For immediate release: March 22, 2017

CONTACT:Rebecca Bailey, Publicity Coordinator/WriterHopkins Center for the Arts, Dartmouth Collegerebecca.a.bailey@dartmouth.edu603.646.3991

Promoting transnational cooperation and social change through music, at a time of tension: The Nile Project returns April 25

Photos: (This page) The current musicians of The Nile Project, photo by Habi Girgis; (next page) Steven Sogo led a music workshop for 5-7 year olds at Lebanon’s AVA Gallery during 2015 Nile Project visit), photo by Rob Strong.

HANOVER, NH—Eleven Musicians from six Nile countries throng the Hop’s Spaulding Auditorium stage on Tuesday, April 25, 7 pm playing danceable, life-affirming music collaboratively composed for their diverse instruments, languages and musical traditions.

The occasion is the return of The Nile Project, an innovative transnational program bringing together master musicians from across the vast Nile Delta to create new music and promote collaboration on use of the Nile. TNP previously came to Dartmouth in spring 2015 for a weeklong residency overflowing with glorious music and community engagement in both music-making and water issues. The upcoming visit is part of a three-

month, 23-city US tour on the heels of the January 2017release of the project’s second album, Jinja. While at Dartmouth, TNP will also give a school matinee performance for approximately 700 local schoolchildren.

In addition to the concert, TNP CEO Mina Girgis and Jamie Coughlin, Director of Entrepreneurship at Dartmouth, hold a free public conversation on Wednesday, April 26, 5 pm, at DEN, Currier Place, Hanover. Titled

Creative Flow: The Nile Project and Social Entrepreneurship, the talk examines how an innovative music collective re-imagines international water sustainability.

Although TNP takes no official stand on the Trump Administration’s travel bans, it has felt their impact. Two members are from Sudan, one of the “banned” countries, although both currently live in countries not listed in either the first or second travel bans. As luck would have it, TNP musicians all arrived in the US on January 18, one week before the first executive order. However, the bans have raised concerns about whether those members might be kept off domestic flights and face animosity of other types. Said Girgis to the Raleigh News & Observer, “There is uncertainty and anxiety, a feeling of hostility in the air. And we’re trying to build bridges.”

TNP found time to aid the cause of refugees by performing at a March 1 benefit in Bloomington, IN, for a refugee support group. A number of TNP musicians also performed at a screening of a documentary on Eritrea refugees, at North Carolina State University on March 19.

TNP is made of a changing lineup of virtuosos from various Nile region cultures and traditions, playing everything from Ethiopian grooves to North African Arabic classical traditions to rarely heard East African musical styles. The musicians come together in regular residencies to create new compositions weaving together their contrasting rhythms, scales, vocal styles and instrumental timbres. Led by Ethiopian-American saxophonist Danny Mekonnen (Debo Band), TNP also currently includes:

• Adel Mekha, voice and percussion: A widely respected Nubian percussionist and vocalist based in Cairo, Mekha’s knowledge of traditional Nubian rhythms and an expressive singing voice have brought him work with a wide range of ensembles and projects.

• Ahmed Omar, bass and tambour (Middle Eastern string instrument): Born in Libya to an Eritrean father and Egyptian mother, he mingles those legacies as he plays bass for several leading Egyptian bands and organizes the AfriCairo festival and music project.

• Nader El Shaer*, kawala (Arabic flute), accordion, Farfisa organ, vocals: Born in the culturally rich town of Port Said, Egypt, El Shaer is self-taught in numerous Western and Arabic instruments and styles.

• Saleeb Fawzy, vocals: Born in Minya, Egypt, Fawzy has a deep knowledge of Coptic church hymns, has toured throughout Europe and the Arab world and is currently working on Tawasol Project, helping people to learn through art.

• Asia Madani, vocals and percussion: Sudanese and residing in Cairo, Madani grew up surrounded by music and is a captivating performer who has appeared at many international festivals.

