Outdoor Concert Series: Zikina

This June 20 (rain date June 21) concert features Zikina, a group that brings together the linguistic and musical diversity of traditional Ugandan folk music with a wide palette of American musical sounds. One of Zikina’s members, Gideon Ampeire, is an international performer and instrument-maker, and has been teaching about traditional Ugandan music and culture in Hartford schools for many years. At Zikina’s performance, audiences can hear how East African instruments like the enanga, kalimba, and adungu merge with the African diasporic traditions of rock, jazz, and funk into something new.

The concert will take place on the beautiful CMCH lawns at 1 Elizabeth St., Hartford. Grounds are open for seating and picnicking from 5 PM, and the music begins at 6 PM. All of the CMCH outdoor concerts are free and open to the public. Visitors are encouraged to bring their own lawn chairs and food, or pick up a delicious meal or snacks from the Baba Ghanoush food truck, which will be on site from 4:30 – 7:00!

This concert is the first in the 2019 season of the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History’s outdoor concert series on summer third Thursdays, which presents the work of the Connecticut Cultural Heritage Arts Program (CCHAP), a statewide initiative that documents diverse cultural traditions and shares the artistic creations and community cultural practices of folk artists living throughout Connecticut. The concert series is generously supported by the Evelyn W. Preston Memorial Trust Fund, Bank of America N.A., Trustee, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the CT Office of the Arts/DECD.

For more information about the artists, please click here.