KWANZAA IS HERE!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

DURHAM, NC Tuesday, December 26th, 2017– Hayti Heritage Center and Shabutaso, Inc. host the Hayti Legacy Kwanzaa at the Hayti Heritage Center, 804 Old Fayetteville St. Durham, NC 27701. The theme for this year’s celebration is Leadership through Service in remembrance of Baba Chuck Davis’ monumental legacy as a global chief who out-gave with his time, his talent, and his treasure both home and abroad.

The day-long celebration features a documentary film showing, The Children’s Village with interactive activities for families, and evening performances. Everyone is invited to partake in African Diasporic music, history and culture workshops provided by BUMP: the Triangle; chess with Coach Eric Zeigler; and a sampling of martial arts, dance and drum classes taught by local arts instructors. There special performance tributes to Baba Chuck by Alex Weiss & Different Drum, DanceSpirit Magazine’s “next generation of stars” pick Jabu Graybeal, and special guest appear by the always soulful Shana Tucker! This year will mark the first Annual Kwanzaa Youth Essay Contest with performance opportunities and cash and other prizes.  Food, artwork, clothing, books and crafts are plentiful at the African-inspired Marketplace.

The doors open at 1:00pm with the film showing. At 2:00pm the Marketplace opens for the entire day followed by a one-hour Diaspora Arts Sampler at 2:30pm. The Children’s Village runs from 4:00pm until 6:00pm. The Candle Lighting Ceremony and performances begin at 7:00 p.m. Click here for more Kwanzaa Across the Triangle Events.

Shabutaso Inc. is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) connecting and reconnecting to traditional African culture and values. The St. Joseph’s Historic Foundation is committed to the Hayti Heritage Center, the former St. Joseph’s AME Church, a National Historic Landmark, as a cultural and economic anchor to the greater Durham community.  St. Joseph’s Historic Foundation, Inc. is a nonprofit, charitable organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code. For more information, please call Aya Shabu, 617-959-2076, email: shabufam@gmail.com or The Hayti Heritage Center (919) 683-1709 or visit their website at http://hayti.org/.

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SHABUTASO AT THE SHAKORI FESTIVAL

SATURDAY ON OCTOBER 8TH, SHABUTASO WILL BE DELIVERING ANOTHER DYNAMIC  PERFORMANCE OF AFRICAN DANCE AND DRUMMING AND AN AFRICAN DANCE WORKSHOP AT SHAKORI FESTIVAL IN PITTSBORO N.C. AT 2PM.

JOIN US ON SATURDAY FOR THE FESTIVITY AND EXCITEMENT AS WE SHARE AND SUPPORT VENDORS AND ENJOY WONDERFUL MUSIC.  PLEASE CLICK ON EVENTS TO SEE OUR CALENDAR OF UP COMING PERFORMANCES.

 

Opening for Paperhand Puppet Show

Paperhand’s 2016 summer show “The Beautiful Beast”

Saturday August 20th Shabutaso will be the opening act for Paperhand Puppet Intervention’s 2016 show “The Beautiful Beast”. Shabutaso is honored to kick off the night as an ambassador to one of the world’s oldest storytelling traditions, the griot or djeli tradition from West Africa. The Pre-show starts at 6:20pm at the magical Forest Theatre in Chapel Hill. This outdoor amphitheater is perfect for families and a great place to meet up with friends. There’s nothing more intriguing than to be out under the stars with hundreds of people watching the seemingly impossible evolve before your eyes. You can’t help but leave feeling hopeful about the world we live in.

Shabutaso performs at Cary Kwanzaa December 29th, 2015

21st ANNUAL KWANZAA CELEBRATION

Theme: “Developing and Encouraging Our Youth”

Tuesday, December 29, 2015, 11 a.m – 5:00 p.m.

Shabutaso Inc.: The Magic of African Rhythms and the North Carolina Association of Black storytellers perform at the 21st Annual Kwanzaa Celebration in Cary Tuesday, December 29, 2015

CARY, NC – The Ujima Group, Inc. in partnership with the Town of Cary will host its 21st Kwanzaa Celebration at the Cary Arts Center, 101 Dry Avenue located in downtown Cary, NC..

The theme for this year’s celebration is “Developing and Encouraging Our Youth” and will feature a performance by The Magic of African Rhythm and the North Carolina Association of Black storytellers. In the tradition of every Kwanzaa celebration there will be a procession of the elders and the Harambee Circle.

