Cheryl L. Keyes’s “Sundiata Keita Overture” Wins Global Music Award

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Cheryl L. Keyes, a professor of ethnomusicology and global jazz studies as well as the chair of the African American studies department, has recently been awarded a silver medal in the Global Music Awards for her work, “Sundiata Keita Overture.” This piece premiered on June 5 in Royce Hall during a multimedia event titled “Prelude to Juneteenth.”

Keyes’s “Sundiata Overture” narrates the story of Sundiata Keita (Soon-JA-ta Kae-EE-ta), the founder of the Malian Empire in the thirteenth century. Representatives from the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music sat down with Dr. Keyes to discuss the inspiration behind the overture.

Click here to read more about this piece and her award…