• Selamnesh Zemene*, vocals: Hailing from a long line of unique culture bearers in Northern Ethiopia, this young singer has brought her traditions to collaborations with indie darlings like Debo Band and The Ex.

• Dave Otieno, electric guitar: One of Kenya's leading guitarists, Otieno is fluent in the ringing, exultant benga style common to the Lake Victoria region, has toured throughout Africa and Europe and recently performed at the Folklife Festival at the Smithsonian, Washington DC.

• Kasiva Mutua*, percussion and vocals: Introduced to drumming by her grandmother, Mutua is one of Kenya’s leading drummers, her expressive playing able to tell a story or keep a band perfectly in the pocket.

• Michael Bazibu*, multiple instruments, percussion and vocals: A 17-year veteran of Ndere, Uganda’s leading traditional music and dance company, Bazibu is a noted master of several Ugandan stringed instruments (the harp-like entongoli and adungu and bowed endingidi) as well as percussion and singing styles;

• Steven Sogo*, vocals, bass, ikembe and umiduri: Born in Burundi, Sogo began to play guitar and sing at an early age and then took up the kalimba-like ikembe and the bowed, single-string umuduri. A World Bank Musical Ambassador for Burundi and a popular voice of the people, he has lived in exile in the US since 2015.

(* indicates returning member of The Nile Project local audiences saw in 2015.)

Originating in two sources—Lake Victoria in East Africa and Lake Tana in the Ethiopian highlands—the 4,100-mile Nile flows northward through a diversity of climates, landscapes and cultures before passing through Egypt and emptying into the Mediterranean Sea.

Its 450 million inhabitants are projected to double within the next 25 years, placing an ever increasing demand for Nile water—water that is tied to all aspects of life, from the food on tables to the electricity that powers homes to people’s health. Even now, people living along the Nile are vulnerable to water-related hardships. At least five nations in the Nile Basin are facing water stress. Seven of the eleven Nile countries continue to suffer from undernourishment rates higher than 30 percent. Less than 10 percent of Basin residents have access to electricity. The core issue at hand is how to peacefully allocate Nile Basin water among eleven nations with different needs and priorities, whose populations are all skyrocketing.

Founded in 2012, TNP aims to transform Nile Basin conflict by inspiring, educating and empowering an international network of university students to cultivate the sustainability of their ecosystem. The project’s model integrates music, education, dialogue, leadership and innovation to engage students across disciplines and geographies.

For more information, see this resource paper by The Nile Project.

Download Word.doc press release and high-resolution photos

CALENDAR LISTINGThe Nile ProjectAfter a jubilant 2015 Upper Valley residency, the world-touring Nile Project returns with more marvelous musicians from six Nile countries—playing danceable, life-affirming music collaboratively composed for their diverse instruments, languages and musical traditions. Now led by Ethiopian-American saxophonist Danny Mekonnen (Debo Band), these masters joyously spread a message of Nile region cooperation

through a heady mix of Ethiopian grooves, North African Arabic classical traditions and rarely heard East African musical styles.Tuesday, April 25, 7 pmSpaulding Auditorium, Hopkins Center, Hanover NH$25-40, $10 for Dartmouth students, $17-19 for youthInformation: hop.dartmouth.edu or 603.646.2422

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Founded in 1962, the Hopkins Center for the Arts is a multi-disciplinary academic, visual and performing arts center dedicated to uncovering insights, igniting passions, and nurturing talents to help Dartmouth and the surrounding Upper Valley community engage imaginatively and contribute creatively to our world. Each year the Hop presents more than 300 live events and films by visiting artists as well as Dartmouth students and the Dartmouth community, and reaches more than 22,000 Upper Valley residents and students with outreach and arts education programs. After a celebratory 50th-anniversary season in 2012-13, the Hop enters its second half-century with renewed passion for mentoring young artists, supporting the development of new work, and providing a laboratory for participation and experimentation in the arts.