Chicago Afrobeat Project kicks off Black History Month
Posted on Feb 08, 2010 in News
The Chicago Afrobeat Project (CAbP) filled the lower quarters of Bartow Arena with a sound that got people moving on Tuesday night.
The Black Student Awareness committee hosted the funky jazz band for the opening ceremony for Black History Month. The event drew in an intimate crowd of different ages.
Melissa Sammy, a graduate student in Integrative Biomedical Sciences at UAB, heard about the event from her mentor and decided to see what it was all about.
“It sseemed like a cool concept, the fusion of the different types of music,” she said.
Sammy received part of her education in New Orleans, so she was craving a taste of jazz, “[they were] right on point, I asked them when they’re going to New Orleans, they said not soon, but they should go,” she said.
The CAbP swung by Alabama to play during a tour that brought them to Kentucky and Georgia.
Kevin Ford, the band’s keyboardist, said the band has been together for about 7.5 years.
“There was a little bit of a buzz about afrobeats starting to come together, kind of the beginning of the afrobeat revival in the United States, and we thought about putting a band together, and it just came together,” said Ford.
The band has toured from West to East coast, performing for an array of audiences.
“We’ve done some benefits for various causes; we donate some of our album proceeds to an AIDS charity in Nigeria,” said Ford.
The AIDS organization is Journalists Against AIDS (JAAIDS) Nigeria, a non-governmental based program run by journalists that seeks to prevent and treat AIDS in Nigeria.
The band also has an African winery tour coming up in April, “that’s gonna be promoting locally-operated African wineries around Africa, it really tries to boost the economy,” said Ford.
The CAbP brought energy and soul to the free event at Bartow, and by the last song, everyone was up on their feet dancing to the irresistible sounds.
“I really enjoyed it, I’ve never been to an event like this, and it was a lot of fun just going out to something that was something different,” said Whitney Theis, a graduate student who is a doctoral candidate in environmental health at UAB.
The Black Student Awareness Committee has more events lined up for February. Visit http://main.uab.edu to see a calendar of events.
Email: photos@insideuab.com
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