Heritage Artists

Born in Pakro, in the eastern region of Ghana, Kofi Anang exhibited talent as both a dancer and musician from his youth. After graduating from the University of Ghana’s Institute of African Studies with honors, Kofi spent seven years with the Ghana National Dance Ensemble and performed throughout Africa, Europe, and the Americas.

Having traveled for five years with the internationally acclaimed group, Oboade, in 1978 Kofi chose to settle in Seattle and pursue his individual musical vision. In Seattle, Kofi formed the group Ocheami to teach and perform African music and dance. Over the past twenty years, Ocheami has established a vast network of students and fans.

Kofi was one of the African immigrant artists whose music was featured in Safarini, a music album developed and produced by Jack Straw and Rakumi Arts International to promote the work of African immigrant artists. Safarini contains two of Kofi Anang’s songs – Hail, which uses the Ghanian kalimba to represent the sound of hail or raindrops on an iron roof, and Ko. “Ko” means “forest”, Kofi uses nature sounds and careful arrangements to create a traditional sound environment in this piece, based on traditional arrangements and using modern instrumentation. The Safarini compact disc was released by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings in 2000.

Reaching out from his traditional roots to the many influences he has absorbed in his travels, Kofi now explores ways of blending the traditional arts of Ghana with contemporary international forms of expression. The music on Safarini represents a foray into a new musical territory for Kofi and his audience. Kofi created these songs while he was a featured artist in Jack Straw Productions’ 1995 Artist Support Program. As part of this program, Kofi experimented with adding Australian didjeridu, flute, and electronic percussion to traditional African instruments.

Artist Support Program 1995: Recorded songs for Safarini In Transit: Music of African Immigrants and experimented with adding Australian didjeridu, flute, and electronic percussion to traditional African instruments.

Lora Chiorah-Dye was raised first in a traditional home and then at a mission in Zimbabwe. She first came to the United States in the 1970’s to join her then husband, Dumisani Maraire.

Teaching her three children the marimba and mbira music of Zimbabwe, Lora began to create the nucleus of a musical ensemble. In 1980 she formed the Sukutai Marimba and Dance Ensemble to celebrate the heritage of Zimbabwe’s Shona people and to provide an opportunity for teaching music and dance to Americans.

With sixteen performers ranging in age from 12 to 50, they perform a variety of music. Lora and Sukutai are noted both for their performance ability and their dynamic stage shows, but most importantly for the work Lora does in training young people.

Sukutai is one of the region’s oldest African music ensembles. Its members have performed widely to critical acclaim, including several tours of Europe, Asia and the Americas.

Three songs by Lora Chiorah-Dye and Sukutai were featured in Safarini, a music album developed and produced by Jack Straw and Rakumi Arts International to promote the work of African immigrant artists. Chemtengure, a traditonal Shona melody, Mwari Komborera/God Bless Africa (known to many as the “African National Anthem”) and Nyoka Musango. Nyoka Musango (“Snake in the Grass”) is a traditional song based on a common expression of the Shona which means that you have to watch out for snakes. Many Shona songs are based on proverbs and have more than one possible meaning. They can be translated to whatever meaning suits the situation. The Safarini compact disc was released by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings in 2000.

Lora Chiorah-Dye was also one of the resident artists of Jack Straw Artist Support Program in 2007, when she recorded original songs in contemporary Zimbabwean style and new arrangements of traditional Zimbabwean songs.

Artist Support Program 2007 : Record original songs in contemporary Zimbabwean style and new arrangements of traditional Zimbabwean songs

Wawali Bonane was born in Banningville (now Bandundu), in the Democratic Republic of Congo (ex-Zaire). He was weaned on the sounds and rhythms of the Bandundu region. In 1966, Wawali dropped out of school with friend and partner Pepe Kalle, now one of Congo’s top stars, to form their first band, Les Monkoy.

In 1974, Wawali was invited by superstar Tabu Ley Rochereou to join his band, Afrisa International. Throughout his career Wawali has been creating hybrid music known as soukous, a popular style that first came to prominence in the 1950’s and combines elements of Cuban rhumba and Antillean music with Congolese aesthetics.

