The NIU World Music Program is celebrating its 50-year anniversary with a week of music from cultures around the globe.
The World Music festival will kick off with a week-long celebration on Tuesday, precisely 50 years since the start of the program.
The World Music Program includes several music ensembles who perform tunes from various cultures.
These seven performing ensembles will be the Chinese Music Ensemble, Thai Ensemble, Middle Eastern Ensemble, Gamelan, Korean Drumming, Banda NIU and Mariachi NIU.
The opening concert, From the Exotic to the Global Concert I, will take place exactly 50 years after the first-ever NIU World Music Concert on April 8, 1975. The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Boutell Memorial Concert Hall at the Music Building.
There are two performances on Wednesday. The NIU Korean Drumming Ensemble will perform at noon in the MLK Commons between the Holmes Student Center and the Founders Memorial Library.
At 8 p.m., there will be another concert, From the Exotic to the Global Concert II – Roaming In Between, in the Recital Hall of the Music Building.
On Thursday, there will be three different performances throughout the day in the Recital Hall.
The first, “Sounds of the Balkans” by Balkanalia, the University of Illinois Balkan Music Ensemble, begins at noon.
Beginning at 5:15 p.m., there will be a performance by Toyoaki Shamisen (Tatsu Aoki) titled Toyoaki Shamisen: Tradition Progressing.
The third and final concert of the day, “From the Exotic to the Global Concert III – The Third Space,” is scheduled for 8 p.m.
The final performance of the festival will take place at noon Friday on the lawn between the Music Building and the Visual Arts Building. This performance will serve as the closing concert of the festival.
All performances and concerts will be free to attend with no registration required.