The celebration includes fun for the whole family including food, vendor market and craft activities for children. Kwanzaa is a community cultural celebration that highlights African-American heritage and family through seven values – unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith.

There will be fun and activities for the entire family — young and old. Doors open at 11:00 am for the vendor marketplace and Children’s Village. The program and performance begins promptly at 3:00 p.m.

The Town of Cary co-sponsors the Kwanzaa Celebration through the Parks, Recreation & Cultural Resources Department with The Ujima Group, Inc., a non-profit 501© community based organization that promotes cultural diversity through educational programs and the arts. For more information, please call Lester Thomas, 919 380-7020,email:leslthm@aol.com or The Cultural Arts Program Specialist, (919) 462-3963 or visit the Town’s website at www.townofcary.org,

Celebrate and Educate: Black History Month with PBS and TMOAR

Top: Alice Walker at London Premiere of “Beauty in Truth”; Credit: Brenda Lawley. Bottom: Credit: Eunique Jones Gibson for the Because of Them, We Can™

PBS CELEBRATES BLACK HISTORY MONTH WITH NEW PROGRAMS AND A DIGITAL CAMPAIGN THAT UNITES MORE THAN A CENTURY OF HISTORY AND CULTURE

PBS Black Culture Connection Website Partners with Eunique Jones Gibson to Showcase the Making of the Because of Them, We Can™ Campaign

ARLINGTON, VA – January 16, 2014 – In commemoration of Black History Month and as part of its year-round commitment to provide diverse programming and resources for all Americans, PBS today announced new shows and online content celebrating the African American experience past, present and future. From an AMERICAN MASTERS profile of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Alice Walker, to an INDEPENDENT LENS documentary about the secret spy agency created to maintain segregation in 1950’s Mississippi, Black History Month on PBS will provide programs that educate, inform and inspire viewers to learn more about the rich culture of our nation.

The lineup begins on February 3 at 10:00 p.m. with “American Promise,” a powerful coming-of-age documentary from POV that follows the journey of two young African-American males from kindergarten through high school graduation as they attend a prestigious Manhattan private school. Confronting challenges from typical childhood growing pains to cultural identification within a predominantly white environment, the young men and their parents push toward success and discover their own individuality in the process.

Also airing in February are two programs that celebrate the contributions of artists such as Bobby McFerrin and Terence Blanchard in JAZZ AND THE PHILHARMONIC, and Bill T. Jones and Brian Stokes Mitchell in BECOMING AN ARTIST.

“PBS is committed to providing programming for diverse audiences all through the year, and Black History Month provides a special opportunity to shine a spotlight on the contributions of African Americans to our culture and history,” said Beth Hoppe, Chief Programming Executive and General Manager of General Audience Programming for PBS. “We are proud to celebrate these contributions with an array of exceptional programming, during Black History Month and all year long.”

“Our Black History Month lineup delves deep into the stories of notable people and historical topics in a way that’s uniquely PBS,” says Donald Thoms, Vice President, Programming and Talent Management.  “We feature the work of diverse and independent producers, which remains a staple of our content offerings year round, and I think our viewers will enjoy and even find a little inspiration from our content this year.”

In addition to on-air programs, the PBS Black Culture Connection (BCC), an extension of PBS.org featuring black films, stories and discussion across PBS, announces a digital partnership with the Because of Them, We Can™ campaign, which aims to educate and connect a new generation to heroes who paved the way. In an original blog series called “Behind the Lens,” hosted on PBS.org/bcc, PBS will go behind the camera of cultural architect and campaign photographer Eunique Jones Gibson, and her powerful images, to tell the rich story and history of African-American icons through the eyes of our nation’s youth. During the month of February, the BCC will feature images from the Because of Them, We Can™ campaign including portraits of children inspired by Harriet Tubman, James Brown, Muhammad Ali and the Freedom Riders, along with a blog post by the photographer giving details of the subject, the shoot and the child/children who are pictured. “Behind the Lens” will be hosted on both the PBS Black Culture Connection and on becauseofthemwecan.com.

“Eunique has created a special link to our past through a campaign that’s inspired and powered by our youth, our future,” said Nicole Eley-Carr, editor, PBS Black Culture Connection. “In many ways, she’s contemporizing Black History, and PBS is excited to be a space for this evolving dialogue that empowers young people by honoring achievers of yesterday and today.”

“I am excited and honored to share a glimpse into the making of the Because of Them, We Can™ campaign with the PBS audience,” said Eunique Jones Gibson. “Through the ‘Behind the Lens’ blog series I hope to further the campaign’s mission of building the esteem of both children and adults, while helping them reflect on a living legacy of greatness.”

