Afrofunk Big Band 'Chopteeth' Comes to The College of Wooster April 12

Free public performance to be held in McGaw Chapel

WOOSTER, Ohio - The Afrofunk Big Band "Chopteeth" will bring its spicy Afrobeat to The College of Wooster for a live performance on Saturday, April 12, at 9 p.m. in McGaw Chapel (340 E. University St.). Opening for Chopteeth will be The College of Wooster's African student group, UJAMAA, which will perform on the McGaw Chapel stage from 8:15-8:45 p.m. in celebration of "Africa Week." Earlier that day (3-4 p.m.), Chopteeth will conduct a workshop on its musical influences. The events are a part of the Africana Studies Seminar Series, and all are free and open to the public.

Chopteeth is a 14-piece Afrofunk orchestra that explores the common groove between West African and American popular music. The Afrobeat sound is a big-band funk introduced by Fela Kuti in Nigeria in the 1970s. It features a combination of modern jazz, Yoruba tribal music, and James Brown-inspired rhythms. The group also mixes in classic Ghanaian dance tunes, Senegalese rumba, and Jamaican ska, which creates a swirl of energetic melodies and call-and-response choruses, driven by interlocking drums and percussion, and punctuated by a dynamic five-piece horn section. Funky organ and melodic guitars round out Chopteeth's unique and infectious sound.

Since arriving on the scene in 2004, the group has been honored with six Wammie Award nominations by its peers in the Washington Area Music Association, including a 2007 nomination for Artist of the Year and four nominations for Best World Music Group.

Chopteeth can be seen regularly at top venues in the Washington, D.C., Baltimore, and Virginia areas, including The Kennedy Center, Strathmore Arts Center, The Clarice Smith Center for the Performing Arts, and The State Theatre. The band has opened for a variety of international artists, including Chuck Brown, Konono No. 1, The Sierra Leone Refugee All Stars, The Pietasters, Toubab Krewe, Brazilian Girls, and Soulive.

Chopteeth's performance at Wooster is sponsored by the Black Arts Festival, the Cultural Events Committee, Cultural Area Studies, and the Departments of History, Economics, Africana Studies, Sociology/Anthropology, and Theatre. Additional information is available by phone (330-263-2129) or e-mail (dspringer@wooster.edu).