Drumming and Dancing in Academia with Farai Malianga Part 1

Greetings Glocal Citizens!
This week's episode is home grown in a sense as I had the chance to chat with long-time friend and collaborator, Farai Malianga. Born and raised in Zimbabwe, Farai's journey to the US found him at the University in Colorado in Boulder where our stories connect. He is a Videographer, Composer, and Musician who began his career in African Dance in Colorado with Leticia Williams’ Harambee and Musical Director Judy “Fatu” Henderson. He later relocated to New York where he began studying dance and drum with pioneers Yousouf Koumbasa, Mbemba Bangoura and Ronald K. Brown. He has performed with creative Masters such as Chuck Davis in BAMs ‘Dance Africa’, Reginald Yates and Heritage O.P. for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre’s their 40th Anniversary season; with musicians such as Roy Ayers, Wunmi Olaiya,, Manchild Black, and Akua Allrich to name a few. He has also performed on and off broadway in the musical 'Fela!' and “Darker Faces of the Earth” directed by Trezana Beverley, respectively. As a videographer, most recent projects include editing the archival documentary for “Kumbuka” the longest active New Orleans-based West African Dance troupe.

This fall he joins Florida State University as a tenure track Professor with a focus on music for dance and choreography. He will be teaching Rhythmic Analysis, Music for Choreography, and Digital Audio Recording while also providing music support for African, Dunham and Contemporary classes. We definitely have something to look forward to seeing Farai's work flourish on a whole new level in this role!

Where to find Farai?
On LinkedIn
On Instagram
On Facebook
On Twitter
On YouTube

What's Farai reading?
Octavia E. Butler

What's Farai listening to?
Kendrick Lamar
J. Cole
Pharoahe Monch

Other topics of interest:
Regional Dance America
Ronald K. Brown
Scott Russel Sanders
Jawole Willa Jo Zollar
Beatrice Capote
Onye P. Ozuzu
Camille A. Brown
Christal Brown
The Shift Network
Amiri Baraka
The Lay Out
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