Batuki Music Society is proud to present the Okavango African Orchestra CD release concert at the Ada Slaight Hall, Daniel's Spectrum on Saturday, February 27, 2016 at 9:00 PM.

Okavango African Orchestra - 12 instruments, 10 languages, 7 countries…one special concert.

Okavango African Orchestra features a cast of nine accomplished African-born musicians who now live in Toronto and Montreal: Daniel Nebiat (krar, vocals-Eritrea), Tichaona Maredza (marimba, nyunga-nyunga, hosho, vocals-Zimbabwe), Donne Roberts (guitar, vocals-Madagascar), Kooshin (kaban, vocals-Somalia), Ebenezer Agyekum (bass-Ghana), Sadio Sissokho (kora, tama, djembe, vocals-Senegal), Nicolas Simbananiye (vocals-Burundi), Aron Nitunga (guitar, vocals-Burundi) and Kofi Ackah (percussion-Ghana). The concert will also feature dancer/choreographer Mabinty Sylla (Guinea).

The orchestra takes its name from the Okavango Delta, a basin in the Kalahari Desert in Botswana, where many different animal species come together to feed and find water. Predators and prey are forced to coexist and share the meager resources because of the harsh environment around them. Similarly, Okavango: An African Orchestra brings together the traditional music and instruments of several major African cultures that historically have had little or no interaction. The musicians of Okavango have created a common meeting place for these disparate cultures, and a new musical language that harmonizes their different tuning systems, rhythms, and timbres. The musicians and instruments of Okavango represent a continuum of traditions and cultures from time immemorial to the present day. The multicultural spirit of modern-day Canada bridges ancient African solitudes.

Over the autumn and winter, Okavango African Orchestra revisited the site of its triumphant debut, the Canadian Broadcasting Centre where it conquered a full house at Glenn Gould Studio the previous year during Black History month. Its members, returning and new, hunkered down at CBC’s ‘Studio 211’ for the recording of the group’s debut album of ten original songs due for release on February 27th, 2016.

Okavango African Orchestra looks ahead on its continuing journey to an “Africa without borders… before the borders were created”.

Advance Tickets available at these locations:

African Drum & Art Craft, 618 Dundas St. W.

Soundscapes, 572 College St.

New Bilan Restaurant, 183 Dundas St. W.

For info: batukimusic@yahoo.com

Batuki Music Society gratefully acknowledges the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, Canadian Heritage and the Ontario Arts Council.