Seattle Center Hosts Spirit of West Africa May 7

Celebrate the art, music, and culture of Africa through live music, dance, art, film, exhibits, family activities, a fashion show and marketplace and more at Seattle Center Festál: Spirit of West Africa, May 7, noon - 8 p.m., free and for all ages, in Center House.

This year the Spirit of West Africa presents acclaimed artists Alpha Yaya Diallo, Foday Musa Suso, De Cajon Project, Kutt-N Up, Naby Camara and Lagni Sussu, Yirim Seck, Mapathe Diop and Thione Diop, and Yeke. The festival kicks off at noon with a Congolese Dance Workshop taught by Makeda Ebube.

West Africa is the motherland of traditional rhythms that have given birth to the modern music of the Caribbean and Brazil - and to American jazz, hip-hop, blues and rock-and-roll. Tightly woven polyrhythms, where each drummer plays a specific contrasting part of the larger rhythm, work together synergistically to create a river of sound that moves audience to get up and dance.

Keepers of West African culture, griot families of traditional musicians, drummers and dancers, have kept this music alive over hundreds of generations. Their presence is essential to all celebrations in the lives of West Africans. It is with drum and dance that the community is united, strengthened and elevated and the rites of passage of its members lives are celebrated.

Seattle Center Festál: Spirit of West Africa is produced by Thione Diop and Seattle Center. For a full event schedule, visit theionediop.com or contact Thione Diop at 206 290-5560 or thionediopmusic@gmail.com, and for more information on this cultural series and other Seattle Center programming, click on www.seattlecenter.com or call 206 684-7200.

Seattle Center Festál, a series of 21 world festivals presented at Seattle Center throughout 2011, highlights the distinct cultures and common threads of ethnic communities in our region through traditional and contemporary art, music, foods, youth activities, workshops and more. This collection of cultural events is produced with the generous support of Wells Fargo, Verizon Wireless and KUOW 94.9 Public Radio. Additional support is provided by Seattle Center Foundation and the City of Seattle.