- African Guitar Summit, Kay Meek Centre, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 8 p.m. Tickets: $36/$31/$26. Box Office: 604-913-3634 or www.kaymeekcentre.com.
AFRICAN Guitar Summit, formed in 2004 as a unique project that brought musicians of African origin now living in Canada together, has turned into an ongoing musical collaboration.
"I was approached by Todd Fraracci from CBC to do a collaboration with some other African musicians. I found it quite exciting," says three-time Juno award winner Alpha YaYa Diallo. "The first CD was a small project, CBC just wanted a CD for their label."
The band, is comprised of nine members including Diallo, Madagascar Slim, Mighty Popo, Naby Camara, Pa Joe, Donné Roberts, Kofi Ackah, Theo Yaw Boakye, and Adam Solomon. Individually they have a combined total of eight Juno awards.
African Guitar Summit's performance at Kay Meek Centre is the final stop in a nine-day Western tour that also included shows in Alberta and Manitoba.
While on tour audiences are getting a chance to hear music from their upcoming album, African Guitar Summit III. The performance features a fusion of diverse languages and musical influences.
The shows' original producer Fraracci has had a passion for African music and had a band of his own in the 1980s. He came up with the initial idea for the project and recorded their first CD for CBC.
"Our goal was to present things that hadn't been heard anywhere else," Fraracci says. "This was something that I proposed at the time and it was met with a lot of enthusiasm."
Health problems caused Fraracci to leave the project.
Each artist brings with them their own unique style and musical experience. Two of the band members are originally from Madagascar, while three were born in Ghana. Many of the artists can speak multiple languages, such as Solomon who can perform in six languages.
"I didn't know all the band members," Diallo says. "I knew Madagascar Slim, and Popo and a few others but I didn't know them all."
Working with so many different musicians from across Africa has been inspirational for Diallo.
"I really like to work with these guys, they are wonderful musicians," he says. "It's good to sometimes to work with other people and that inspires me . . . its an advantage to work with these guys."
Shortly after the release of their first album, African Guitar Summit, the band went on a tour across Canada and parts of the United States. They even performed at the Live 8 concert in Barrie, Ont.
"We decided to keep on going and to keep collaborating," says Diallo. "Everyone has his own band and projects but regardless we decided to keep this project going. Everybody was comfortable to work with each other."
In 2005 African Guitar Summit and their eponymous album won a Juno for Best World Album. They then decided to record African Guitar Summit II, which received a Juno nomination in 2007 for Best World Album.
African Guitar Summit III is not connected with the CBC, but Fraracci says he would like to continue to work with the band once his health gets better.
"I've not been able to pursue it for awhile because I've been sick. It's my top priority once my health returns," he says. "They are such an amazing group of artists."
Having nine members in a band who live across Canada can make it difficult to record and rehearse music.
"The challenge with African Guitar Summit is it's a big band," Diallo says. "I am the only one who lives in Vancouver, some of the guys live in Toronto and another guy lives in Ottawa."
Diallo credits technology for making it easier for them to communicate and collaborate. When African Guitar Summit is on tour together they hold frequent jam sessions to make up for the amount of time away from each other.
Diallo lived in North Vancouver for 16 years and now resides in Burnaby. He admits he misses living on the North Shore.
"I won all my Juno's when I lived in North Vancouver," Daillo says. "I still miss North Vancouver . . . and I record all my CD's there."
