The Bath waterfront becomes percussive this weekend with Aba Diop | Column
Aba Diop Trio will kick off the Levitt AMP Bath Waterfront Music Series on July 11 with special guest Pan Fried Steel. (Courtesy of Chocolate Church Arts Center)
Having grown up in a rural place and now landing in Midcoast Maine, I know too well the respect that comes from continuing a family lineage. Farming, fishing, boating building — there is great honor in lineage. This Saturday, July 11, at 5 p.m., we are thrilled to welcome Senegalese master percussionist Aba Diop and members of the Yermande Family. I mention lineage because Aba Diop, born into an unbroken lineage of griots — the musicians, storytellers, historians and cultural keepers of West Africa — brings the powerful rhythms of the sabar drum tradition to audiences with incredible energy and joy. Afropop Worldwide has called him “one of the hottest and most in-demand sabar percussionists out of Dakar,” while PopMatters described the group’s music as “outstanding from the very first beat.”
John Medeski — best known as the keyboardist and co-founder of the groundbreaking jazz-funk trio Medeski Martin & Wood — has played and recorded frequently with Aba Diop. He says about the group, “the freedom and spontaneity with which they approach playing is how I believe it should be … always connected to the source of where music comes from.”
I’m also delighted that our friends from the local steel drum ensemble Pan Fried Steel will be sharing the bill that night. Their vibrant Caribbean steel drum music is a staple of the Waterfront Series. Pan Fried will open and then the two groups will share the stage for a truly unique artistic and cultural exchange. I pitched this idea to both groups, and to my surprise, they all said yes at the opportunity to exchange and collaborate. The two groups will be breaking bread together on Friday and rehearsing for their show at the Chocolate Church Arts Center. It is rare to get to stage and support an exchange like this, and I am excited by this premise of a local, Midcoast community ensemble in musical dialogue with these renowned, Senegalese artists.
Pan Fried Steel plays at a Caribbean Night at the Boothbay Harbor Opera House. The group will open for Aba Diop at the Bath Waterfront Concert Series on July 11. (Courtesy Boothbay Opera House)
It is thanks to our new partnership with the Levitt Foundation that is allowing this project to grow in this way, not just in scale, but in depth and meaning. So I encourage you to keep an eye out for this inaugural season of an expanded Waterfront Concert Series — now Levitt Amp Bath Waterfront Concert Series — bringing even more world-class artists, community activities and cultural experiences to Waterfront Park. I can’t think of a better way to begin than with an extraordinary evening of music from Senegal and the Caribbean.
In closing, it is worth mentioning that the group’s name, Yermande, is a Wolof (Senegalese) word meaning compassion, care for others and deep respect for community. This is quite fitting as that is exactly what our Waterfront Series, co-produced by Main Street Bath and the CCAC, is all about.
In the words of Aba himself, “We are all human. It doesn’t matter if you’re in Japan, America or Senegal, the music unites us. And when we’re united, we become like a family.”
Matthew Glassman is executive and artistic director of the Chocolate Church Arts Center in Bath.
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