Following the soukous scene from Congo to Paris, the international center for soukous, Wawali was a mainstay on the scene, working as a support singer for a variety of performers and pursuing his own solo projects. After leaving Afrisa International, Wawali and longtime partner Steve Mgondo came to Seattle and tenaciously dug in with their band Yoka Nzenze. Later, they were joined by renowned soukous guitarist Nseka Binwela (a.k.a. Huit Kilo). They are also supported by an ever-changing variety of Seattle-based backing musicians.

He one of the African immigrant artists whose music was featured in Safarini, a music album developed and produced by Jack Straw and Rakumi Arts International to promote the work of African immigrant artists. Three songs on Safarini feature Wawali Bonane and Yoka Nzenze – Tcheni Tcheni, Wumba Wumba and Kusanga Ema. “Tcheni Tcheni” means “don’t worry, don’t worry”, Wumba Wumba gives  lessons on how to live a productive life, and Kusanga Ema is a love ballad to a woman named Kusanga, in a Congolese rhumba/calypso style. Wawali describes the singing as “like talking to someone… when you are in love, you forget your mother and everyone, but sometimes the person you love is not the one you can stay with forever”. The Safarini compact disc was released by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings in 2000.

Frank Ulwenya was born into the Luya ethnic group in the Maragoli area of Western Kenya, an area known for producing many of Kenya’s top musicians.

Frank started to play guitar at age 10 and at 18 began to play in a group called the Sky Raiders, based in Nairobi, Kenya. From 1979 to 1985 he worked as a disc jockey and played in three different bands: Earthquake, Madics, and Ise Ise.

In 1985, after moving to Seattle to work for the Boeing Company, Frank started meeting with friends to play music. At the suggestion of other Kenyans, this informal group started to perform together as Ujamaa.

In 1987, Frank founded his current ensemble, L’Orchestra Afrisound, with other African and American musicians. Frank and Afrisound have become an important fixture on the local Seattle scene, especially for the East African community, for whom Frank is considered the musical standard-bearer. A key member of the Pacific Northwest Kenyan association and other African organizations, Frank and Afrisound are a mainstay at regional African community events and in Seattle clubs. More recently, Frank has been playing bass with Yoka Nenze.

Two of Frank’s songs were featured in Safarini, a music album developed and produced by Jack Straw and Rakumi Arts International to promote the work of African immigrant artists. He represented his work with Chakacha, which invites a woman named Kamitina to dance, and Safarini, with Afrisound. “Safarini” means “in transit’, but the song is really about life, from when you are born until when you are gone: “Take your time, stay cool… Only the Almighty knows our fate.” The song mentions the city of Seattle, one of the destinations on his life journey. The Safarini compact disc was released by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings in 2000.

Born in Ghana, the son of a traditional healer, Obo Addy grew up around the drumming and vocal music of Ghana’s Ga people. Along with his brothers, Yacoub and Mustapha, Obo formed a dynamic group, which quickly rose to the top of Ghana’s booming music scene in the mid-1960’s. After touring Africa, Europe, Australia, and Asia with Oboade, the Addy brothers eventually toured the United States to critical acclaim in the 1970’s.

After the ensemble dispersed, Obo Addy formed the nucleus of a drumming network in Portland that spread throughout the Pacific Northwest. Splitting his energies between a traditional project called Okoropong and an Afro-jazz group called Kudrudu, Obo kept busy over the years training musicians for his band and teaching students.

Obo brought to the Northwest a steady stream of Ghanian drummers and dancers to support his efforts, and they have enriched the cultural landscape immeasurably as they spread out through the region. Obo has recorded numerous albums and in 1996 was honored with a National Heritage Fellowship award by the National Endowment for the Arts. He also collaborated with noted jazz musician Julian Priester to create and premiere “Confluence” a new composition commissioned by Jack Straw. He was one of the African immigrant artists whose music was featured in Safarini, a music album developed and produced by Jack Straw and Rakumi Arts International to promote the work of African immigrant artists. Two of Obo Addy’s songs are included on Safarini – Amedzro and Oshi. “Oshi” means “pound your foot to the beat” and is a pop arrangement of traditional Ga music. This song is an excellent example of how Obo adapts drum rhythms into guitar, bass and horn lines. The Safarini compact disc was released by Smithsonian Folkways Recordings in 2000.

