Siama's Congo Roots | Mon Dec 21 at 7 PM | Facebook & YouTube LIVE | 2020 World Music Series

Live-streamed from the Historic Chateau Theatre in downtown Rochester's "Heart of the City" district 

Rochester Civic Music's Facebook Link: 
https://www.facebook.com/riversideconcerts1

Rochester Civic Music's YouTube Link:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCc3Q3IHNlUpCmzJbnpH_cbw

Brimming with catchy songs and engaging stories that bring renowned musician Siama Matuzungidi’s rural Congolese culture to life, this charming program features Siama’s spirited singing, masterful finger-picking acoustic guitar and captivating traditional African instruments like Mbira (thumb piano), Lokole (tone drum) and Balafon (marimba). Dallas Johnson narrates and encourages everyone to sing along in Kikongo, Lingala and English while drummer Luke Rivard adds infectious African rhythms. Whenever Siama plays, he hopes you’ll feel inspired to sway and dance and sing along. It’s no wonder people call his music, “the Sound of Happiness”.

Back in Africa, Siama was a sought-after studio musician, recording hundreds of songs and touring the world with popular Soukous artists like Kanda Bongo Man, Tshala Muana, Sam Manguana and Samba Mapangala. (Soukous is upbeat dance music that originated in Bas Congo, the region of DR Congo where Siama grew up.) After living in Uganda, Kenya, Dubai and Japan, Siama settled in Minneapolis in 1996. He earned a McKnight Fellowship in 2014 and has since won numerous grants and awards for his engaging original songs which are inspired by Soukous, traditional Congolese music, Congolese Rumba (a genre inspired by Cuban Rumba) and flavors he’s picked up along the way.

In addition to performing special concerts at premier venues and events and teaching in universities, he and his wife Dallas recently earned World Music Pedagogy certificates from Smithsonian Folkways and they host fun library programs and teach in schools for COMPAS and Classical MPR’s “Class Notes Artists” program. Siama’s album, “Rivers – from the Congo to the Mississippi” was featured in BBC and Songlines Magazine and he and Dallas’ children’s CD, The Land of Yangalele (yawn-gaw-LAY-lay = “happiness”) received a Parents’ Choice Parent Approved award and has earned accolades from Grammy-award winning artists like The Okee Dokee Brothers (“We dig it! A great addition to the family music mosaic! Outstanding rhythms and performances.” and Ladysmith Black Mambazo, “When we listen to, "The Land of Yangalele" we hear home, Mama Africa. This is very beautiful music that everyone can enjoy.”) Check out Siama’s music on www.SiamaMusic.com/Music and Spotify and find @SiamaMusic on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.

Brought to you by the Friends of Riverside Concerts with additional support by the Mayo Clinic. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Southeastern Minnesota Arts Council thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts & cultural heritage fund. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support Grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts & cultural heritage fund.