Residency with Okyerema Asante

Jazz Transnationalism and Intercultural Intersections Between Africans and African Americans

(A Two-Week Residency with Okyerema Asante)

In the early 1970s, Okyerema Asante toured the US with the legendary South African trumpeter, Hugh Masekela, as a founding member of the Ghanaian group, Hedzoleh Soundz. Okyerema continued to perform with Masekela until the latter’s passing in 2018. Okyerema has performed and recorded with jazz luminaries including James Moody, Roy Ayers, Pharoah Sanders, Oliver Lake, Lonnie Linston Smith, Jacky McLean, René Mclean, Jack DeJonette, Benito Gonzalez, David Murray, and jazz groups such as the Crusaders, and the World Saxophone Quartet. Okyerema completed three world tours with Paul Simon and the Graceland project, and four world tours with the rock group, Fleetwood Mac. He has performed with the Jamaican reggae group, The Third World, and many others.

As a Ghanaian percussionist, Okyerema transformed and expanded his Akan Atumpan and Fontomfrom drums to include Cuban congas, Asian cymbals, and other percussion instruments from South America, and by doing so made it possible to combine his battery of drums and percussion instruments with diverse musical styles on the international stage. He continues to use his performance skills to cross national, geographic, and genre boundaries to perform with jazz, rock & roll, and reggae artists beyond racialized categories.