January 15, 2004

CONTACT: Gordon Ovenshine (724) 738-4854; e-mail: gordon.ovenshine@sru.edu

 For photo of Dr. Shabazz CLICK HERE

MASTER PERCUSSIONIST HAFIZ SHABAZZ TO PERFORM FEB. 16 AT SRU

           SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Master percussionist Dr. Hafiz Shabazz, a veteran performer and professor of nonwestern music at Dartmouth College, will perform 8 p.m. Feb. 16 in Slippery Rock University’s Swope Music Hall. There is no charge, and the public is invited.

Shabazz is an ethnomusicologist, percussionist, performer and lecturer. He has studied at University of Ghana, Federal University of Bahia, Brazil, and in Cuba with master drummers and folklorists. He has performed with Max Roach, Lionel Hampton, Julius Hemphill and Alhaji Bia Konte, master cora and griot of Gambia, West Africa.

For many years, Shabazz has toured with Wind and Thunder, a group devoted to improvisational jazz and nonwestern music. He has toured France, the Caribbean, and extensively throughout Canada and the United States.

His academic credentials include teaching at the University of California at Berkeley, Duke University and lecturing at more than 100 schools and universities. He has written or co-written articles for Black Music Research Journal.

This program is sponsored by SRU’s Office of Intercultural Programs and part of the Black History Month Series.

##PN