Wulaba Drum and Soma Beats Perform for Reason2Smile Fundraiser

Below are some videos from our latest performance at the Lake Placid Center for the Arts as part of Reason2Smile's Annual Fundraiser. This Soma Beats dancers have been practicing for months and just got nifty new outfits just for this performance!

Celebrating African Style!

The North Country came out in support for Jambo Jipya School at the first ever Reason2Smile Arts Night held at the Lake Placid Center for the Arts in early March. Attendees enjoyed perusing the artwork made by professional and student artists, as well as the Kenyan marketplace which filled the lower lobby of the LPCA. The Saranac Lake High School Men and Women’s Ensembles started off the evening and were soon followed by the UVM Top Cats (an all male a cappella group from the University of Vermont). The place was rocking as the Top Cats shared their talent and energy. To end the night with an African feel, Wulaba Drummers and Somabeats Dancers took the stage and got the blood pumping! There wasn’t a still foot in the theatre as the audience got into the African groove! Over $3,000 was raised at the event and was sent straight to Jambo Jipya School! A very special thank you to the LPCA staff as well as to all the performers and volunteers! It was an incredibly successful evening! Thanks a lot to all who attended! We’re looking forward to seeing you at next year’s Reason2Smile Arts Night!

African Dance Classes at the LPCA Annex!

Join us for Beginner African dance classes Tuesdays at the Lake Placid Center for the Arts in Lake Placid, NY. We dance in the Annex building (formerly the craft center) from 7-8PM. Then from 8 - 8:30PM our Soma Beats dancers rehearse their performance numbers (you can stay and watch).

Cost: $10 per class or 4 classes for $32 through December 21st, 2010. Winter session starts January 7th.

For more information, call James at 518-524-1834

Jeh Kulu Drum and Dance Festival

Wulaba drummers and Soma Beats Dancers took the trip across the lake to participate in Jeh Kulu's Annual Drum and Dance Festival in Burlington, VT. The majority of the dance troupe was able to come on Saturday to do a couple classes with Jeh Kulu and learn some "new" moves.

We were most excited to learn the dance to Sinte. Why? Because Wulaba drum knows that rhythm and we hadn't created a dance to it. How wonderful to see the "real thing" as taught by Jeh Kulu's Sidiki Sylla.

The drummers took advantage of the djembe classes, krin, balafone and dunun classes. Our "craziest" wild woman dancer, ShoShana, took nine dance classes and one drum class over two days!!

Art Walk Saranac Lake, August 2010

We enjoyed playing for the Art Walk in Saranac Lake this August. It was two hours of almost straight drumming! Our favorite part is having a two year old boy dancing away to our music...and it was cool when a big dog howled after we finished!

Blue Mountain Lake Community Dance to Tiriba

Here is our video of Tiriba, the community dance - the last dance of the night where we get the audience involved. Notice the high energy and booty shaking going on! The song starts out with our Soma Beats dancers doing their solos, followed by the community being invited to dance along.

This performance was at the Adirondack Arts Center in Blue Mountain Lake, New York in July 2010.

A Night Full of Talent and Laughter

Johnna MacDougall of Soma Beats (left) Karen Kan and James Gann of Wulaba rock the Concert for Jambo Jipya.

Saturday March 6th marked the 2nd Annual Concert for Jambo Jipya held in the Saranac Lake High School Audito- rium. This year’s event proved to be even more lively than last year. Quite a crowd of people from across the north country showed up to enjoy an evening of high school musical talent, energetic college acapella, as well as African drumming and dance. Those who came certainly weren’t disap- pointed. Each group proved to be incredibly talented and seeing the college students on stage being led by Wulaba Drumming and Somabeats in African dance, was a real treat! If you missed out this year, be looking for information on next year’s event. It truly is an evening you don’t want to miss!

Thank you very much to all who participated and all who attended. A special thank you to Gail Meyer and her team of volunteers for all their help running the African Marketplace and making the night a true success!