Rwandan music and dance performance by Jean-Paul Samputu and the Ingeli Troupe March 12

Event Calendar Listing

Saturday, March 12

7:30 p.m.

Rwandan Music and Dance Performance by Jean-Paul Samputu and the Ingeli Troupe

MIDDLEBURY, Vt.-Singer, songwriter and musician Jean-Paul Samputu is the winner of the Kora award, the African equivalent of the Grammy, for Most Promising Male African Artist. His performances are steeped in the many rich traditions of Rwandan music and dance, and include influences from Uganda, Burundi and the Congo, as well as pygmy voices and traditions. Samputu sings in six languages-Kinyarwanda, Swahili, Lingala, Luganda, French and English-and in styles ranging from soukous, rumba, voodoo and reggae, to traditional Rwandan 5/8, Afrobeat, pygmy and gospel. The troupe has nine members, including Samputu, all of whom perform music and three of whom dance. The group offers songs that reflect many emotions, including original songs recalling the genocide that struck Rwanda in 1994, which claimed the lives of six members of Samputu’s immediate family; songs that look to the future and which celebrate Rwanda’s beauty and people; songs that celebrate the return of refugees; and songs that hold up children as the hope of humanity.

Social Space, McCullough Student Center, Middlebury College, Old Chapel Road off South Main Street (Rt. 30)

Free admission

For more information, contact Armelle Crouzieres-Ingenthron of the Middlebury College French Department at crouzier@middlebury.edu or 802-443-2427.

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