The power of music united students from all cultural backgrounds at Saturday’s celebration of “Music from Around the World” presented by the African Peoples Association.
The event was part of the APA’s cross cultural conference, an annual free event that introduces students to different societal norms from around the world and how people define a topic in their culture.
Immanuel Gyebi, APA public relations adviser, said the purpose of the celebration is to broaden student diversity and come together to be exposed to music that people don’t hear every day.
“We want to demonstrate an appreciation and respect for all types of music,” Gyebi said. “More often than not, students only listen to American pop or hip-hop, but there is some really great music that comes from all over the world and today we’re just trying to get students to recognize what else is out there.”
Audience members were entertained by other student performers ranging from Nigeria, Ethiopia, China and South Korea. Graduate Student Mari Kirsanova is a member of the student organization Capoeira Mandigna, an ancient style of martial arts that incorporates music with dancing.
“Capoeira was brought to Brazil by African slaves in the 16th century,” Kirsanova said. “Our performance today is going to demonstrate ancient Capoeira techniques using an atabaque drum and a berimbau, a tribal bow-like string instrument.”
The event was open to anyone who wanted to perform, but was not limited to playing an instrument. Students were also able to perform a cultural dance displaying their nationality.
Blaine Lemin is a APA member and is from northern Ethiopia. She performed a dance style called eskista, a ceremonial performance that is considered to be one of the most powerful and hyper dance styles in the world.
“Eskista originated in Ethiopia and, for me, it demonstrates the cultural pride I have for my country,” said Lemin. “It’s wonderful to be able to see so many people come together to represent the music of their country and how we can all learn to be more accepting of people’s heritage and beliefs.”
The event was rounded out with a panel discussion where audience members and judges were able to participate in an open debate about the definition of music and what it means to everyone individually in a cultural sense.
APA President Emeka Anyanwu was pleased at the event’s turnout and explained why music was chosen for this year’s subject.
“Music was picked because we always want to try to find something that is seen as culturally distinct across the board,” Anyanwu said. “Last year we did love and dating and we talked about how that is defined in other places besides America. Overall, I think everything went according as planned and the message we were trying to convey reached everyone in the audience. We wanted for everyone to be there for the music and be there because they cared.”