FAIRBANKS — Ghanian percussionist Okaidja Afroso doesn’t just teach drums and dance when he teaches his workshops, he strives to tell the stories of his native Ghana.

He will be bringing those stories, teaching a percussion workshop and leading the World Music and Dance concert 8 p.m. Wednesday at Davis Concert Hall. Tickets are $15.

Afroso, who now lives in Portland, Ore., wasn’t exactly sure what the concert would consist of when he spoke from Portland via phone. But he and his students plan to perform, as per the festival’s tradition of including students in the evening performances as week two of the festival begins.

His performance Wednesday will include a drum and dance piece called “Tracing the Origins.” He said the performance connects Ghanaian dance and drums to the rest of the African Diaspora that includes Cuba, Brazil and Peruvians of African descent.

He said that during the performance he plays a number of different instruments — some at the same time, some individually. The idea is to replicate the variety found within African culture.

Usually he brings 10 drums, but for his Alaska performance he’ll only bring a few.

It’s going to be limited,” he said about the lack of instruments. “But whenever I do something it doesn’t matter. I just go with it.”

Afroso comes from a family of Ghanian singers and songwriters. Always interested in music and dance, Afroso joined the Ghana Dance Ensemble at 19. He said he learned many skills when he was young but that it wasn’t until he joined the Ghana Dance ensemble that he started to seriously study dancing and drumming.

With the national company he had the opportunity to travel across the world, and eventually to the United States to perform with the Portland-based Ghanaian dance group Okropong. After joining the group and moving permanently to the U.S., Afroso decided that he wanted to spend more time pursuing a solo career and left Okropong to focus on that.

He now travels across the U.S., teaching Ghanaian percussion, dance and culture.

He said most of the drum beats are is passed down via oral tradition since in Ghanaian culture the drumming is supposed to represent language.

“Every phrase we can play on the drums we can sing,” Afroso said.

Afroso’s workshops can be geared toward students from kindergarten to college age. His biggest goal is to help them learn Ghanaian culture, through the music and dance.

“It’s how the music comes about, the history of the music,” he said. “And then everything else.”

Contact features writer Suzanna Caldwell at 459-7504.

IF YOU GO

What: World Music and Dance concert

When: 8 p.m. Wednesday

Where: University of Alaska Fairbanks Davis Concert Hall

Tickets: $15

Information: www.fsaf.org