African Dance and Drum Festival at Tri-Cities High

The sounds of Africa echoed through the halls of Tri-Cities High School this weekend as dancers and drummers from across the continent gathered for the 16th Annual Atlanta African Dance and Drum Festival, a three-day celebration of the region’s culture.

The festival, which began on Friday, July 25, runs through Sunday, July 26, and features workshops led by instructors from Guinea, Mali, Senegal, Ivory Coast, and Angola, drawing both seasoned performers and newcomers to African traditions. The festival was founded 17 years ago by Aiyetoro Frazier of the Afrikan Djeli Cultural Institute.

“I started this just to provide an opportunity for drummers and dancers to expand their learning, provide a chance for people to witness production,” said Frazier, who has put on the festival every year except for 2020 due to COVID-19. “It was an extension of a space that I had where we had various classes. Then beyond just offering classes for local students, we also wanted to do something to offer people who could travel as well.”

Among the featured instructors is Djeneba Sako, 57, a Mali native who has become a fixture at the festival since first attending in 2003. Sako, who originally came to the United States in July 2000 to teach at the University of Colorado Boulder, now travels annually from Colorado to lead workshops in traditional Malian dance.

“I bring my culture to share with everybody here,” said Sako, who demonstrated the “Didadi” dance during Friday’s activities. The traditional dance, she explained, is performed at ceremonies throughout the Wassoulou region of Mali and holds special significance for its emotional healing properties.

“Didadi is a sweet dance,” Sako said. “If you’re dancing or you’re playing, you’ll be happy. If you are angry, you forget you’re angry, if you have a lot of things on your mind, you’ll forget. You’ll be happy.”

The festival’s programming includes intensive workshops from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, following Friday’s opening night signature Midnight Dance Workshop. Participants can choose from various skill levels, with master instructors providing hands-on training in traditional movements, rhythms and cultural context.

Saturday evening’s highlight features a concert performance of “The Goddess Zaouli Lives” by the  Afriky Lolo West African Dance Company from St. Louis. The production, under the artistic direction of Diadié Bathily and choreographed by Bathily and Rokya Ouattara, tells the story of Zaouli Djèla Lou, a young woman whose trials of love, betrayal, and redemption unfold through drumming and dance.

“It’s very good to see people enjoying themselves,” Frazier said. “It’s good to hear the comments that they’re making about how much they’re learning, how much they enjoy the teacher, how much they enjoy the music.”

The festival also features an African-inspired marketplace with handcrafted goods, traditional clothing, instruments and food vendors that is free and open to the public, creating an accessible entry point for community members to experience the celebration.

For many instructors like Sako, who teaches weekly community classes in Boulder and performs at weddings, baby showers and cultural events, the festival represents an annual homecoming of sorts. Her connection to the festival’s community spans more than two decades.

“I would say, on a real basic level, leave at least one or two steps that the teachers taught,” Frazier said of his hopes for participants. “If they took a drum class, at least leave with some parts of some of the rhythms that they learned. Leave with a sense of family. Leave with a feeling of culture and community.”

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