World Music Concert is a Lead-Up Event to the Nile Project in April

Middlebury, VT—Herbert Kinobe (pronounced “Chin-O-bay”) is a gifted Ugandan multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, and composer known for his inspired synthesis of African roots and global fusion. He has performed all over the African continent and the world, studying and playing with celebrated musicians including African superstars Toumani Diabate, Youssou N’dour, Salif Keita, Angelique Kidjo, Oliver Mtukudzi, and Baaba Maal. Kinobe and three musical collaborators will perform a free, acoustic-spirited concert on Friday, February 20 at 8:00 P.M. in the Mahaney Center for the Arts, with a pre-concert lecture at 7:00 P.M.

Born near Lake Victoria in Uganda, Kinobe now performs all over the world, bringing a powerful World-roots-dance sound to festival main stages and theatres, and captivating solo and acoustic shows that showcase the diversity of traditional African instruments. He uses koras, kalimbas, adungus, endongos, ngonis, and percussion to invite audiences into his culture, describing the instruments and their roles in African society and history.

Kinobe is proud to be a World Ambassador for the Harmony Foundation (Canada), supporting that organization’s important work on environmental protection, social development, and the improvement of the lives of children and their families around the world. In 2013, the Foundation sponsored his band WAMU Spirit in recording the CD “Searching for Survival,” an uplifting expression of hope that people around the globe can work together to make the world a healthier, more peaceful, and just place to live. Kinobe has also campaigned with UNICEF to support education for girls, and works extensively with schools and communities on outreach and education programs globally.

Kinobe’s performance calendar last year included stops at many renowned venues such as The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC and the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) in New York. In 2015, Kinobe will release another CD, collaborating with long-time friend Jaja Bashengezi from the Democratic Republic of Congo. This CD will create a fresh, rich, acoustic sound from the great lakes region of East and Central Africa.

Kinobe’s concert is the first in several lead-up events to an early April residency with the Nile Project. The Nile Project brings together artists from many of the 11 Nile countries to make music that combines the region’s diverse instruments, languages, and traditions. The concert experience aims to inspire cultural curiosity, highlight regional connections, and showcase the potential of trans-boundary cooperation. The next lead-up events are three lecture/demonstrations on Nile region music, dance, and cultural collaboration by ethnomusicologist Sylvia Nannyonga-Tamusuza, to take place March 2, 3, and 4, 2015. The Nile Project and lead-up events are supported by the Mahaney Center for the Arts, Performing Arts Series, Arts Council, Department of Music, and the New England Foundation for the Arts. Further information about the Nile Project at Middlebury is available at http://go.middlebury.edu/nileproject.

Kinobe’s “Music From Africa” concert will take place on Friday, February 20, 2015, at 8:00 P.M. in the Concert Hall of the Kevin P. Mahaney ’84 Center for the Arts. Professor Damascus Kafumbe will lead a pre-concert discussion with Kinobe at 7:00 PM in Mahaney Center for the Arts Room 221. Both events are free and open to the public. The Mahaney Center is located at 72 Porter Field Road in Middlebury, just off Route 30 south, on the campus of Middlebury College. Free parking is available. For more information, call (802) 443-MIDD (6433) or go to http://go.middlebury.edu/arts