Derrik Jordan will perform a concert with other musicians in Putney, Vermont, near Brattleboro on April 22 at 8 p.m. Jordan is the lead singer and guitar player in Simba, probably the most popular band in the Brattleboro area. Simba plays reggae and highlife, among other kinds of music. Their concerts usually attract about 100 people, almost all of whom dance for almost the whole concert.

The April 22 concert will be at Next Stage, which re-opened in December 2015 after a $1.6 million renovation. There will be a dance floor. About half the concert will be dance music, Jordan said. He organized the event. More information is at Jordan's web site: www.DerrikJordan.com.

Among the other musicians playing at the concert will be Jim Matus (www.JimMatus.com), Eugene Uman (www.EugeneUman.com), and Tony Vacca (www.TonyVacca.com). Uman is director of the Vermont Jazz Center.

The concert will be a “partial benefit” to help poor people in Cameroon, a nation in west Africa, near the equator. The average life expectancy in Cameroon is 55 years. In the USA it is 79 years.

The USA and other rich nations have a long history of stealing resources from Africa. This story is told in the books “Bury the Chains” by Adam Hochschild and "Private Empire: ExxonMobil and American Power" by Steve Coll, and in the film "Lumumba" by Raoul Peck. The book "Guns, Germs, and Steel" by Jared Diamond explains why the average black person is much poorer than the average white person.

Tickets are $20.