Concert kicks off preparations for Procession of the Species

African musician Alpha Yaya Diallo sets the mood for this year's festivities

BILL COMPTON, FOR THE OLYMPIAN

Originally published Friday, March 1, 2002

The Eighth Annual Procession of the Species, Olympia's premiere artistic celebration of music, dance and species awareness, won't happen until April 20.

But the "season of the Procession" will kick off this Saturday with music and workshops in the spirit of the April event.

The culminating event will be a benefit concert in the Capitol Theater featuring African funk/pop guitarist Alpha Yaya Diallo and his band Bafing. Olympia's 20-piece ensemble Planet Percussion will open the show.

Throughout the weeks leading to the Procession there will be more concerts, training sessions for costume-making, and workshops.

Processions producer Eli Sterling said he sees the Diallo concert and related workshops as steps in the building of community in an urban environment. He says Saturday's events will "extend the invitation to all to participate directly in patterns of expression they don't have as much access to during the year."

That's the magic of the Procession and all the activities over the next seven weeks.

The Procession's uniqueness lies in its capacity to engage various groups in ways that transcend boundaries of age, gender, ethnicity and art forms, all beneath an umbrella of species consciousness and artistic participation.

Last year's Procession parade drew more than 20,000 to Olympia's streets to watch 2,500 marching participants in dance ensembles, music groups and walkers, all dressed in colorful and exotic costumes handmade from just about every recycled possibility on earth.

Sterling also encourages anyone to drop in at the Community Art Studio Saturday afternoon from noon to 5 p.m. at the Old Madison school on the corner of Central Street and Legion Way.

The studio houses an array of donated materials that Procession participants will be using over the next seven weeks for making costumes.

While costume-making will consume much of the upcoming weeks, music plays a vital role in the event.

"We want to get all generations alive about their place in the natural world and music is the key to that," Sterling says.

Alpha Yaya Diallo performed in Olympia last year and was so impressed with the spirit of the Procession that he offered to return and include workshops in his participation.

Born in Guinea in West Africa, Diallo has lived in Vancouver, British Columbia, since 1991. At the cutting edge of world music, he and his band have become mainstays at major music festivals in Western Europe as well as in the States and Canada.

His albums have twice been nominated for Juno awards (Canada's Grammys), and 1999's "The Message" won a Juno for Best Global Recording. Sterling sees Diallo's music as the embodiment of the spirit of the Procession.

"He brings a sparkling energy to his music. Since many of the lyrics are African, you experience the music as a transcendence above words," Sterling says. "There's an immediate sense of traditional culture when he plays and people get up and dance. The musical themes ride on Alpha's guitar work in an Afro-pop sound that is completely accessible."

Planet Percussion, a 20-member world rhythms group founded by Jay Sicilia in 1998, will open the show.

Bill Compton is a free-lance writer living in Lacey.

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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