“We are rocking all the way to Angola. How are you tonight, my people?” Rocky Dawuni challenged a crowd of about a thousand at Proctors Theater, the rain site for the 2023 Music Haven season opener. The Schenectady concert series is celebrating its 32nd year of bringing world culture to the masses with a free Sunday night schedule through August.
The three-time Grammy nominee, Rocky Dawuni, has shared the stage with Stevie Wonder, Bono, and John Legend. He’s also an activist, a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for the Environment for Africa, a UN Foundation Ambassador for the Clean Cooking Alliance, and a Global Ambassador for the World Day of African and Afrodescendant Culture.
His band injects Rocky with organic steroids that allow – no, demand – him to reduce the huge Proctor’s stage to an intimate setting with an audience he reaches out to, urging us all to stand: not at attention but paying ATTENTION to his message of inclusiveness. Dreadlocks down to his waist, they whip-saw his body, profiling a face with an infectious smile as he commands us all to unite in a common bond of humanity that wipes out the negative energy of a contemporary society seemingly at war with itself.
The music may have different names and origins, but it’s all about community and making us one. No divisions of races, nations, or ideologies. He draws everyone in like moths to a flame, as one eclectic electric community.
The antithesis of divisiveness, Rocky Dawuni is Africa’s answer to James Brown with the energy of Michael Jackson, the charisma of Prince, and the attitude of Jackie Wilson.
The message? A resounding clarion call that we are all one.
An arena superstar around the world, Rocky was able to draw in a party-ready rain site Proctor’s Theater crowd instantaneously. For an hour and a half, he and his crack band simulated an intimate midnight campfire of close friends.
He calls his music “Afro-roots, a funky blend of soul, pop, Afrobeat, and reggae grooves,” the common element being an infectious reggae beat. The music may have different names and origins, but it’s all about unity, making us one.
He’s a battery charged by the electrodes of a crowd ready to boogie. He asks, “How are you feeling, people?” The response is palpable, electrified! “We are creating a world for all of us,” an obvious goal that seems so elusive with today’s headlines.
Songs included “Beautiful People,” “Take It Easy,” “Master Plan,” “This Is Reggae,” and “Rock Your Soul.” His finale was the only non-original number, Bob Marley’s “Get Up, Stand Up,” a clarion call to action adopted by the human-rights nonprofit Amnesty International as its official anthem.
“Rock Your Soul” and “Get Up, Stand Up” are on his 2015 album, “Branches of The Same Tree.”
Opening the night were Capital Region percussionist Zorkie Nelson and The Umoja Drummers from the Hamilton Hill Arts Center. Seven drummers in colorful dress brought Ghanaian rhythms into focus in a barrage that was the perfect opening for Rocky Dawuni.
Photo Gallery by Stan Johnson
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