Sonic Dialogues Festival

Afrobeat(s) Arkestra:
"Malaika" -- Miriam Makeba (1932–2008)
"Bibanke" -- Asa (1982–)
"Pata Pata" -- Miriam Makeba (1932–2008)

Afrobeat(s) Arkestra + World Music Ensemble:
"Water" -- Fela Kuti (1938–1997)

World Music Ensemble:
"Many Rivers To Cross" -- Jimmy Cliff (1944-2025)
"Hard Road To Travel" -- Jimmy Cliff (1944-2025)
"Harder They Come" -- Jimmy Cliff (1944-2025)
"You Can Get It If You Really Want" -- Jimmy Cliff (1944-2025)
"Miss Jamaica" -- Jimmy Cliff (1944-2025)

World Music Ensemble + Afrobeat(s) Arkestra:
"Bongo Man (A Come)" -- Jimmy Cliff (1944-2025)
 

Scott Currie earned bachelor’s degrees at Swarthmore College (Physics and Political Science) and the State University of New York College at Old Westbury (African-American Music), master’s degrees at City University of New York (Education) and New York University (Ethnomusicology), and his Ph.D. in Ethnomusicology at New York University. His most recent research projects explore the nexus between rocksteady rhythm-section conception and roots-drumming traditions in Jamaica, and the festivalization of jazz in America and Europe. Before joining the faculty of the University of Minnesota, he taught jazz history, world music, African-American music, Afro-Caribbean music, and Afropop at the Eastman School of Music, the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign), and New York University. In addition, he has served as associate director of the Vision Festival, an independent avant-garde arts festival in New York, and founded the Sound Vision Orchestra. He has performed on saxophones with such artists as Cecil Taylor, Bill Dixon, Alan Silva, Marty Ehrlich, J. D. Parran, Other Dimensions in Music, and the Mystic Revelation of Rastafari.

Alaba Ilesanmi's research, teaching, and public engagement center on global Black music, expressive cultures, and cultural life, with a focus on their intellectual, historical, and social formations. His work explores the intersections of sound, music, history, and culture, paying particular attention to the broader contexts that shape musical meaning, including decoloniality, globalization, identity, indigenous knowledge systems, and postcolonial experience. His research interests also include musical biography, music and memory, music and spirituality, global music pedagogy, public and creative musicology, and sound studies. His interdisciplinary work connects (ethno)musicology with Africana studies, diaspora studies, ethnic studies, popular music studies, and sound studies.

His writings have been published in Oxford Bibliographies in Music, Popular Music History Journal, and The Conversation, where he shares his insights with a broad public audience. His work has received support through various fellowships and awards, including those from the American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS), the Florida Education Fund (McKnight Doctoral Fellowship), the Presser Foundation, and the West African Research Association (WARA). He holds a PhD in Musicology from Florida State University, a BM in Music Education from the University of Texas at Tyler, and advanced certifications in music theory, piano, and percussion from the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) and Trinity College of Music, London.
 

Afrobeat(s) Arkestra

Samu Fynewever, piano
Peter Hayward, bass
Leo Justin, drums/percussion
Hariette Ngam, vocal/percussion
Yuri Rivers, guitar
Emily Slaubaugh, guitar
Parker Tabbert, drums/percussion
Coen Vogel, drums/percussion

World Music Ensemble

Ceci Barthel, alto sax
Sophie Bernard, guest vocals
Jolyne Blust, tenor sax
Kailez Campbell, trumpet/euphonium
Vian Guerra, vocals
Clay Jarabek, drums
Emma Johnston, trumpet
Viktor Kaiser, bass
Ben Kremer, guest percussion
Juanning Liu, keyboard/arranging
Qing Liu, vocals
Janeth Mejia, vibraphone
Celeste Mrozek, guitar
Caiden Nimchuk, guitar
Malcolm Roberts, keyboard
Matthew Silpot, guest vocals
Minglan Tu, keyboard
Tae Werling, vocals
Fuman Yang, piano