Obo Addy’s greatest contribution was perhaps his teaching of Ghanian music. He has adapted traditional Ghanian instruction techniques to the restlessness of American children and the structures of the school year. He has also adapted traditional patterns to new instruments and encourages young musicians to create their own music.

After a long battle with liver cancer, Addy died on September 13, 2012.

Artist Support Program 2001

Composer in Residence 1999 : Composed original work “Confluence” together with trombonist Julian Priester, combining complex African polyrhythmic patterns with contemporary melodic and harmonic concepts derived from jazz.

Christos Govetas is a gifted multi-instrumentalist who brings his authentic voice and earthy clarinet style from his homeland in Eastern Macedonia. After moving to this country in his teens, Christos discovered his love of traditional music and went on to learn regional music from all over Greece, and beyond. In addition to the clarinet, Christos plays the zourná, bouzouki, and outi, bringing his 30 years of performing experience to the mix. Christos is a beloved teacher at many music and dance workshops and has performed and toured extensively in the US, Canada, Europe and Greece. Christos leads the group Dromeno, plays with Pasatempo Rebetika, and also plays laouto and sings regional Greek music with Ziyiá. Christos is the 1999 recipient of the prestigious Northwest Folklife Fellowship Award honoring his cultural contribution to the Greek-American and folk dance communities. Christos is also a member of Bill Frisell’s Grammy nominated The Intercontinentals.

Christos and his wife Ruth were integral members of the traditional five-piece Greek folk band known as Pangéo, in which Christos played the clarinet, Ruth played the accordion, and both also performed as vocalists. Christos and Pangéo were part of Jack Straw’s Traditional Artist Support Program

Artist Support Program 2000 (with Pangéo): Produce the CD Northern Borders, featuring the music of Greek Macedonia and Epiros.

Candelario Zamudio is a Mexican singer and requinto (five-string guitar) player who is originally from Gudalajara, Jalisco.

Zamudio, who now lives in Portland, is a master guitarist with a florid, highly expressive style. Zamudio’s repertoire of over 300 compositions covers a vast range of traditional songs (rancheras, corridos, huapangoes, sones) as well as more contemporary Mexican romantic ballads, and even a few English-language love songs.

His broad vocal range and passionate singing style have been associated with romantic ballads since the early 1920’s and set him apart from modern pop balladeers like Luis Miguel and Juan Gabriel, who have been more influenced by American popular singing.

Zamudio, a self-taught musician, began teaching music at a local Mexican college for twenty-five pesos a day, before moving to Tijuana and later to Portland, where he now plays regularly at many area festivals and restaurants. He was one of the artists who participated at Jack Straw’s Traditional Artist Support Program.

Before settling in Portland, Oregon, Neftali Rivera was a professional musician in his native Puerto Rico. For several years there, he and his groups played popular dance music such as the meringue from the Dominican Republic. Later, he decided to return to his first love, the traditional music of Puerto Rico.

In Portland, Rivera has continued to focus on the traditional music styles which are so immediately familiar to all Puerto Ricans, such as the bombas and plenas heard in communities with African roots to the danzas and aguinaldos heard in Rivera’s home town of Morovis.

The members of Grupo Borikén are from a wide variety of backgrounds. Percussionist Victor Pizarro comes from Lo Hisa, where he learned to play on the street corners. Vocalist, songwriter and cuatro player Geraldo Vargas was formally trained at the Instituto de Cultura Puertoriquena in San Juan.

As part of the Jack Straw Traditional Artist Support Program, Neftali Rivera & Grupo Borikén recorded their album Grupo Borikén.

Manuel Cavazos, leader of Los Paisanos, has been playing to audiences in Southern Idaho for over ten years. With Los Paisanos, he focuses on corridos (ballads), rancheras, and boleros that bring instant recognition to anyone with roots in Mexican culture.

