Alumni for homecoming weekend got a taste of the world as the ‘Global Excursions’ concert featured world culture, music and dance.
Hed: ‘Global Excursions’ brings world to OU
Alumni were not the only ones celebrated this weekend as world music and cultures were on display at Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium Saturday.
The College of Fine Arts hosted the Fifth World Music and Dance Concert titled “Global Excursions,” which featured music and dance covering a variety of cultures.
Acts throughout the concert ranged from Nii-Tete Yartey, artistic director of the National Dance Company of Ghana, who performed African dance to a Tabla drum ensemble that performed fast-paced, classical Indian music.
Performances jumped back and forth from different cultures, styles, and instruments that gave the concert a “melting pot” feel. Even current pop culture got a shoutout as the OU a cappella group “New Chords on the Block” sang “Classic,” the hit song by MKTO.
“For me, it’s global understanding,” said Curtis Johnson, the bandleader for “New Directions” that also performed that night. “We talk music all the time. We talk about our cultures and it seems like we are more the same than we are different.”
The theme of the night was global experience and education, and certain aspects of each performance were similar to each other.
“I think rhythm is very universal and something that can actually make each other understand each other a lot easier,” said Sashar Zarif, an international dancer and dance researcher.
The concert was directed and led by Pascual Yao Younge, professor of multicultural music education, and Zelma Badu-Younge, associate professor of dance.
The concert ran for the fifth year in a row, and the event has transformed the perspective of the surrounding community on what the world really is, Zelma Younge said.
“We get used to seeing certain things, and this wakes you up with seeing various, different cultures,” Zelma Younge said.
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