2008 Woodie Awards
Rich culture at Cafe Africa
Nicola McQuiston
Issue date: 3/18/08 Section: News
A diverse crowd of 50 people gathered Thursday night in the Reading Room of the Andrew White Student Center to see performances of traditional African dance and song, as well as contemporary poetry and hip-hop. The event was hosted by the African Student Union (ASU) and the Caribbean Student Union (CSU) as part of the Second Annual African Diaspora Week at Loyola College, which took place from March 10 to March 16.
Featured performers included Les Femmes d'Afrik, a subset of Towson University's African Diaspora Club (ADC) that presents traditional African dance numbers. Kevin Lassiter, a freshman at Loyola, also gave a presentation of the music of the Gullah people of South Carolina. Spoken Word artist Sabrina Gilbert of the Baltimore area also delivered original poetry.
The main event of the night was the modern hip-hop performance of Axiom, featuring artists Black Root and Word Slave with special guest J. Pope, who later performed her own original work. Black Root began performing in 2001, while Word Slave spoke at his first poetry slam in 2000. The two met at Towson University.
"No matter what I was going to do, I knew I wanted to help people, be it through medicine or poetry," Black Root says.
"Poetry is my release. It's very personal. It started as my outlet," Word Slave says.
Princess Boaguehe, a member of Towson University's ADC and Assistant Program Director for the Ivorian Hope Charity, was also present. The Ivorian Hope Charity is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping develop the Ivory Coast by providing poverty relief in the form of shipped clothing and food. The program also sponsors entrepreneurial business projects in order to promote self-sufficiency.
"Africa has such a rich diversity in talent in culture in gifts so we just come to share that," president of Towson University's ADC, Gboyinde Onijala, says.
"The whole point of the [African Diaspora] week is to expose the campus to African culture," Loyola sophomore and African Student Union Secretary Jennifer Mdurvwa says.
The week began with Cultural Harmony Night on Monday, followed by the one-man-play "A Self Portrait" by Iyaba Ibo Mandi on Tuesday. Wednesday featured a drumming presentation by Lena Ampadu and the week ended with a viewing of the film "Cool Runnings" on Friday and a Sunday Caribbean brunch.
The ASU and CSU are two ALANA organizations at Loyola College that "serve to integrate and foster the unity of students from different cultures."
Featured performers included Les Femmes d'Afrik, a subset of Towson University's African Diaspora Club (ADC) that presents traditional African dance numbers. Kevin Lassiter, a freshman at Loyola, also gave a presentation of the music of the Gullah people of South Carolina. Spoken Word artist Sabrina Gilbert of the Baltimore area also delivered original poetry.
The main event of the night was the modern hip-hop performance of Axiom, featuring artists Black Root and Word Slave with special guest J. Pope, who later performed her own original work. Black Root began performing in 2001, while Word Slave spoke at his first poetry slam in 2000. The two met at Towson University.
"No matter what I was going to do, I knew I wanted to help people, be it through medicine or poetry," Black Root says.
"Poetry is my release. It's very personal. It started as my outlet," Word Slave says.
Princess Boaguehe, a member of Towson University's ADC and Assistant Program Director for the Ivorian Hope Charity, was also present. The Ivorian Hope Charity is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping develop the Ivory Coast by providing poverty relief in the form of shipped clothing and food. The program also sponsors entrepreneurial business projects in order to promote self-sufficiency.
"Africa has such a rich diversity in talent in culture in gifts so we just come to share that," president of Towson University's ADC, Gboyinde Onijala, says.
"The whole point of the [African Diaspora] week is to expose the campus to African culture," Loyola sophomore and African Student Union Secretary Jennifer Mdurvwa says.
The week began with Cultural Harmony Night on Monday, followed by the one-man-play "A Self Portrait" by Iyaba Ibo Mandi on Tuesday. Wednesday featured a drumming presentation by Lena Ampadu and the week ended with a viewing of the film "Cool Runnings" on Friday and a Sunday Caribbean brunch.
The ASU and CSU are two ALANA organizations at Loyola College that "serve to integrate and foster the unity of students from different cultures."
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