Prelude in the Parks 2024 Festival
Guinean Environmental Stewardship Traditions
Sidiki Conde and Tokounou Dance Company
Music
Friday, June 7, 2024
@
6pm
Hunter’s Point South Park, Queens
Meet at the Overhang - Enter the park at 56th Ave and Center Blvd.
Hunters Point Park Alliance, Queens
Presented by Mov!ng Culture Projects and The Segal Center in collaboration with
Presented by Mov!ng Culture Projects and The Segal Center
NEA Heritage Fellow Sidiki Conde and his Tokounou Ensemble present Guinean environmental stewardship traditions to address the global climate crisis through song. Conde, best known for his remarkable drumming and dancing despite the loss of his legs to polio as a child, is a spiritual authority called a “Sundousou” for his ancestral village, Mancellia in Guinea, West Africa. He is one of this tradition’s last keepers of stories who, to this day, is called upon by village community members to perform baby naming, funeral, and marriage ceremonies. As his mother speaks the language of birds, Conde’s particular spirit familiar (a kind of “spirit animal”) is the “dugah,” or the vulture, whose funeral songs celebrate the passing of great leaders.
Sidiki Conde and Tokounou Dance Company
Sidiki Conde is a dancer, drummer and singer from Guinea, West Africa. Sidiki lost the use of his legs at the age of 14 but this did not stop him from his dream of becoming a dancer. Sidiki has performed with the premier dance and music ensembles in Africa. He came to America in 1998 and formed Tokounou, whose music and dances chronicle Sidiki's unique journey as an artist and celebrate the traditional arts of Guinea. Dance and music in Africa are community events where everyone participates and no one is excluded. Tokounou offer performances as well as mixed ability workshops in which participants will learn to sing and play African rhythms on djembe drums and other instruments, as well as traditional dances.
Location
Meet at the Overhang - Enter the park at 56th Ave and Center Blvd.
