Performance: West African Music with Keenan D. Webster

Listen to traditional instruments of the Mandinka and the Mande-speaking people of West Africa. Local musician Keenan Webster will teach and demonstrate the kora (West African Mandinka harp), the Kamele Ngoni (West African Mande harp), the Balaphone (Mandinka xylophone) and some other percussions. Learn how these traditions gave birth to the banjo and influence blues, jazz and popular music of today. For children and their families.

Keenan D. Webster was born in Nashville, Tennessee. His love for the music deepened in his youth hearing the blues, spirituals, gospels and folk music of the South. Some of his elders are keepers of the spirituals and slave hymns that had been passed down from generations. Upon arriving in Los Angeles, California as a teenager, he was fascinated with African, Afro-Cuban, reggae and other music from the African diaspora. He was further inspired to learn about his roots, music, culture and spirituality with the Gullah, Mandika, Mende and Yorube people of West Africa. He started with drums of West Africa and Afro-Cuban roots. Then came Jazz and Blues playing the saxophone and flute and later switched to Native American flute. He has a deep appreciation for world music and has familiarized himself with classical music from India, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Webster has been on a mission to use music for world peace, healing, to fight against racism and to bring all people together.