“Behind the Lens” will debut during Black History Month on PBS.org/bcc, alongside more than 30 films that will be available for streaming online throughout the month of February. The full Black History Month programming lineup is listed below (check local listings) and will also be available for online streaming on the BCC after premiere:

POV “American Promise”
Monday, February 3, 2014, 10:00 p.m.-12:00 a.m. ET
“American Promise” spans 13 years as Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson, middle-class African-American parents in Brooklyn, New York, turn their cameras on their son, Idris, and his best friend, Seun, who make their way through Manhattan’s Dalton School, one of the most prestigious private schools in the country. Chronicling the boys’ divergent paths from kindergarten through high school graduation, this provocative, intimate documentary presents complicated truths about America’s struggle to come of age on issues of race, class and opportunity. Winner, U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award, 2013 Sundance Film Festival

AMERICAN MASTERS “Alice Walker: Beauty in Truth”
Friday, February 7, 2014, 9:00-10:30 p.m. ET 
Most famous for her seminal novel The Color Purple, writer/activist Alice Walker celebrates her 70th birthday. Born February 9, 1944, into a family of sharecroppers in rural Georgia, she came of age during the violent racism and seismic social changes of mid-20th-century America. Her mother, poverty and participation in the Civil Rights Movement were the formative influences on her consciousness, becoming the inherent themes in her writing. The first African-American woman to win a Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, Walker continues to shine a light on global human rights issues. Her dramatic life is told with poetry and lyricism, and includes interviews with Steven Spielberg, Danny Glover, Quincy Jones, Howard Zinn, Gloria Steinem, Sapphire, and Walker herself.

INDEPENDENT LENS “Spies of Mississippi”
Monday, February 10, 2014, 10:00-11:00 p.m. ET
View the story of a secret spy agency formed during the 1950s and 60s by the state of Mississippi to preserve segregation and maintain white supremacy. Over a decade, the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission employed a network of investigators and informants, including African Americans, to help infiltrate the NAACP, Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). They were granted broad powers to investigate private citizens and organizations, keep secret files, make arrests and compel testimony. The program tracks the commission’s hidden role in important chapters of the Civil Rights Movement, including the integration of the University of Mississippi, the trial of Medgar Evers and the KKK murders of three civil rights workers in 1964.

JAZZ AND THE PHILHARMONIC
Friday, February 28, 2014, 9:00-10:30 p.m. ET
JAZZ AND THE PHILHARMONIC is a unique, generational and wholly American concert experience that highlights two of the greatest musical art forms the world has ever seen, classical and jazz. With performances by artists such as Chick Corea, Bobby McFerrin, Terence Blanchard and Elizabeth Joy Roe, this special emphasizes the works of legendary past composers such as Bach and Mozart with these contemporary artists. Songs are performed with the Henry Mancini Institute Orchestra from the University of Miami Frost School of Music and National YoungArts Foundation alumni.

BECOMING AN ARTIST
Friday, February 28, 2014, 10:30-11:00 p.m. ET
Enjoy an inspiring tribute to the power of mentoring and the vital role it plays in passing on our artistic cultural heritage from one generation to the next. The documentary features acclaimed artists across the disciplines, including Mikhail Baryshnikov, Robert Redford, Rosie Perez, Bill T. Jones, Frank Gehry, Brian Stokes Mitchell, John Guare and Kathleen Turner working with some of the nation’s most talented students selected by the National YoungArts Foundation. BECOMING AN ARTIST is a celebration of our cultural vitality and the need to ensure its continuance.

The following is a sample of the more than 30 programs available for online streaming on the BCC in February:

•    The African Americans:  Many Rivers to Cross with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
•    The March
•    Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
•    Independent Lens – Daisy Bates, Black Power Mixtape, Soul Food Junkies
•    Memories of the March
•    Bill T. Jones: A Good Man (American Masters)
•    Cab Calloway: Sketches (American Masters)
•    Dreams of Obama (Frontline)
•    Endgame: AIDS in Black America (Frontline)
•    Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
•    Freedom Riders (American Experience)
•    Interrupters (Frontline)
•    Jimi Hendrix: Hear My Train A-Comin’ (American Masters)
•    Jesse Owens (American Experience)
•    “Roots” Special on Miniseries (Pioneers of TV)
•    Not in Our Town: Class Actions
•    Slavery by Another Name
•    Too Important to Fail (Tavis Smiley)
•    Underground Railroad: The William Still Story
•    Sister Rosetta Tharpe: The Godmother of Rock & Roll (American Masters)
•    James Baldwin: The Price of the Ticket (American Masters)
•    POV – Black Male Achievement documentary special series: Teaching Fatherhood, The Jazz Ticket, The Algebra Ceiling

Other series that routinely offer programming to commemorate Black History Month include FRONTLINE, GREAT PERFORMANCES, PBS NEWSHOUR, TAVIS SMILEYand WASHINGTON WEEK WITH GWEN IFILL.

