Jazz Studies PhD Student Samuel Boateng’s new work Sunsum is Spirit will premiere on The New Hazlett Theater’s CSA (Community Supported Art) series. Performances take place on April 29 (8 p.m.) and April 30 (11 a.m. and 8 p.m.). Find out more about the show and tickets here. 

Sunsum is Spirit is an immersive experience that combines original music with traditional and contemporary African dance, movement and storytelling. This surrealist performance captures a life-changing journey through pre-independence Ghana. Three travelers set out to capture a malevolent spirit and are thrown into a whirlwind of supernatural encounters. They hear rumors of sudden disappearances and kidnappings in neighboring towns but have no idea these are signs of a new and expanding commerce — the Atlantic slave trade.

Samuel Boateng is a Ghanaian ethnomusicologist, pianist, and composer. His research includes jazz transnationalism, postcolonial, and improvisation studies. As a composer and ASCAP award winner, his music has been performed by the Pittsburgh Jazz Orchestra and the Cleveland Chamber Symphony. He has performed at the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Ghana National Theatre, and Indosiar (Indonesian National Television), and recently collaborated with funk and soul legend Betty Davis.