Sounds of the Andes and Africa

From folk sounds of the Andes in South America to the exhilarating percussion and dance numbers from Ghana and South Africa, the Andes Manta & Paschal Younge and the WVU African Music and Dance Ensemble show had it all. The event, presented by the Raymond Foundation, took place 7 p.m. Friday at the Buskirk-Chumley Theatre as part of the 2005 Lotus Blossoms outreach program.\nThe night started with the music group Andes Manta. The experience really opened up my ears to a whole new world of sound and I embraced it. I wasn't a fan before the show because I had never heard music of this sort. After they played, though, I was a new fan and a true believer in their original, soothing and lively music of the Andes.\nAndes Manta played music of the Andes in South America with all hand-made instruments except the guitar. Instruments included the quena or Andean flute, which offered a liquid sound and also 6-foot-long pan pipes, which offered a deep quality. \nThe founder of the group, Wilson Lopez, even added a dimension of humor in between sets. \n"We would have made them bigger, but we are little." Lopez said, referring to the 6-foot-long pan pipes.\nLopez joked around at various times during the show to lighten the mood and just to make people feel good.\nThe group's original music added sounds from South America, but also blended in Irish melodies. It was a nice mesh of cultural sounds. Their music was very lively, causing children, teenagers and adults to clap along. There were people of all ages dancing to the music up front while others stood up from their chairs moving along to the soothing melodies of Andes Manta. The South American group received a well-deserved standing ovation at the end and performed one last song for the Bloomington fans. \nThe highlight of their performance was when they played instruments that portrayed elements of a tropical rain forest. \n"If you close your eyes, you will feel like you are in a tropical rain forest." Lopez said to the audience.\nI did what Lopez said and he was right. It was an amazing feeling and an incredible feeling of ease. Their music definitely moved me and I would highly recommend seeing them if they come to Bloomington again. You will not regret it.\nAndes Manta's folk style music originated from the Inca civilization. This music is still popular and widely played in Ecuador, Peru, Boliva, Chile, Columbia, Venezuela and Argentina.\nThe second act added the energetic dimension of percussion and dance. Paschal Younge and the West Virginia University African Music and Dance Ensemble did not disappoint the audience at all. The group is made up of students and faculty from West Virginia University's World Music Center. This performance moved me and the rest of the audience in a different way, adding a lot more percussion beats and highly athletic and energetic dance routines. \nTheir sound made almost everybody in the theater get up and dance, sing and clap along to Younge and his team. Their percussive beats and dance steps exhilarated the audience to the point where people of all ages wanted to be involved with this West Virginia school. \nThe dancers offered highly original moves in sync while the percussionists kept a nice beat all along and also blended in singing. The dancers were well choreographed without question, and the whole performance was a musical dance achievement. Their music and dance originates from places like Ghana, Senegal, Guinea, Togo, Nigeria, Benin, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and South Africa. \nI would recommend this performance to anyone also because it added a traditional African sound, and a traditional African dance. Younge and everyone from WVU were an absolute delight to see live and I hope they return to Bloomington in the near future.