Find more information and high-resolution images from these programs on PBS PressRoom.

About PBS Black Culture Connection
The PBS Black Culture Connection, featuring video from films, award-winning documentaries and popular series like AMERICAN EXPERIENCE and FRONTLINE, links the diverse national content found on PBS with local programs, interviews and discussions from PBS member stations and from around the web. In addition to aggregating more than 100 digital resources about black history and culture in one place within PBS.org, the PBS Black Culture Connection features thematic film collections, biographies and profiles, original productions made just for the web and local station spotlights. After exploring the site, users are encouraged to connect with others through online discussion and to challenge themselves with a suite of quizzes. The PBS Black Culture Connection is made available through partnerships with member stations, including WNET and WGBH, and public media partners like the National Black Programming Consortium. It will also feature the works of producers like Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Stanley Nelson and Tavis Smiley.

About PBS
PBS, with its over 350 member stations, offers all Americans the opportunity to explore new ideas and new worlds through television and online content. Each month, PBS reaches nearly 109 million people through television and over 28 million people online, inviting them to experience the worlds of science, history, nature and public affairs; to hear diverse viewpoints; and to take front row seats to world-class drama and performances. PBS’ broad array of programs has been consistently honored by the industry’s most coveted award competitions. Teachers of children from pre-K through 12th grade turn to PBS for digital content and services that help bring classroom lessons to life. PBS’ premier children’s TV programming and its website,pbskids.org, are parents’ and teachers’ most trusted partners in inspiring and nurturing curiosity and love of learning in children. More information about PBS is available atwww.pbs.org, one of the leading dot-org websites on the Internet, or by following PBS on Twitter, Facebook or through our apps for mobile devices. Specific program information and updates for press are available at pbs.org/pressroom or by followingPBS Pressroom on Twitter.

– PBS –

CONTACT:
Michaé Godwin, PBS, 703-739-8483; mmgodwin@pbs.org
Nicole Wells Foster, PBS, 703-739-5351; njwells@pbs.org

Choreographer Aya Shabu in the Mix Again

I Love My Hair on Good Days Then Again When It’s Defiant and Impressive is B-A-A-C-K! Aya Shabu joins cast and crew of last year’s sold out performance about hair, race, class, identity, and relationships for a spectacular re-mounting and run.

Come meet Durham choreographer Aya Shabu along with ILMH’s director, cast, and design team for food, music, and advance tickets this Saturday.

I Love My Hair – Special Insider Event

• Did you miss I LOVE MY HAIR last year because the tickets were sold out?
• Did you have to stand in a long line on the day of the show hoping to purchase a ticket?
• Did you want to bring someone but couldn’t because the show was full?Well make sure that doesn’t happen again — Beat the crowd and get your tickets EARLY!
Join us for a special night:I LOVE MY HAIR INSIDER EVENT – FREE OPEN HOUSE
Hosted by FORTY / AM
WHEN: Saturday, October 26, 2013 – Between 6:00-9:00 p.m.
WHERE: Manbites Dog Theater, 703 Foster St., Durham, NC
WHAT: A free, open-house event — Drop in anytime!
• Meet the director and members of the cast
• Enjoy live music
• Have some good food (while it lasts!)
Provided by Chef Ricky from The Saltbox Seafood Joint.And while you’re here, buy special advance tickets for I Love My Hair, running January 16 – February 1, 2014. Official ticket sales don’t begin until November 11, but on October 26 ONLY you can buy in person at Manbites Dog from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. with cash, check, or credit card. (Can’t make it to Manbites? Advance tickets will also be available online at manbitesdogtheater.org by credit card all day on October 26.) Sorry, no phone orders on October 26.

Find out more here about show dates, times, and ticket prices.

LET US KNOW YOU ARE ATTENDING OR IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS:
RSVP to ilovemyhairtheplay@gmail.com.

