruba-speaking Nigerians - music carried into Cuba, Haiti and Brazil and now, with the help of the Morgans, making the rounds in the United States.
American audiences participate with choral responses and rhythm accompaniment to songs they will learn during the program.
In the Old Dominion, the father-son team is sponsored by Young Audiences of Virginia, the 40-year-old organization that usually brings its efforts into schools.
It is the first arts organization to be awarded the National Medal of Arts, an honor presented in 1994 by President Clinton. In 1992, Clyde Morgan was named the Young Audiences Artist of the Year.
The Cincinnati native made his professional debut with the Jose Limon Dance Company, later forming his own group, which toured Africa. During that visit, he spent a great deal of time researching the dances and music of the continent.
Morgan began the second phase of his career in Brazil as choreographer and artistic director for the Grupo de Dance Contemporanea da Universidad Fedral da Bahia in Salvador,Bahia, Brazil.
His son, who was born there, where he studied the martial art capoeira, now performs with the Afro-Brazilian Dance Ensemble in Brazil, Jamaica and the United States.
Working together, dancing and performing African and Afro-Brazilian music, the Morgans illustrate the importance of music and dance in religion and various ceremonies. MEMO: The ``Afro-Brazilian Dance and Music,'' a free performance is at 7:30
p.m. Friday at the Suffolk Museum, 118 Bosley Ave. For more information,
call 925-6311.
ILLUSTRATION: Clyde Morgan Jr. and his father will perform Friday.
by CNB