Calendar

Bring your ideas, creativity and energy to our month Emily’s Friends meeting!  We’re planning all kinds of fun events and we’d love to have you join us.  Our fundraising work provides needed items for the library such as museum passes, technology and much more.  This group meets in the Public Safety Complex.

Bring your ideas, creativity and energy to our month Emily’s Friends meeting!  We’re planning all kinds of fun events and we’d love to have you join us.  Our fundraising work provides needed items for the library such as museum passes, technology and much more.  This group meets in the Public Safety Complex.

Bring your ideas, creativity and energy to our month Emily’s Friends meeting!  We’re planning all kinds of fun events and we’d love to have you join us.  Our fundraising work provides needed items for the library such as museum passes, technology and much more.  This group meets in the Public Safety Complex.

Bring your ideas, creativity and energy to our month Emily’s Friends meeting!  We’re planning all kinds of fun events and we’d love to have you join us.  Our fundraising work provides needed items for the library such as museum passes, technology and much more.  This group meets in the Public Safety Complex.

Sean Gaskell will give a performance and educational demonstration on the kora, an ancient 21-stringed harp from West Africa.  He will feature traditional songs that are the heart and soul of the kora’s musical repertoire in addition to some of his own personal compositions.  All ages are welcome!

The Kora is native to the Mande peoples who live within the countries of Gambia, Senegal, Mali, Guinea, and Guinea Bissau. The music is traditionally played by oral and musical historians known as Griots (Gree-ohs). The Kora is a melodic and seemingly peaceful instrument, which is somewhat contrary to its musical repertoire. Many songs tell ancient stories of war and hardship, while others praise people of high political status and those who helped expand the Mande Empire. While the Kora is only 300 years old, some commonly played songs can be traced back 800 years to the Mande empires’ founding. Gaskell has studied extensively under the instruction of Malamini Jobarteh and Moriba Kuyateh of Brikama, The Gambia, and Kane Mathis of Brooklyn, NY. Gaskell has been featured at numerous festivals in the US, Gambia, and Senegal.

For a preview, check out this video of Sean performing.

Emily’s Friends of the Library is holding their annual members meeting with a special talk to follow! Tom Ricardi of Massachusetts Birds of Prey Rehabilitation Center will present on Raptors of the Pioneer Valley.