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Pete Shungu has built a life in two different worlds.
As a professor in the College of Fine and Applied Arts, he prepares future music teachers to lead classrooms with care. But as a musician, he performs under the name Afro D, using various genres to connect cultures, languages and communities that are often kept apart.
On Nov. 15, Shungu released “Bridges Not Walls,” his first album in more than a decade. The independently released project blends hip-hop, jazz, mariachi and Congolese rumba. The diverse set of songs reflects his background and beliefs that he hopes will speak to people.
“I try to spit what I live,” Shungu said. “That’s my reality. I’m someone who is just passionate about trying to see the world move in positive directions. It’s one of the reasons why the album is called ‘Bridges Not Walls,’ because I feel like society naturally creates walls. But it’s also an intentional knock at this idea of building a wall that has become this rallying cry amongst people in this country.”
Shungu grew up in New Jersey before spending some time in Boston, where he taught at public schools and worked with nonprofit organizations that focused on youth empowerment. In 2017, he moved to Champaign-Urbana and later joined the University’s School of Music as a professor.
Read the full article by Olivia Dvorak in The Daily Illini