In 2016, Landrum-based nonprofit Cradle of Jazz Project has consulted for the History Channel’s “Roots” remake; hosted a tour of three of Mali, West Africa’s most highly regarded string musicians; and used the profits to bring the Malian musicians’ kids to the northern corner of Greenville County for a three-month intensive educational exchange.

“We have always been passionate about educating on the rich history of West African music and its impact on the roots of American music,” says CoJP founding director Julie Moore, “but with the motive of beginning an educational exchange for kids on both sides of the Atlantic. The board is very pleased we’ve been able to achieve so much this year.”

Music producers from the “Roots” production staff began calling Julie last fall when Forest Whitaker needed a tutor on the jeli ngoni, the West African grandfather to the banjo, for the recreation of his role of Fiddler. Within days they had sent an expert down to the set in New Orleans, and a couple weeks later director Philip Noyce was calling Julie to consult on how West African music might have manifested itself in Southern plantation life.

Roots was able to find CoJP because their Mande Strings tour, which concludes this Friday, Oct. 28 at the Tryon Fine Arts Center, features the jeli ngoni (along with a harp-styled kora and kamelen ngoni and some bluesy guitar, too).

“Our jeli ngoni player is phenomenal,” says Moore. “Not only is he a master of traditional style, but he’s being sought out by modern musicians all over the world. Over the last couple years, Assaba Dramé has toured and/or recorded with the European rave band Midnight Ravers, reggae band the Skatalites, and Mali’s most popular rapper, Mylmo. We’re thrilled to have him on our Mande Strings tour.”

To top it off, these high-caliber musicians (who also include composer/guitarist Lamine Soumano and Mali’s first female player of the kamelen ngoni Kokanko Sata Doumbia) have carried out the tour for the greater purpose of having their children participate in a three-month educational exchange with some local musician children.

“In just three months, our group of pilot students, both American and West African, have taught one another to effectively communicate with one another on all levels of the educational spectrum, language, music and math. They’ll be showing off just how far they’ve come in the 6:30 pre-concert reception for the Tryon show on Friday,” says Moore.

As if a memorable evening couldn’t be more perfectly created, the reception also includes an art show/silent auction of artists from the Greenville Center for Creative Arts, and modern Malian artists including the US debut of photographer Tiecoura N’Daou.

For tickets, visit tryonarts.org. For more information on the Cradle of Jazz Project, visit cradleofjazz.org.

– article submitted by Michelle Fleming