On Friday October 12th 7:30 pm at the Unitarian located at 158 North 4th Street in DeKalb award winning Afropop and Reggae musician Mathew Tembo will be in concert. Tembo is a world touring artist that fuses traditional music of his Zambian home with Ethiopian and Reggae to create a unique and powerful sound.
In Zambia Mathew is considered one of the best reggae musicians, and he is also an award winning Afropop performer. He is currently working on his masters in World Music Performance at Northern Illinois University where he also teaches an Afropop Ensemble. This concert is a fundraiser for his return to Africa for the completion of his masters’ project.
“In Africa, written musical notation barely exists. Music is preserved through people who constantly make it and perform it, and then orally hand over the musicianship to the younger generation.” Tembo said in explaining his desire to return to Africa to record. He hopes to contribute to the effort to capture and preserve some of the music which exists within the over 700 ethnic groups of Africa.
Tembo will be performing with a small group on the 12th. He will be joined by a drummer and bass player. He is also planning to have a small horn section. It promises to be a very lively, informative, and powerful evening of music.
Mathew will be playing an instrument he built himself with ghords and wood, an instrument true to the instruments of Zambia.
Tembo creates a fusion of Zambian tradition with reggae. It makes for a tremendously enjoyable contemporary production with organic elements that should appeal to African and reggae fans; as well as an entirely new audience looking for some traditional roots music, according to Anthem in a review of Mathew’s sixth album.
Tickets will be $10 at the door. Additional donations are also encouraged. For more information contact Dan Kenney 815-793-0950.
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