Skip to main content
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • Videos
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Arts & Culture
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
Sections
  • All News
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business & Economy
  • Campus & Community
  • Health & Society
  • Media, Law & Policy
  • STEM
  • Veterans
  • |
  • Alumni
  • The Peel
  • Athletics
  • Home
  • About
  • Faculty Experts
  • For The Media
  • Videos
  • Topics
    • Alumni
    • Events
    • Faculty
    • Library
    • Research
    • Students
    • All Topics
  • Contact
  • Submit
Arts & Culture

Learning to the Beat

Friday, February 6, 2015, By Amy Manley
Share
College of Arts and Sciences

On a cold January morning, a sizzling percussive rhythm echoed from the depths of the Hall of Languages. Students in Professor Carol Babiracki’s “Intro to World Music” class were treated to a vibrant African drumming and dance workshop, led by world-renowned dancer, singer, and drummer Biboti Ouikahilo.

Biboti Ouikahilo demonstrates African drumming for students in Carol Babiracki's "Word Music" course.

Biboti Ouikahilo demonstrates African drumming for students in Carol Babiracki’s “Intro to Word Music” course.

Babiracki, associate professor of ethnomusicology in the Department of Art and Music Histories in the College of Arts and Sciences, invited Ouikahilo and a few other professional percussionists to her class to help students bridge the gap between the abstract musical concepts they have been studying and the complex cross-rhythms of live drumming.

“If I had the money, I would teach my entire ‘World Music’ class through this kind of workshop and performance experience,” Babiracki explains. “It’s a powerful way to break down cultural and conceptual barriers between our own communities and those we casually think of as ‘other.'”

Ouikahilo is from the Ivory Coast, where he was a lead performer and teacher with the Cote d’Ivoire National Dance Company. After moving to the United States in 1997, he spent six years teaching at the renowned Djoniba Dance and Drum Center in New York City. In the early 2000s, he toured the country with Jimmy Buffet and appeared in the film “Tears of the Sun” with Bruce Willis.

Ouikahilo eventually landed in Syracuse and, in 2009, co-founded Wacheva, a center for multicultural dance, drumming and fitness in the One Village dance studio building in the Westcott area.

As curious onlookers gathered outside the HL classroom door, students inside surrendered to the music, actively participating with Ouikahilo’s infectious and improvised compositions. The majority of them were out of their seats, taking turns playing the various African instruments.

“Many students came up to me afterwards with excited observations about similarities between Biboti’s West African music and dance and their own African-American genres, like hip-hop and krumping,” exclaimed Babiracki. “It was enlightening!”

  • Author

Amy Manley

  • Recent
  • Syracuse University Ranked in the Top 25 for Best Online Graduate Information Technology Programs by U.S. News & World Report
    Tuesday, January 26, 2021, By News Staff
  • WAER 88.3 FM Welcomes New Sports Director
    Tuesday, January 26, 2021, By Mary Kate Intaglietta
  • The State of the Immigration Courts
    Tuesday, January 26, 2021, By News Staff
  • Athlete, Activist Maya Moore Joins the Martin Luther King Jr. Virtual Event Series Jan. 27
    Tuesday, January 26, 2021, By News Staff
  • Health Promotion Advocate and Alumnus Sidney Lerner ’53 Remembered
    Tuesday, January 26, 2021, By News Staff

More In Arts & Culture

Drama Department to Virtually Present New Theatrical Work Inspired by University’s 150th Anniversary

Inspired by Syracuse University’s 150th anniversary, the Department of Drama in the College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) will virtually present “Impact: Past, Present, Future,” a new theatrical piece that will be performed live in a series of four staged…

Special Collections Research Center Launches Latin American 45s Digital Collection

Syracuse University Libraries’ Special Collections Research Center (SCRC), working in partnership with the Digital Library Program (DLP), recently launched the Belfer Latin American 45s Digital Collection. The digital collection will eventually provide access to over 12,000 recordings that date from…

VPA Faculty to Present World Premieres at Society for New Music Concert Jan. 31

Performers affiliated with the Setnor School of Music in the College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) are teaming up with the Society for New Music (SNM) for world premieres by two up-and-coming composers. Cellist Gregory Wood and percussionist Rob…

Sound Beat: Access Audio Offering Children’s Audiobooks about Enslaved People by Cheryl Wills ’89

Sound Beat: Access Audio is providing two free family audiobooks written by Emmy Award-winning journalist Cheryl Wills ’89,  the great-great-great granddaughter of Emma and Sandy Wills, enslaved people from Haywood, Tennessee. The audiobooks are narrated by the author and are…

Syracuse Stage Announces Changes to the 2020/2021 Season

Syracuse Stage announced adjustments to the schedule for the remainder of the 2020/2021 season. These adjustments include replacing previously announced shows with new titles and come in direct response to the evolving situation concerning the COVID-19 pandemic. Starting in February,…

Subscribe to SU Today

If you need help with your subscription, contact sunews@syr.edu.

Connect With Us

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
Social Media Directory

For the Media

Find an Expert Follow @SyracuseUNews
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • @SyracuseU
  • @SyracuseUNews
  • @SUCampus
  • Social Media Directory
  • Accessibility
  • Privacy
  • Campus Status
  • Syracuse.edu
© 2021 Syracuse University News. All Rights Reserved.