The group typically plays for community and church-related events from weddings to company picnics. They often play for quinceañeras, an important celebration which marks a girl’s fifteenth birthday and entails a church service, a feast, and afterwards, a dance.

Cavazos, influenced by Juan Torres, lead vocalist for the group, typically chooses songs which have a long history in Mexico and reflect the regions from which their audiences come. As Cavazos says, “What we’re trying to do for the people is to not forget the culture, forget the traditions.” At any gathering, it is inevitable that someone from Chihuahua or Jalisco or Guanajuato will call out for them to play the standard from their home region. Torres has a large repertoire of songs from throughout Mexico that he learned in his native Jalisco.

Originally from Texas, Cavazos started learning music as a young boy. He formed a group when he was a teenager, but then moved to Idaho and put down his guitar for years. In the early 1980s, he began to play gospel songs for the local church. His reputation grew, and along with Torres, he was invited to play for a growing number of churches.

When Cavazos arrived in Idaho in 1960, there were few Hispanics there. “I felt real out of place, I didn’t know anybody.” He learned to be part of the larger community, and over time, the Spanish-speaking population grew.

Now, the group says, there is a lot of Mexican music being played in Idaho, but it is mainly Tejano or Norteño style, not the more traditional music of Los Paisanos.

Guitarist and vocalist Mario Soto is originally from Chihuahua. He played in groups professionally in Mexico and then later played electric bass for a band in Denver. He had been in Idaho only a short time before recently joining the group.

Requinto player Mario Muñoz is from the State of Morelos. He also played in Mexico, with trios and groups specializing in romantic songs before coming to Idaho six years ago.

Los Paisanos were part of Jack Straw’s Traditional Artist Support Program.

Violinist Trinidad Marquez was born before the Mexican Revolution in the State of Michoacan, Mexico. He learned to play violin from his father starting at age four, and later played to accompany silent movies with his father’s orchestra.

After moving to the United States, Marquez formed orchestras in both the Rio Grande Valley of Texas and in the Yakima Valley of Washington.

His performances reflect a wealth of information on Mexican orchestral music rarely heard today.

Marquez was part of Jack Straw’s Traditional Artist Support Program.

Nisha Joshi is a vocalist and sitar player who was born and raised in Rajasthan, India. Today, she performs both classical and folk repertoire at community concerts and festivals and in private homes during traditional Indian holiday celebrations in the Portland area.

Many of the folk songs Joshi performs were learned in grammar school or picked up informally at home from her sisters. The songs are primarily from Rajasthan, but also include a few from other regions of India. Joshi’s folk repertoire also includes songs from Pakistan known as ghazals and sung mainly in Urdu, as well as bhajans, or devotional songs, which are known throughout India and are sung in different regional languages. She was a part of Jack Straw’s Traditional Artist Support Program and during her residency she recorded Rajastani music, and performed at the Northwest Folklife Festival in 1996.

Joshi received her Ph.D. in Indian classical music from Delhi University, where she later taught before moving to Oklahoma and later to the Northwest.

Joshi was part of Jack Straw’s Traditional Artist Support Program.

Sueño is a dynamic group of Mexican-American musicians who play traditional conjunto music, the energetic accordion-dominated sound so important to the Tejano and Chicano communities throughout the United States.

Sueño was born out of the desire of Cruz Rangel, the lead accordion and bajo sexto player, to pass his knowledge of the conjunto tradition on to young members of his community. As a master teacher under the Washington State Arts Commission Master/Apprentice program, Rangel tutored Ricky Rodriguez, who has become a virtuoso on the keyboards, accordion and bajo sexto (a 12-string bass-like instrument).

Rodriguez’s dedication to these instruments and conjunto music attracted the attention of his friends, Gabe Rocha, Saul Rocha and Mari Perales (ages 14-17 at the time), and Manuel Moreno Jr., who joined Rangel and Rodriguez to form Sueño. They were later joined by Cynthia Rangel (Cruz’s daughter), Jose Rocha, and Lupe Saenz Jr.

