Community Calendar

Celebrating Women in Music, Eastern Illinois University’s Doudna Fine Arts Center will host a two-day percussion residency April 9 and 10 featuring special guest Valerie Naranjo, the percussionist from NBC’s Saturday Night Live. Joining Naranjo will be the Africa à West Percussion Trio. The events are presented free of charge.

The Women in Music residency kicks-off at 5:30 p.m. April 9 in the Dvorak Concert Hall with a recital and lecture presented by Valerie Naranjo and the Africa à West Percussion Trio.

On April 10 at 12 noon Valerie Naranjo will present a lecture where she will discuss her exploration of African Music and Women’s Studies.  Following the lecture at 1:00 p.m. there will be a percussion clinic for Eastern’s music students.

In addition to her role as the percussionist for NBC’s Saturday Night Live, and Valerie Naranjo was named “World Music Percussionist of the Year” in 2005. She is known for West African keyboard percussion music and has recorded and performed with Broadway’s Lion King. Valerie Naranjo is a percussion faculty member at NYU Steinhardt. She has apprenticed with some of America’s and West Africa’s strictest master percussionists, and continues to spend summers in Shana to further her percussion study with maestros.

Africa à West Percussion Trio was co-founded by Jamie V Ryan, associate professor of percussion at Eastern. Africa à West Percussion Trio plays its own music influenced by the African Diaspora and the Western tradition, as well as standard repertoire for chamber percussion. In the fall of 2014, Africa à West Percussion Trio composed and recorded with Valerie Naranjo.

All of the Women in Music Residency events are presented free of charge and open to the public.

The Women in Music Residency is co-sponsored by the Department of Music; Anthropology, Sociology, & Criminology; Center for the Humanities; Africana Studies; Interdisciplinary Center for Global Diversity; and Women’s, Gender, & Sexuality Studies.