Two years ago, Kapa‘a’s Isa Maria founded Aloha-Africa, a cultural exchange program bringing musicians and dancers from Africa to Kaua‘i to learn Hawaiian culture, teach dance and drumming classes of their own culture, and perform across the island. Tonight the
Two years ago, Kapa‘a’s Isa Maria founded Aloha-Africa, a cultural exchange program bringing musicians and dancers from Africa to Kaua‘i to learn Hawaiian culture, teach dance and drumming classes of their own culture, and perform across the island.
Tonight the Kusum Ensemble, comprised of Obuobi Ashong, Nii Anang and Ernest Borketey, will share traditional music of Ghana from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Church of the Pacific. Special guest master dancer Ousmane Sall of Senegal will join them.
Highlife, the traditional Ghanian music the ensemble plays, is described as having a Caribbean flavor. Jessi Jardin, of halau Ha‘awi Hemolele ‘O Keakawaiola, schools the visitors in hula and chant. Jardin said the music will feel familiar to Kauaians.
“Caribbean music is what came out of this music,” she said.
Maria and Jardin are the two women behind Aloha-Africa. Maria met the ensemble while visiting a friend in Virginia, where she once lived. Having studied traditional African music since 1985, she felt it was time to give back.
“I’ve lived on Kaua‘i for 11 years and wanted to create a cultural exchange,” she said. “It was about connecting hula with Africa.”
She didn’t have to look far for collaboration.
“Isa asked me to be the kumu,” Jardin said. “She had all the connections and I had the aloha spirit.”
Twice each week, Ashong, Anang and Borketey study hula with Jardin. The remaining days, they teach drumming and dance on the Eastside and North Shore.
“These boys are so committed to learning,” she said. “I’m not just teaching them to dance. I am teaching them the spiritual side of hula as a way of life. Hula is the stories, the history, the language, the music, the medicine and the plants.”
The ensemble is currently scheduled to be on Kaua‘i until June, but it’s Jardin’s intent to have them extend.
“It’s my goal to have them perform at Queen Emma in October,” she said.
Maria’s goal is simply to provide work for the musicians.
“They don’t have a way to make a living in Ghana,” she said. “All the money they make here they send home.”
Through donations, Maria was able to buy them plane tickets.
“I don’t have any money, but I have determination,” she said.
This is the second Ghanian group Aloha Africa has hosted.
“These people are so peaceful and reserved,” she said. “I think they are like the Hawaiians. They are all about their ancestors and family.”
Anang agreed.
“Music is our second nature. Everything we do, we do with song.”
In addition to playing traditional Ghanian music, the ensemble will also share what they’ve learned in their classes with Jardin. From 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Tuesdays, they perform at Caffé Coco in Wailua.
For the drum and dance class calendar and further information, visit the Aloha-Africa Web site at aloha-africa.com