Their music includes traditional border ballads, lively polkas and intricate instrumental dance tunes, mixed with some contemporary popular conjunto tunes, a number of which were written by band members. The energy, enthusiasm and talent of these young performers is inspiring to audiences of any age and background. What makes the music of Sueño truly unique is the blend of generations and the blend of cultures.

The group can play traditional styles rarely heard this far north, drawing tremendous excitement from an older generation of Latino listeners. They can also hold the attention of younger American audiences by including contemporary styles, at the same time exposing a new generation of listeners to many important older styles of music. Grupo Sueño was part of Jack Straw’s Traditional Artist Support Program.

Marcos and Rubina Carmona are flamenco artists who have dedicated themselves to the Sevilla, or modern traditionalist form of flamenco. Though originally from San Francisco, they both now reside in Seattle, Washington. At the age of twenty, Marcos began to study flamenco guitar while his wife Rubina developed her skills as a flamenco singer and dancer. Soon after, they traveled with their daughter to Seville, Spain where they studied with Romanies. Following extended stays in Spain, the Carmonas performed flamenco professionally in Hollywood and finally moved to the Pacific Northwest in 1989. In 1996, Marcos and Rubina created Flamenco Arts Northwest, a non-profit arts organization for the promotion of the song, dance and music of Andalusia.

Carmona Flamenco has made extensive concert, festival, and cabaret appearances throughout Spain and the United States. Often performing with guest artists, Marcos and Rubina Carmona’s Carmona Flamenco specializes in contemporary and tradtional flamenco music, dance, and song. The Carmonas have appeared in Madrid, Sevilla, Valencia, Alicante, and Huelva, as well as San Francisco, New York, Vancouver, B.C., Portland, Tampa, and Los Angeles. Currently based in Seattle, Washington, Carmona Flamenco has become one of the Pacific Northwest’s premier performance groups.

Carmona Flamenco was part of Jack Straw’s Traditional Artist Support Program.

Artist Support Program 2000: Record contemporary flamenco music for guitar and voice, including “Soleares de Triana,” commissioned by the Seattle Arts Commission.

Chang Hye-Jin, a kayagum (12 string zither) performer, was born in Korea where she attended the National High School for Korean Traditional Music, and received her B.A. in kayagum from Hanyang University in Seoul.

Hye-Jin has performed for radio broadcasts in Seoul and has played contemporary compositions, shinawi (instrumental improvisational performance), and court music and has also performed as a dancer. Her performances have taken her to five major cities around Korea in addition to Seoul. In 1993, Hye-Jin moved to Seattle with her husband, and now teaches kayagum privately.

Maria Seo, a native of Korea, is a musician and a scholar. While living in the Northwest, she has been instrumental in introducing the greater Seattle area to Korean traditional music and musicians.

Seo, an ethnomusicologist with a Ph.D. from the University of Washington, has lectured on Korean music and culture. She has also volunteered countless hours as an advisor on Korean arts and traditions to many community organizations such as the Seattle Asian Art Museum, the Burke Museum, and the Wing Luke Asian Museum. She has encouraged local Korean artists to perform and teach in the community, creating adult classes for traditional music and dance so that Korean-Americans can learn and enjoy the arts of their homeland.

She received an M.A. in piano from Seoul National University where she also studied Korean traditional music. Seo is the recipient of the 1997 Washington State Governor’s Heritage Award.

Chang and Seo were a part of Jack Straw’s Traditional Artist Support Program.

Singer and songwriter Juan Barco, born in Lytle, Texas, brings an enormous wealth of experience to the Tejano folk music for which he is so well-known in the Northwest and his native Texas.

His songs are colored by his childhood experiences in the migrant labor camps of the South and the Midwest, his service in the military at the Army Firing Range in Yakima, his rich musical family background, and by his twenty years as a caseworker for the Washington State Department of Health and Human Services.

Although he has lived in Seattle since 1974, Barco still feels a close affinity with the Texas of his youth, and claims to still love Texas. “I’m a Tejano and I’m happy when I get to go there. I think so much of Texas and I always remind myself and my family that it is our roots.”

