Collegiate to present African concert

By Bill Blankenship

The Capital-Journal

A concert Friday night will celebrate the development of the music of Africans as their descendents settled elsewhere in the world.

Topeka Collegiate School will present a 300-voice choir of its pupils and adults from the community at the All-School Concert of the African Diaspora. Admission to the concert from 6:30 to 8 p.m. in Hoehner Auditorium of Topeka High School, 800 S.W. 10th, is free.

Musical selections on the program include such African songs as "Babethandaza," "Kye Kye Kule" and "Sinyahamba."

Children also will sing songs traced to African slaves in the United States, such as "Follow the Drinking Gourd." That song gives coded direction to escaping slaves so they can reach freedom through the Underground Railroad.

Middle school students also will perform spoken word pieces, including dramatic readings.

Charles Owens, an administrator from Chicago's Lake Forest Academy, and Kay Siebert, Topeka Collegiate's director of music, will co-conduct the program.

Accompanists include Danny Jackson on keyboards, Ken Park on percussion and Derek Sharp on African drums. Collegiate pupils also will drum during the concert.