SHS assembly brings the band

Sisters High School hosted Balla Kouyaté & Mike Block Band in an assembly on Friday, September 27.

Marking the 24th year of this annual tradition, students of all grade levels attended and watched the performance - with wide eyes and big smiles.

Photo by Conlan Archer

Balla Kouyaté & Mike Block Band was featured in a Sisters Folk Festival outreach event at Sisters High School last week.

Brad Tisdel, creative director of SFF Presents, introduced the band, whom he first encountered at the Wintergrass Festival earlier this year.

"My favorite thing about these assemblies, as well as the Americana Program here at the high school, is the fact that both students and adults can have fun together," Tisdel said. "And this is a band that you can't watch without dancing."

Balla Kouyaté & Mike Block Band is a six-piece ensemble whose leaders have been playing together since 2008.

Mike Block is an American cellist, singer, composer, and Grammy Award-winning musician. Balla Kouyaté is a West African musician and balafon player whose lineage stems over 800 years ago to Balla Fasséké. They were joined by additional members Sekou Dembele, Idrissa Kone, Luke Okerlund, and Mike Rivard.

The band performed a mix of West African, bluegrass, and American funk genres. They described their instruments, and explained how they came together, and the meaning behind some of the songs.

Kouyaté also discussed the importance of challenging traditions, using Block's unorthodox style of playing the cello and the physical adjustments Kouyaté had made to his belaphone as an example.

"It's good to break the rules in a positive way. This (belaphone) is traditionally played on the floor but sometimes you need to break laws in a positive way," Kouyaté said.

Nearing the end of the assembly Kouyaté encouraged the audience of students and teachers to stand up and dance, which nearly everyone did, leaving the students excited and full of laughter.