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African drumming breaks library silence
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Sogbety Diomande, a West Africa native, performs during a Monday afternoon program at the Boardman public library. He’ll give another free performance at 6:30 p.m. next Monday at the main public library, 305 Wick Ave., Youngstown.
BOARDMAN
The normally quiet Boardman public library branch reverberated with West African drumming Monday afternoon.
The library came alive with a high-energy, one-man show that fully immersed the audience in the songs, dances and rhythms of that region.
The performance was by Sogbety Diomande, who was born in Toufinga, a small farming village in the northwest section of the Ivory Coast, and began drumming in his early teens.
Diomande, who lives in Mansfield, will give another free performance at 6:30 p.m. Monday at the main library, 305 Wick Ave., Youngstown.
His performances at the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County branches are part of the library system’s observance of February as Black History Month. These are Diomande’s first appearances in Mahoning County’s system.
Sitting front and center on the floor were 11 children from the Kiddin’ Around preschool in Boardman, whose attention Diomande quickly captured and held as he described and demonstrated the wide array of percussion instruments he was playing.
“Boardman Library called us and invited us, and I thought it would be a great experience for them to learn about music,” said Carol Audia, preschool teacher.
Diomande’s instruments included the African equivalent of a xylophone, known as a balaphone, and six drums, including a djembe made from a single piece of wood with a goat skin stretched over its top.
Also attending were several residents of the Valley Renaissance Healthcare Center, a Boardman nursing home.
Dan Susany of Lisbon, who also plays West African drums, said the value of a program such as this is “immeasurable, especially for kids to be able to experience music from other cultures and people from other cultures.”
“Music is the common connection between all cultures,” he added.
“I’ve been to Ghana twice, which is right next to the Ivory Coast, where this gentleman’s from, and was entertained by orphans drumming and singing, and I have a love for it,” said Marge Borom, who also attended the performance.
“I love the music. I love the people. I love the culture,” she said of West Africa.
Borom and a friend built a library and an orphanage in Ghana, and Borom recently moved back to her native Youngstown after 18 years living in Nebraska and Kansas.
“The library thinks it’s important to celebrate various cultures that make up part of our diverse community, and Black History Month, of course, lends itself to celebrating African-American culture,” said Josephine Nolfi, director of youth services and programming. “When we learn about other cultures, we learn about ourselves.”
“We are happy to be able to bring in a performer that people in our community may not have an opportunity to otherwise experience,” said Janet Loew, communications and public relations director.
Since his 1997 move to the United States, Diomande, who plays and teaches traditional West African drum music, has performed with the Mask, Kotchenga and Djoniba dance companies, Company Kobake and the Tokounou Guinean dance and drum company.
Having performed on Jimmy Buffet’s 2000 tour, he was a resident artist for most of 2001 at the Harambe African Village at Disney World in Orlando, Fla.
In 2006, he started his own West African Celebration, which assembles master dancers and drummers who perform and teach at a three-day drum and dance camp in rural Ohio.
In 2008, he assembled a troupe of 10 dancers and musicians to headline the Lotus World Music Festival in Bloomington, Ind.
In recent years, he has performed at schools, universities, parks, festivals and numerous public libraries, including the Warren-Trumbull and Niles McKinley libraries.