Kotoko Brass (feat. Mohammed Alidu) with Maine Marimba Ensemble
8:00pm
doors at 7:30pm
$20 day of show
$2 off for SPACE members
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IRL Box Office | Cash only. No fees.
Fridays 12-6 pm at 534 Congress St.
Inspired by the traditional drum rhythms of Ghana, Kotoko Brass has created a unique, joyful, and improvisational style of West African dance music described by the Boston Globe as “propulsive, infectious party music.”
The drums provide the heart and soul of Kotoko Brass, merging syncopated African percussion polyrhythms with hard-hitting dance grooves on the drum set. The horns blend traditional sounds of New Orleans with the famous West African brass band sound heard from Ghana to Nigeria, and the guitar, keys, and bass evoke classic African and Caribbean styles of highlife, Afrobeat, and reggae.
A celebratory and energetic synthesis of music, people, and cultures from around the world, Kotoko Brass features musicians from Ghana, Antigua, Japan, and the United States playing together in unity. In the U.S., Kotoko Brass has shared the stage with Angelique Kidjo, Femi Kuti, and Vieux Farka Toure, and on their debut tour of Ghana in 2023, they had the honor of performing for Ashanti King Nana Osei Tutu II.
Mohammed Alidu was born and raised in Tamale, into the Bizung lineage of talking drum chiefs of Northern Ghana – a lineage that dates back over 1000 years. He learned to play talking drum from his father who was a renowned drum chief in Tamale and started to perform with him at a very young age. Since 2005, Alidu has resided in the U.S. where he formed his own band, The Bizung Family Band, and has been a sought after collaborator on diverse music projects with artists such as Playing For Change Band, Peter Gabriel and Baaba Maal.
With the help of the Playing For Change Foundation, Alidu founded the first tuition-free music school in Northern Ghana in 2009 – the Bizung School of Music and Dance, dedicated to preserving the history and culture of the Northern Region, where he teaches for several months every year.
Maine Marimba Ensemble performs complex polyrhythmic arrangements of traditional and contemporary Zimbabwean music on handcrafted marimbas.
