Student body moves to the African beat

Concert Series welcomes master drummer Dramane Kone

ABDUL ALI Reporter @roundupnews

Master Drummer, Dramane Kone brought an African twist to the Thursday Concert, which was held in the Performing Arts Department mainstage on Thursday, Feb. 28.

Kone kicked off the concert with a little bit of background information about himself such as his birthplace of Burkina Faso and also how he is fluent in multiple instruments such as the piano, guitar, bass, and multiple types of African drums.

“I do not know how to read music.” Kone said. “I just pick it up and play it.”

Kone said how he grew up playing music and that the way he learned was from picking the instrument up, and watching others play it while he attempted to figure it out.

Kone would then invite members of the audience to join him in traditional song and dance on the stage. The master drummer would then go on to answer questions about his homeland as well as answer questions about himself.

Kone would go on to describe what it was like leaving West Africa at the age of 16 to perform in Europe, and then moving to

America to provide a better life for his family as well as his people back home in Burkina Faso, Africa.