Afro-Nyota, FSU Contemporary African Ensemble

We invite you to join us in the spirit of African communal experience at the Opperman music hall of Florida State University, College of Music. Our program will feature two pieces by the Nigerian Highlife music icon, late Dr. Victor Olaiya (1930 – 2020), as a tribute to his contribution to African music.

Afro-Nyota “African stars” – coined by ensemble members of Fall 2019 – draws its repertory from different genres and types of music across the African continent i.e. Highlife, Juju, Taarab, Kwela, Afrobeat, Afro-Pop, Soukous, et cetera. The ensemble uses the word “contemporary” to distinguish, capture, and portray its essence and objectives: to perform popular African music(s) that represent the vastness, complexities, and diversities of day-to-day sonic soundscapes of contemporary African nations; to replicate and provide contemporary African communal experiences to ensemble members, participants and audiences.
The ensemble fuses indigenous African instruments with Western orchestra and Jazz band instruments.