Mama and Baba Shabu Write for Liberian Online Newspaper

Tags

Attention, Communication, Drum, Legislature of Liberia, Liberia, Master drummer, Skill, Talking drum

Listening Like the Drummer

The Talking Drum is placed in the midst of the community it will serve. By listening, it absorbs the language. But the drum cannot communicate without the drummer – except in special cases.

A Talking drummer’s grandfather gave his own personal Talking Drum to his grandson. It was done because the young drummer had become very skilled and it was time for the venerable old drummer to sit down. When the old man died, the drum spoke from inside the drum closet and the grandson, lying on his bed, knew.

In most cases, however, the drummer must be very skillful and an excellent listener for the drum to communicate through him or her. We believe there are “Levels of Listening” and the drummer must master them. In fact, for effective communication, we all should learn and practice them. To learn the first Level of Listening, you must practice full Attention to the message. And being Quiet is the only way to do that. Just imagine. You’re in a classroom where one hundred students are all quiet, giving full attention! That’s the first step to a true learning environment. So, the first level is being quiet to listen.

The next level follows the old school of drum instruction: Hear and Repeat – perfectly. Have you ever asked a child or an employee, “Did you hear what was said? Repeat what was said.” And the person couldn’t repeat it. It’s not easy because the message must be repeated in the same words and tones, the same speed, and the exact inflections – just as it was spoken. Otherwise, you didn’t hear it. Hear and repeat perfectly is Listening Level Two. Many quarrels and confusion – as in the Liberian legislature – could be avoided, time and money saved, if all concerned mastered Levels One and Two.

Mastery of Level Three makes you equivalent to a good drummer or communicator. Level Three consists of Retaining the message. It requires Focus. It means you can remember and repeat your message even in the midst of other distracting messages. If there are drummers all around you playing rhythms different from yours, you must maintain your rhythm, your message, just as it was given to you. Or, if your message is, “We don’t lie, steal or cheat,” and you are surrounded by corruption, you must retain your righteous message with strength and vigor as it was given to you.

Communicating or Sharing your message is Listening Level Four. What if you are sharing your message with a special person or audience like children or elders? What if you must share your message in another language? These situations require Creativity. You must understand your message so well that you can communicate the message at a very high level of clarity no matter what! Now you are like the master drummer or the master communicator.

 Study the “Art of Listening.” Let’s start communicating for Unity in Liberia.

Back to School Season!

Tags

adinkra symbols, African art, african dance, African drumming, arts in schools, performing art, residency, school, visual art, workshop

The United Arts Council has invited The Magic of African Rhythm to attend its 33rd annual Cultural Arts Booking Fair on August 18, 2012.

The United Arts Council has three priorities:

• To champion arts education
• To serve a larger metropolitan area with emerging population centers
• To build capacity for the local arts communities

The Magic of African Rhythm will perform at 12:30PM and engage attendees in Adinkra symbol stamping at the exhibition booth. This year, TMOAR is sharing:

Workshops
Explore the magic of African rhythm through workshops in dance, drum, song, instrument making, costume making and storytelling.

Residencies
Sample different cultural art forms in the Safari Ngoma residency where students build a rhythmic connection between drumming, dance, and adinkra stamping in a student performance highlighting a theme or occasion of your choosing.

The Ngoma Concept states that all the arts are one truly “magic” ingredient of integrative learning! By combining song, dance, drum, drama, and visual art, TMOAR creates a paradigm for balance. Experiencing this rhythmic balance can spark a positive transformation in people’s lives.

Lecture demonstrations
“Hands and Feet Speak!” will ignite students’ hands, feet, and imaginations with fiery African dance and drums. Students become the “magic” ingredient as they clap, stomp, sing, and dance along with us onstage during our 45 minute school show.

Contact us

Contact us now at 919-828-1906 for bookings! The school year is filling up quickly!

About the Cultural Arts Booking Fair 

The Fair is a day-long, trade-show-format event that allows school representatives to see firsthand a sampling of the artists available through the United Arts Council’s Artists Resource Directory.

Djembe Fire Perform at International Music & Global Education Festival 2011

Tags

dance, djembe fire, festival

The Magic of African Ryhthm’s fiery Djembe Fire performed Saturday, September 3 at the International Music & Global Education Festival 2011: Rastafari Ancient Living Arts and Kulture, better known as “R.A.I.A.K.”

Djembe Fire shared the stage with headliners Sister Carol and Matabaruka, both from Jamaica, along with many other talented performers and artists.

TMOAR at the North Carolina Museum of Art

“Wonderful Wednesdays” June 2010