“When I hear music, I fear no danger. I am invulnerable. I see no foe. I am related to the earliest times, and to the latest.”
— Henry Thoreau
Or, in the words of Albus Dumbledore, “Ah music, a magic beyond all we do here.” As I sit in Davis, writing this article with the melodies of this week’s Performing Arts Series artist quickening through my headphones, I am inclined to agree.
Granted, I have been known to cast a spell or two, but as I listen to songs composed half a world away, in a different time by a different people, it is clear music transcends language, time and distance in a way my Winter Ball antics never will. Music makes the world smaller.
Herbert Kinobe is an exceptional Ugandan multi-instrumentalist, a vocalist, and a composer known for his inspired synthesis of African roots and global fusion. With his music comes an incredible amount of history and culture. His performances all over the African continent and the world are not just shows, they are opportunities to teach and learn, to bring people together through the universality of music.
When preparing to write this article, I watched several of Kinobe’s concerts and although I recognized few of the instruments, I was amazed by how familiar the melodies felt, as if I had spent my life with them.
The familiarity with which Kinobe interacts with and enfolds the audience into the performance fades the formality of the event into background. What we are left with is a homey, comfortable environment that welcomes us to embrace our global citizenship and to appreciate music so foreign yet so familiar.
Kinobe talks about the various instruments, their names and roots and cultural value, bringing the audience on a journey through his identity. This Friday, Feb. 20 at 8:00 p.m. in the Mahaney Center for the Arts (MCA), Kinobe and three musical collaborators will perform a free, acoustic-spirited concert to share this experience with us.
Born near Lake Victoria in Uganda, Kinobe now performs all over the world, bringing a powerful World-roots-dance sound to festival main stages and theatres, and captivating solo and acoustic shows that showcase the diversity of traditional African instruments. He uses koras, kalimbas, adungus, endongos, ngonis and percussion to invite audiences into his culture, describing the instruments and their roles in African society and history.
In many ways, music is one of the most revealing and expressive parts of any culture. This concert is an incredible opportunity to not only bask in soothing melodies and dance with frenzied beats but also to peek into humankind.
Kinobe is not only a musician; he is also a World Ambassador for the Harmony Foundation. There, he supports work on environmental protection, social development, and the improvement of the lives of children and their families around the globe.
In 2013, the Foundation sponsored his band WAMU Spirit in recording the CD “Searching for Survival,” an uplifting expression of hope that people around the globe can work together to make the world a healthier, more peaceful, and just place to live. Kinobe has also campaigned with UNICEF to support education for girls, and works extensively with schools and communities on outreach and education programs globally.
Kinobe’s concert is the first of several lead-up events to an early April residency with the Nile Project. The Nile Project brings together artists from many of the 11 Nile countries to make music that combines the region’s diverse instruments, languages and traditions.
The concert experience aims to inspire cultural curiosity, highlight regional connections, and showcase the potential of trans-boundary cooperation. In this case, Nile Project participants hope to use music to facilitate cooperation over the region’s water supply.
The next lead-up events are three lecture/demonstrations on Nile region music, dance, and cultural collaboration by ethnomusicologist Sylvia Nannyonga-Tamusuza, to take place Mar. 2, 3 and 4. Go/nileproject for further information about the Nile Project at Middlebury!
Kinobe’s concert is a rare opportunity for Middlebury students to hear and learn about authentic, moving music from Africa, right here in our own arts center. “Music From Africa” will take place on Friday, Feb. 20 at 8:00 p.m. in the Concert Hall of the Kevin P. Mahaney ’84 Center for the Arts.
Professor of Music and ethnomusicologist Damascus Kafumbe will lead a pre-concert talk with the artist at 7:00 p.m. in MCA 221. Both events are free and open to the public—no tickets required.
