William Grant Still / Sahdji (Ballet)

William Grant Still (1895-1978) Sahdji (Ballet) (1930) “[A] love for stage productions led Still to the ballet, and one of his earliest was Sahdji, undertaken after more than a year of studying African music and legend. The work was first produced at the Eastman School in 1931, under the direction of Howard Hanson. The setting of the ballet (which calls for chorus, as well) is a hunting festival of the Azande tribe in central Africa. Sahdji, the favorite wife of the Azande chieftain Konombju, is infatuate