No matter your age or background, the spirit and the openness of the Elegba Folklore Society will enchant you. In a way that perhaps you will expect or in a way that is totally spontaneous, your energy will blend beautifully with ours, closing the gap between performer and audience. Participants find themselves swept up in a universal cultural energy that links them with the global significance of this timeless art form.

Elegba Folklore Society's Djembe Ensemble opens the Virginia Folklife Workshop stage on Saturday. Indigenous to the Manding cosmology, the call of the djembe drum commands your attention for what’s to come.

Today, the 21-string kora emerges from the ensemble via player and ethnomusicologist, Amadou Kouyate. Continuing the musical lineage of his father’s djeli heritage, his repertoire ranges from traditional songs of the 13th century to contemporary original compositions incorporating blues and jazz, and he performs this music internationally. Kouyate is also a part of the faculty at Howard University.