Princeton University’s Music Department presents the Timbuktu Grooves Festival from September 29 – October 1, led by Olivier Tarpaga, a Lester Horton Award-winning choreographer and director of the African Music Ensembles at Princeton since 2017.

The multi-disciplinary festival kicks off with Tarpaga’s humanist piece Once the Dust Settles Flowers Bloom on Friday, September 29, in partnership with McCarter Theatre Center and Seuls en Scène, Princeton French Theater Festival. The piece sheds light on refugees of Burkina Faso and the Sahel region, who were displaced after fleeing from the shadow of jihadists. Seven dancers and five musicians from Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal, Benin, Morocco, and France will participate.

On Saturday, September 30, McCarter Theatre Center presents a concert highlighting Malian singer-songwriter Fatoumata Diawara, playing her electric guitar to accompany her songs that blend Wassoulou folk music, spiritually-centered Afropop, and desert blues. Singing mostly in Bambara, the national language of Mali, Diawara sings about migration, African identity, motherhood, and the struggle of African women.

A veteran of the screen and stage, she debuted as an actress in the’90s, appearing in films such as Cheick Oumar Sissoko’s La Genèse and the Oscar-nominated Timbuktu. Since her 2011 debut LP Fatou, she’s collaborated with Herbie Hancock, Bobby Womack, Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Damon Albarn, who co-produced her latest album London Ko. In 2019 she became the first Malian artist to perform at the Grammys, where she was nominated for Best World Music Album for her 2018 record Fenfo (Something to Say).

The final event of the festival on Sunday, October 1, titled Djandjoba: The Big Gathering, transports listeners spiritually to West Africa by the calming sound of the kora, an ancient 21-string African harp, with a duet performed by master griots Wassa Kouyate from Mali, and Flatie Dembele from Burkina Faso. The program will also highlight contemporary African music played by Sō Percussion, Dafra Kura band from Burkina Faso, and the Princeton University Afrobeats Ensemble.

“Timbuktu was historically an intellectual and spiritual center in the Mali empire. It’s a city of resilience which echoes the resilience of Princetonians. Our first mission is to promote the beauty, positivity, and creativity of the continent of Africa throughout the performing arts,” said Tarpaga. “It is crucial for me to represent this vast, diverse, fascinating, and sometimes misunderstood continent at the traditional and urban level because Africa is contemporary.”

McCarter and the Department of Music at Princeton are partnering for a second year, after a performance with the Jazz Vocal Collective featuring Camille Thurman last February.

Once the Dust Settles Flowers Bloom is at McCarter Theatre, 91 University Place, on Friday, September 29 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $15-$25 at Mccarter.org. University students can access free tickets at Mccarter.org/tigertix. The concert by Fatoumata Diawara is Saturday, September 30 at 8 p.m. at McCarter. Tickets start at $35, available at Mccarter.org. Djandjoba: The Big Gathering is Sunday, October 1 at 4 p.m., at Richardson Auditorium. Tickets are $5-$15. University students can access free tickets at Mccarter.org/tigertix.