Welcome to the Music Thursdays segment! Each week here on Geek Alabama, Music Thursdays will feature music related content. Music Thursdays will feature an artist or band and their latest song and / or music video. People love music, and we here at Geek Alabama love featuring artists and bands!
“Afro Alphabet,” the second single from the upcoming FUSHA Kids empowerment album, I Believe In Myself, is out today! From A for African American to Z for Zulu, “Afro Alphabet” takes the ABCs to a whole new level – with rhythm, culture, and pride.
The single accompanies an already released video of the song, which can be viewed below.
Little ones can groove, learn, and shine with this energetic and educational anthem. Using a call-and-response approach in her FUSHA Kids compositions, award-winning dancer, choreographer, songwriter, and educator Funmilayo Chesney encourages children to affirm their identities through their voices and their bodies. In “Afro Alphabet,” children repeat after Funmilayo the letters of the alphabet combined with words that uplift Black identity and history, such as “A, African American! B – Black is Beautiful! C – People of Color! D – Dignity!”
The energy of African dance meets the spirit of Afrobeats music in I Believe In Myself. Presented under the moniker “FUSHA Kids” and drawn from Funmilayo Chesney’s decades of teaching and performing with her NYC-based African dance ensemble, FUSHA Dance, I Believe In Myself is set for release on May 16, 2025.
Meet Funmilayo Chesney HERE.
To celebrate the I Believe In Myself album release, Funmilayo Chesney and FUSHA Dance will perform in the 19th annual Dance Parade New York on Saturday, May 17, 2025, for which Funmilayo has been named one of this year’s Grand Marshalls. To learn more, please visit DanceParade.org.
ABOUT FUNMILAYO CHESNEY:
Funmilayo Chesney, born in Brazil, raised in Guyana, and longtime resident of New York City, is a quadruple-threat performing and teaching artist – dancer, singer-songwriter, drummer, and choreographer. She is the Artistic Director of FUSHA (Fierce Undulating Spirits Have Arrived) Dance Company in New York City and is a registered New York Department of Education freelance educator for music and dance empowerment. Funmilayo was a member of the only traditional Congolese dance company in New York City, Malaki Ma Congo, and has won awards for her excellence in African dance teaching. She has taught Congolese dance at Alvin Ailey, Harlem School of the Arts, Cumbe, Lezly Dance and Skate, Fareta and Djoniba, among other locations.
Funmilayo and FUSHA Dance Company have graced the stages of the United Nations, Carnegie Hall, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, the Apollo Theater, African Burial Ground NYC, BAM, The African Street Festival, Harlem Stage, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Public Library, Summerstage, and Symphony Space. They have toured worldwide with ongoing yearly tours to South America, Europe, the Caribbean, and Africa, where Funmilayo and FUSHA Dance Company regularly lead Congolese dance workshops for children and adults. While Funmilayo has been performing as a singer and writing songs for decades, I Believe In Myself is her first children’s album, presented under the moniker FUSHA Kids.
Categories: Music Talk Stuff
