TONY VACCA and ABDOU SARR
The Senegal-America Project
From tradition to innovation, from World Music and West African dance, American percussionist Tony Vacca and Senegalese dancer/drummer Abdou Sarr have created an extraordinary collaboration. They are masterful performers and teaching artists, and are both longtime members of Tony Vacca’s Senegal America Project. Their hands-on participatory workshops and electrifying in school concerts boldly illustrate what a lifetime of performing throughout the world has so clearly shown them… which is that we are all connected.
Regarding programs for school, they offer everything from one day visits to short and long term residencies.
Workshops give students a chance to discover and perfect the physical and conceptual skillsets of group drumming and dance. They also address how the educational lesson plans and goals of classroom teachers so often contain the
essential elements that performers need to re-imagine and re-shape into their innovative, genre-bending performances. In the hands of these two artist educators, essential educational disciplines for success in school can become creative building blocks for careers that only this next generation can envision.
Workshop titles include: “West African Dance” (lead by Abdou Sarr) and “The Multi-Culti Rhythm Ensemble,” “The Math and Magic of Rhythm,” and “The Science of Sound,” lead by Tony Vacca.
Here’s a description of the two most popular workshop sessions:
West African Dance: Abdou Sarr leads student/faculty groups through a series of traditional and contemporary movements that ultimately form a dance that the entire class can perform.
The Multi-Culti Rhythm Ensemble: Tony works with students and their teachers to create a World Music orchestra using a wide variety of melodic percussion instruments. The group will be able to perform the composition they learn and be part of the concert presentation for the whole school.
NEW WORKSHOP FOR 2024-25: Tony and Abdou are offering a new workshop called Global to Local: it’s a Town Meeting discussion and demonstration of their respective journeys as an illustration of what it means to be a 21st Century Global Citizen.
Regarding workshop logistics, (other than Global to Local when both performers work together) Abdou and Tony offer separate, simultaneous workshops. This means that for each school period there can be two simultaneous workshops; one lead by Abdou, and the other lead by Tony. Each workshop group can be up to 40 students, with the ideal being 20-30. Workshops are typically 50-60 minutes. All instruments and sound system for concerts are provided by the performers.
Most schools organize a full day visit by doing three workshop sessions and then one concert. Since Abdou and Tony each do their own workshop in each session, the school gets six workshops. Concert presentations include the spectacle of World Music and Dance that Abdou and Tony are so well known for, as well as a short performance by one or two of the student workshop groups.
A full day visit by Tony Vacca and Abdou Sarr can be up to four presentations in any combination of concerts and workshops. Evening concerts on the day of a full day presentation can also be arranged. These events can give the entire school community a chance to see and feel the excitement of what they’ve learned from this program.
Fees: Full day of programs $2100. Full day and evening concert: $2800.
All instruments and sound system for concerts are provided by Tony Vacca and Abdou Sarr.
We certainly get it that each school has its own unique set of logistics and budget limitations. We’re always looking for ways to work with your vision for your event, so be sure to reach out to us with your proposal.
More on the performers:
Tony Vacca has been a free lance percussionist for over four decades, incorporating a world of music and instruments to create something… all his own. He has made a habit of pushing the already adventurous conventions of World Fusion Music into new territory, both as a soloist and as the leader of his World Rhythms Ensemble, The Senegal-America Project, and his newest group, Fusion Nomads.
Tony has performed and/or recorded with Pop icon Sting, Jazz and World Music legends Don Cherry, Yusef Lateef and Avery Sharpe; with The Springfield Symphony Orchestra, with world renowned Senegalese vocalist Baaba Maal, Senegalese Hip Hop stars Bideew Bou Bess, and percussionist Massamba Diop; with American born vocalist/percussionist Vinx, and with American poets Abiodun Oyewole (of The Last Poets), Ms. Tantra Zawadi, and America’s Beat Poet Laureate, Paul Richmond.
Abdou Sarr grew up first in a small fishing village in Senegal, and then in one of the rougher neighborhoods of the capital city, Dakar. Abdou’s mother was a well known dancer, and from the moment she began showing Abdou some of her signature moves… well let’s just say it became obvious that Abdou was about to put his own signature on what he and his next generation had to say to each other, and to the world. Abdou became “that amazing dancer” in one of Senegal’s most well-known Hip Hop troupes called Gokh-bi System, where his unique combination of traditional and never-been-seen-before dance moves earned him great respect.
Over the past two decades Abdou has not only developed his already bold dance style into something far beyond where he began, he has also become a fine drummer, and he’s created a unique set of dance workshop presentations. All this and more is why he now is busy doing school programs, working with a wide circle of bands… and oh yeah, he has created his own group, “Jamm ak Salam.”