NEW YORK (Top40 Charts/ Bethany and
Rufus Official Website) --
Roots music duo Bethany Yarrow &
Rufus Cappadocia (Bethany & Rufus) have made the hop across the Atlantic to Bamako, Mali, where they have been invited to perform at the 3rd Edition Daoula Festival on Saturday March 7th from 11:00PM - 3:00AM (Mali time). The Daoula Festival "Rencontres Autour du Cotton (Meeting around Cotton)" is committed to helping raise awareness of the problems faced by the African cotton sector. The festival, now in its third edition, takes place March 6-8 and welcomes artists from all backgrounds, including Bono, Tiken Jah Fakoly,
Quincy Jones and
Dee Dee Bridgewater.
"It is a tremendous opportunity for us, and we are planning to record, both sonically and visually," noted Bethany Yarrow. "Our journey of singing these old folk songs - most of them African American - back in West Africa, which is, ultimately, their origin."
Bethany & Rufus will be performing alongside some of Africa's greatest musicians, including Kass? Mady Diabat?, Nahawa Doumbia, Toumani Diabat?, Cheick Tidiane Seck, Didier Awadi, Oumou Sangar? and Hadrien F?raud. They will be joined by Hatian Voodoo percussionist Bonga Jean Baptiste and singer and flautist Yacouba Moumouni, leader of jazz-pop-ethnic band Mamar Kassey, one of the few Nigerien musical acts known internationally, and much beloved in their home country.
Prior to their trip to Mali, Bethany was joined by her father Peter Yarrow (Peter, Paul & Mary) for a memorial concert for Odetta Holmes, known simply as Odetta (December 31, 1930 - December 2, 2008). They were joined on February 24th at New York's Riverside Church by a who's who of people influenced by her - including David Amram, Maya Angelou, Harry Belefonte, Oscar Brand, Tom Chapin, Wavy Gravy, Maria Muldaur, Bernice Reagon, Pete Seeger, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Josh White Jr. and Peter Yarrow, among many others.
Bethany & Rufus with Bonga also gathered on February 21st at Carole Hart's home for a house concert in honor of her deceased husband Bruce Hart. An award-winning television and film producer/writer, Carole Hart is the brainchild behind the "For the Next 7 Generations" movie, whose soundtrack Bethany & Rufus have been collaborating on.
The full-length documentary tells the story of 13 Indigenous Grandmothers from around the globe - the Arctic Circle, North, Central & South America, Asia and Africa - who have come together because they were told in prophecy that their ancestral ways of prayer, peace-making and healing are vitally needed in the world today.
