ASC Assistant Director Eric Schmidt and his Music of Africa class welcomed Ben Paulding for music workshop.

Last month, Eric Schmidt and his Music of Africa class welcomed Ben Paulding, who directs the Fafali Ghanaian music ensemble at Brandeis University and is a member of the Boston-based Afropop band Kotoko Brass, for a socially distanced kinka drumming workshop. The students substituted household objects for instruments and recorded themselves playing. Each student’s recording was edited together to create a music video, with additional support by Koblavi Dogah. This workshop was funded by the BU Hub Office and the BU Center for Teaching and Learning. Watch the music video here.

The Music of Africa class will next be hosting the djeli (griot), balafon player, and NEA National Heritage Fellow Balla Kouyaté for a demonstration and discussion of music in Mali on Wednesday, March 24, 4:40-5:30PM EDT. Please contact Eric (ericjs@bu.edu) if interested in listening in via Zoom—limited space may be available.