For their fall performances, Pitt’s University Gamelan and Afropop Ensemble will perform on a double bill live at Bellefield Hall Auditorium. Guest artist Charlotte Hill O’Neal aka Mama C will perform with Afropop ensemble.

Limited in-person attendance for Pitt students, faculty and staff. Free, registration required.

Streaming will be available for the general public.

Pitt's University Gamelan Ensemble plays the gamelan music of the Sundanese people, an ethnic group that inhabits roughly the western third of the island of Java. The University Gamelan is directed by Professor Andrew Weintraub and instructed by Dr. Jay Arms.

Founded by Mathew Tembo and currently directed by Dr. Ben Barson, the Afropop Ensemble explores the interconnections between African music and the music of the African diaspora such as reggae and jazz. This course focuses on sub-Saharan Afropop through performance and composition.

Guest artist Charlotte Hill O’Neal aka Mama C is an internationally known writer/poet/visual artist, musician, performance artist, filmmaker of nearly three decades of experience. As an artist she is a practitioner of the Nyatiti, Obokano, Kamalen Ngoni, and frequently collaborates with Hip-Hop artists in Tanzania and across the world. She is a longtime community activist and Director of the United African Alliance Community Center (UAACC) based in Tanzania and is also a Cultural Warrior and Egungun Priest. She was born in Kansas City, KS in 1951 and has lived in Africa with her husband Pete O’Neal since 1970.