Afro-Colombian dance group Sankofa performed in Jamaica to an enthusiastic audience Friday reported Jamaican newspaper The Gleaner.
The “dance drama” San Pacho Bendito by Sankofa, the Afrocolombian Cultural Corporation, was shown at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts in the capital, Kingston.
The patriotic performance was preceded by the national anthems of Colombia and Jamaica, and a short speech from the Colombian Ambassador to Jamaica, Luis Guillermo Perez.
Three acts including “Homanaje a San Pacho” and included vocals, lots of percussion and flute music.
San Pacho is the patron saint of the Colombian department of Choco, where many Afrocolombians reside.
One of the dance movements “looked akin to the Jamaican ‘dutty wine'” and another was described as the “mosquito rhythm” with the dancers clapping at mosquitos and stomping their feet.
Also thrown into the mix was a musical performance from an international trio composed of Jamaicans Orvill Hammond on piano, Conrad Pinnock on sax and Colombian saxophonist Michi Sarmiento who gave a “stirring” interpretation of Bob Marley’s “No Woman, No Cry.”
