The second installment of Rochester Civic Music's 2020 World Music Series will feature a three-event, single day residency with Minneapolis's own Siama's Congo Roots. All three events will be live-streamed from the Historic Chateau Theatre in downtown Rochester's "Heart of the City" district. 

Brimming with catchy songs and engaging stories that bring renowned musician Siama Matuzungidi’s rural Congolese culture to life, this charming program features Siama’s spirited singing, masterful finger-picking acoustic guitar and captivating traditional African instruments like Mbira (thumb piano), Lokole (tone drum) and Balafon (marimba). Dallas Johnson narrates and encourages everyone to sing along in Kikongo, Lingala and English while drummer Luke Rivard adds infectious African rhythms. Whenever Siama plays, he hopes you’ll feel inspired to sway and dance and sing along. It’s no wonder people call his music, “the Sound of Happiness”.

Back in Africa, Siama was a sought-after studio musician, recording hundreds of songs and touring the world with popular Soukous artists like Kanda Bongo Man, Tshala Muana, Sam Manguana and Samba Mapangala. (Soukous is upbeat dance music that originated in Bas Congo, the region of DR Congo where Siama grew up.) After living in Uganda, Kenya, Dubai and Japan, Siama settled in Minneapolis in 1996. He earned a McKnight Fellowship in 2014 and has since won numerous grants and awards for his engaging original songs which are inspired by Soukous, traditional Congolese music, Congolese Rumba (a genre inspired by Cuban Rumba) and flavors he’s picked up along the way.

In addition to performing special concerts at premier venues and events and teaching in universities, he and his wife Dallas recently earned World Music Pedagogy certificates from Smithsonian Folkways and they host fun library programs and teach in schools for COMPAS and Classical MPR’s “Class Notes Artists” program. Siama’s album, “Rivers – from the Congo to the Mississippi” was featured in BBC and Songlines Magazine and he and Dallas’ children’s CD, The Land of Yangalele (yawn-gaw-LAY-lay = “happiness”) received a Parents’ Choice Parent Approved award and has earned accolades from Grammy-award winning artists like The Okee Dokee Brothers (“We dig it! A great addition to the family music mosaic! Outstanding rhythms and performances.” and Ladysmith Black Mambazo, “When we listen to, "The Land of Yangalele" we hear home, Mama Africa. This is very beautiful music that everyone can enjoy.”) Check out Siama’s music on www.SiamaMusic.com/Music and Spotify and find @SiamaMusic on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.

Video:

Special episode about Siama's Life and Music on TPT's Lowertown Line

Siama & Dallas sing Yele Yele on MN State Fair Sky Ride for MPR's The Current 

The City of Rochester Music Department/Riverside Concerts is pleased to announce that it was among a select group of Minnesota arts organizations chosen to receive a Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund grant. This award will help support year eleven of Riverside Concerts' World Music Series project featuring world-class artists/ensembles exploring musical landscapes from around globe.

Each artist in the 2020 World Music Series will be in the area for two-day mini-residencies; performing two free concert previews leading up to a full-length capstone performance. The purpose of this program is to foster among community members an appreciation for music, develop future audience, patrons and contributors for the arts and introduce the community to a variety of musical instruments and genres. Each of the artists to be engaged will be meritorious World Music artists of national or international importance.

Southeast Minnesota has been and will continue to be enriched and challenged by alternative views of the world. Cultural literacy is essential to becoming a well-rounded individual because it points the way to understanding, cooperation, collaboration and problem solving. The vision of this project will enable the department to contribute to a fuller understanding of diverse cultural points of view. Rochester Music Department can help citizens gain insight into how they define their broader community and themselves.