The Nile Project

The Williams College Department of Music presents The Nile Project on Saturday, April 11 at 8 p.m., in Chapin Hall on the college campus. The event is free and open to the public.

The Nile Project offers an evening of music rooted in the diverse cultures of the Nile River basin. Artists from the 11 Nile countries will showcase many of the region’s diverse instruments, languages, and traditions. By inspiring cultural curiosity, and highlighting regional connections, the group fosters cooperation and understanding while producing a unique and exiting blend of African music that is accessible to audiences around the world.

The musicians of the Nile Project celebrate the beauty of East African traditions by combining the region’s diverse instruments, languages and traditions. Accompanied by traditional harps, drums, and other instruments, the musicians sing in 10 languages of the Nile. While music is the focus it is also the means to inspire active engagement with the cultural, social, and environmental challenges of the world’s longest river.

The project began in 2011 by two San Francisco-based East Africans as a response to the deepening water conflict in the Nile Basin. In a few years, the vision of Egyptian ethnomusicologist Mina Girgis and Ethiopian-American singer Meklit Hadero rapidly expanded to bring together musicians of all 11 Nile countries. Building on the success of its musical program, the Nile Project is launching education, leadership, and innovation initiatives to empower university students around the world with the tools they need to make the Nile more sustainable.

–Read about what The New York Times calls, “a committed, euphoric international coalition.” 

–Listen to NPR’s recap of globalFEST

–Listen to an interview from BBC’s Focus on Africa

–Read the interview with the Miami Herald

Event Program