Music in the Square: Landaya

Name: Music in the Square: Landaya
Start: 2025-09-13T18:00:00-04:00
End: 2025-09-13T19:30:00-04:00
Location: High and Congress Streets, Portland, ME, United States, Maine 04101

Schedule

Sat Sep 13 2025 at 06:00 pm to 07:30 pm

UTC-04:00

Location

High and Congress Streets, Portland, ME, United States, Maine 04101 | Portland, ME

Part of DRUM: A Global Music Series.

Master drummer and djembefola, Sayon Camara, hailing from Guinea, West Africa, joins forces with multi-instrumentalists Dave Kobrenski and Grant Ellerbeck for a spellbinding performance of Malinké music. Known collectively as Landaya, this powerhouse trio draws from the traditions of Sayon’s village, weaving intricate rhythms on the djembé and dunun drums with ancient melodies. Kobrenski and Ellerbeck accompany Sayon’s joyous singing on instruments like the Fula flute, kamale ngoni (10-string harp), and bolon (4-string bass harp). The performance is further enhanced by Sayon’s storytelling, providing rich cultural context for the music.

True to the experience of a festival in Sayon’s village, the nature of Landaya’s performance literally engages the audience in participation of call and response singing in Malinke language and dance movement for all who choose it, as well as some who normally may not but can’t resist the joyousness of the music. To enhance the performance Sayon will be playing in traditional costume, an art of movement in itself.
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