Barco’s corridos often recall many of these influences, which often serve as the inspiration for his songs, such as his No Te Raches Maria, which chronicles his sister’s struggles to overcome domestic violence, poor-health, and the loss of her job. Allí Lo Espera, or “There She Waits” recalls the story of an old woman in a nursing home who is always waiting for her family to visit.

A sense of place, purpose, honor, dignity and responsibility are qualities that pervade much of Barco’s work. As Barco says, “I guess writing songs from experiences and people I know is my way of giving back to them. I’ve written songs about our old home in Texas, about my family and friends. It’s like a picture, or chapters in a book.”

Barco was one of the participants of Jack Straw’s Traditional Artist Support Program.

Artist, teacher, native-arts conservator, author and storyteller, Pauline Hillaire works to carry on the heritage of Washington’s Lummi Nation and is one of the most knowledgeable living resources of the Northwest Coast’s arts and culture. Known as Scälla or “of the Killer Whale,” Hillaire is a member of the Lummi tribe of Washington State’s northern coast. As a young child, Hillaire was sent to stay with various elders of the Lummi Nation, or Lhaq’temish — “People of the Sea” — to learn tribal arts, traditions, stories, songs and dances that reflected her family’s and her tribe’s value system. For weeks at a time, Hillaire learned whatever tradition that particular elder had to teach her. Her grandfather, Frank Hillaire, was the last chief of the Lummi and a spiritual leader. Her father, Joseph, was a renowned orator as well as a master carver of totem poles. Hillaire learned artistic traditions such as basket-making and Lummi songs from her mother Edna. Throughout her life, Hillaire has worked to preserve these traditions and share them with the next generations.

Hillaire is also well known for her decades of work in carrying on the efforts of her father and grandfather, who founded the song-and-dance group Setting Sun Dancers in order to preserve the art form and to educate both Native and non-Native communities in this tradition. The group has performed for more than a century in Native communities in the northwest United States and nationally at tribal gatherings and public institutions. Hillaire has taught classes on Lummi arts and culture at the Northwest Indian College as well as public schools, museums, and cultural organizations in Washington.

Hillaire was a part of Jack Straw Heritage Project: Native American Stories of Washington and the recordings made by her were released as an album, which includes 6 traditional Lummi legends as told to Pauline by her father, Kwul-Kwul-‘tu (Joseph Hillaire). Subsequently in 2010, Hillaire worked with Jack Straw ASP artist Gregory Fields for audio and DVD productions as a resource on the arts and culture of the Northwest Coast.

In 2005, the Seattle Art Museum honored her for her work as a culture-bearer and featured her work in the exhibition Song, Story, Speech: Oral Traditions of Puget Sound First Peoples. She also has two books with media: A Totem Pole History and Rights Remembered: A Salish Grandmother Speaks on American Indian History and the Future (both from University of Nebraska Press). In A Totem Pole History, Hillaire tells the story of her father’s life and the traditional and contemporary Lummi narratives that influenced his work. Hillaire is the recipient of three apprenticeship awards from Washington State Arts Commission and in 1996 was presented with the Governor’s Heritage Award.

Seattle Kokon Taiko is a performing group based in the local Seattle Japanese American community. SKT traces its roots to the Seattle Taiko Group, which formed in April 1980 following a dynamic performance by Ondekoza at the Seattle Cherry Blossom Festival. In 1987, three members left STG to form Kokon Taiko Ensemble and focus on smaller, more musical performance pieces. In 1992, these two groups merged to form Seattle Kokon Taiko.

The group’s influences include: Seiichi Tanaka and San Francisco Taiko Dojo, San Jose Taiko, Kinnara Taiko, and Katari Taiko. Later influences include Uzume Taiko, Kenny Endo and Kodo. Over the years, they have performed at schools, arts festivals, street fairs, community programs, corporate events and in concert throughout Washington and Oregon. They are currently based out of the International District of Seattle.

Seattle Kokon Taiko was part of Jack Straw’s Traditional Artist Support Program.

Artist Support Program 1996: Recorded their album Quiet No More