KentNewsNet.com

Issue date: 4/30/08 Section: News

Front runner of the HeartBEAT AFRIKA, Olugbala Mann, engages the crowd during Culture Shock yesterday in the Rathskellar. Sam Twarek | Daily Kent Stater

The Rathskeller echoed with music from around the world yesterday as Culture Shock, sponsored by the All Campus Programming Board, brought dancers and musicians out to share their diverse cultures with Kent State students.

Acts included Indian, African, Japanese and Hungarian dances along with their respective musical styles, complete with traditional clothing.

Performances by reggae, African drum and bagpipe bands brought a different mood to each set.

Dub Flex Reggae played first, followed by American Indian dancers Ghana Queens and Sho-Jo-Ji.

Heart Beat Afrika took the stage next with a multitude of drums, such as the jembe and snare. Other instruments included bass guitar and trumpet, and they even beat on plastic buckets and a ladder during a song called "Day at the Job."

The next act was Gleann Mor Pipe Band, a Scottish bagpipe group. Dressed in traditional kilts and knee-high socks, they played old Scottish, Irish and Welsh tunes, giving the audience the background stories behind them before each was played.

The final act was a group of young Hungarian dancers named Csardas. They wore brightly colored Hungarian clothes and danced to traditional songs, at times with glass bottles balanced on their heads.

April Samuelson, ACPB's festival arts chair, helped to put on the event.

"It's always such a spectacle," she said. "People hear it and don't know what's going on so they come to see it, and then they stay for more."

Contact entertainment reporter Denver Collins at dcollin4@kent.edu.

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