Mecca Bodega, a spirited New York City-based world fusion percussion ensemble, will open the Concert Series at Wellesley College with an outdoor performance at the Jewett Stairway at Wellesley College on Wednesday, September 16 at 7:30 pm (rain location is Jewett Auditorium).  The performance will be  held in conjunction with the Opening Celebration (6-8 pm) of the Davis Museum and Cultural Center at Wellesley College’s exhibition.  Both the Opening Celebration and the Mecca Bodega concert are free and open to the public.

Featuring imaginative rhythmists Marc and Paul Mueller, French horn player/keyboardist Alex Brofsky. and multi-instrumentalist Chris Merwin, Mecca Bodega uses instruments ranging from African drums and Brazilian percussion to hammered dulcimer, found objects, guitars, didjeridoo, and voice to create a sound that is fresh and challenging to the ears and spirit. Mecca Bodega has been featured on National Public Radio broadcasts of “New Sounds” on WNYC and Garrison Keillor’s “Prairie Home Companion” with Simon 7 of Didjworks. They have recorded several film scores, including HBO’s Subway Stories, directed by Jonathan Demme, and collaborated with Public Enemy and Stephen Stills on the soundtrack for the Spike Lee movie, He Got Game. Recent tours have included performances at Lollapollooza, Woodstock (reunion), Celebrate Brooklyn Summer Festival, Merkin Concert Hall, and Avery Fisher Hall.

Mecca Bodega’s cross-cultural fusion will be presented in collaboration with the Davis Museum’s fall Opening Celebration of its new exhibitions, which themselves feature creative interdisciplinary elements. The portfolio 21 Etchings and Poems features the work of 42 poets and artists, from Dylan Thomas to Frank O’Hara, and Helen Phillips to Willem DeKooning. Published in 1960, this exhibition represents a noteworthy collaboration between the visual and literary arts.

For directions to the campus, call 781/283-2736. For further information about the Concert Series at Wellesley College, call the Wellesley Music Department at 781/283-2028 or visit the Music Department website at www.wellesley.edu/Music/home.html. Information about the Davis Museum and Cultural Center is available at www.davismuseum.wellesley.edu.