In 1988, Public Radio International (PRI) coined the term “Afropop” to refer to a cross section of traditional and urban music styles that originated or had roots in Africa. At their concert On March 30, the Pitt Afropop Ensemble will present Afropop music that has either been influenced by or has influenced other music styles from the Americas and Europe. The ensemble students will offer renditions of Afro-reggae, highlife, Afrobeat and Afro-jazz, genres that have resulted from the fusion of African and Western musics. The program will specifically focus on discovering sonic migrations between Africa, Latin America, Europe and the Caribbean. "Sonic Migrations" is a way of describing how sound has traveled from Africa to other locations of the world and back to Africa. The event will make connections between rumba of Cuba and soukous from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Jamaican reggae and Afro-reggae.

The event will feature a talk by Dr. David Aarons, assistant professor at the University of North Carolina, on the connections between Jamaican reggae and Afro-reggae. Dr. Aarons has studied migrations of Jamaican people and their music to Ethiopia. He joined the faculty at UNCG in 2018 and currently teaches such courses as “American Music” and “Music of World Cultures.”