Hit Pick: Oyoyo

Related Content

• Tonight: Ibrahim Kazerooni prepares a Dinner with Imam
  October 8, 2010
• Culinary calendar for the week ahead: Harvest dinners, books and a film on food
  October 4, 2010
• Goodbye Big Mike
  June 6, 2007
• This Buddha's for You
  July 29, 2004
• Off Limits
  August 7, 2003

More About

• St. Paul's United Methodist Church
• Thomas Peake
• World Music
• Folk Music

Oyoyo, Friday, August 20, at St. Paul's United Methodist Church, is a Denver-based five-member percussion ensemble specializing in traditional African folk music. Leader Emei Ezidinma is Nigerian; "oyoyo" is the Yoruban word for "beauty." The group, however, uses a pan-African assortment of instruments: the talking drum, the kalimba (thumb piano), the shakere (a gourd draped with beads) and jembe (a goblet-shaped hand drum). Oyoyo has played quite a few festivals around town, and its 1997 Vol. I CD further testifies that this is neither worldbeat nor Afro-pop. Rather, it's an evocative and pure synthesis of ethnic rhythms that were most likely derived from common rituals and activities. The concert setting at St. Paul's should only enhance the music's more workaday origins. -- Thomas Peake