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Zambian Musician, A Success In The Pop World, Wants To Preserve His Country's Traditional Music

WNIJ

Zambian Matthew Tembo got his bachelor's degree in classical music-playing Bach on the piano. He moved on to become a leading touring and recording artist in both the reggae and Afropop genres. But for the last several years, he's devoted himself to kindling an interest in his countrymen for Zambia's traditional instruments and music. To that end, he founded the Sing Your Own Song Festival, which encourages musicians to create music that embraces that tradition. More recently, he has come to Northern Illinois University, where he is working on master's degree in World Music. He is the founder and leader of the NIU Afropop Ensemble.

Saturday, September 22nd, at 7 p.m., at the House Cafe, Tembo leads the Ensemble as part of a benefit concert for his Festival. The NIU Middle Eastern and Chinese Ensembles will also perform, as will the NIU Steel Band.

Guy Stephens produces news stories for the station, and coordinates our online events calendar, PSAs and Arts Calendar announcements. In each of these ways, Guy helps keep our listening community informed about what's going on, whether on a national or local level. Guy's degrees are in music, and he spent a number of years as a classical host on WNIU. In fact, after nearly 20 years with Northern Public Radio, the best description of his job may be "other duties as required."