West African musician/dancer Sidiki Conde, who lost the
use of his legs from polio as a teenager, will headline a concert
in Hopkins on Saturday, May 3. Conde, his group Tokounou and percussionist
Balla Kouyate will showcase their African culture in a communal experience
that embraces people of all backgrounds and abilities. This will be
evident especially in the first half, when students with and without
disabilities from Hopkins, Eden Prairie, Savage and Minneapolis will
perform with Sidiki.
In 2007 the National
Endowment for the Arts presented Conde with the National Heritage
Award, which recognizes folk artists for their contributions to
our national cultural mosaic. He started dancing using his hands
instead of his feet in order to participate in the coming-of-age
ceremony in his village in Guinea, West Africa, where disabled
people typically were banished from their homes in order not to
bring shame or bad luck upon their family. He became so adept that
he traveled to the capital city, recruited an orchestra of artists
with disabilities from the city’s streets, and began working with popular African musicians.
In 1999 he founded the Tokounou All-Abilities Dance and Music Ensemble.
Conde spends much of each year teaching in public schools – which
he did in his first visit to Minnesota in 2006.
The 7:30 p.m. event
is at Hopkins High School Auditorium, 2400 Lindbergh Dr, Minnetonka.
The show will be audio described, ASL-interpreted and fragrance-free.
For tickets ($15, $10 for students, seniors and groups), contact
VSA arts of Minnesota, 612-332-3888 voice/tty, info@vsaartsmn.org,
or go online at www.vsaartsmn.org/donations ![]()
