Dance and Music : Africa Comes to El Camino

With volleys of intricate drumming and bursts of exuberant solo dancing, the Koteba Percussionists and Dancers from the Ivory Coast revved up the second half of “Africa Oye!” Saturday in Marsee Auditorium at El Camino College in Torrance.

Making its third appearance in the Southland, the company, assembled by Michel Boudon and Mel Howard, repeated the brief but still satisfying selection of tribal art from Zaire, Niger, Mali and the Ivory Coast that it had presented at El Camino in 1990.

The virtuoso demands again were high and highly met. Flutist Bailo Bah, for instance, not only had to sing and sing into the instrument, as well as playing it (which created an interesting effect almost like multiphonics), but he had to do all while also making a circle of turns by spinning on his head. Amazing.

Elhadji Chetima Yerwakiri and his son Agi Gana Chetima from Niger again demonstrated seemingly endless breath control in playing the alghaita , which resembles a shawm in sound.

The Pende dancers from Zaire repeated the energetic character pieces that required wearing of spectacular masks. But this time, they proved there are dangers in dancing with masks. Wearing the manganji or clown mask, Metela Matemu misjudged where the front of the stage ended and fell about three feet to the auditorium floor. He was not hurt, however, and was able to resume the dance immediately. He also returned to parody the soloists of all the other groups in the rousing, spirited finale.

Unfortunately, skimpy program notes led to occasional perplexity about some of the cultures. The Batwa-Ekonda Pygmies could be appreciated in movement terms when they enacted a sequence of celebration dances, but one wondered what exactly was the role of the tiny modeled torso of a man around which they danced. There was no explanation.