August 31, 2006

By Lauren Heaton

A slate of new performers and educators will rock the stage and stir the old diversity pot at the African American Cross Cultural Works’ ninth annual Gospel and Blues/Jazz Fest next weekend. One day longer than previous events, the Blues Fest begins onWednesday, Sept. 6, and culminates in a special surprise performance at the Antioch Golf Course at 4 p.m on Sunday, Sept. 10.

A steel drum ensemble, an Argentinian blues band, a Reggae jam and the chance to try corn pone are all new to this year’s festival. But many performers are returning artists who have come back to share the Blues Fest’s celebration of the arts and diversity, according to organizers.

Walt Michael, a member of Sangmelé, a gospel, folk, jazz and roots blues band that will perform, believes that through art, people can express their cultural identities and arrive at a common level of understanding that no amount of talking can achieve.

“What we find often in conversation about issues such as race and class, is that talking often results in posturing, which creates a breakdown in the discussion,” Michael said last week in an interview from his home in Westminster, Md.

For two weeks each year Michael, through his organization Common Ground, invites musicians, dancers, writers and visual artists to dialogue through their art about cultural diversity, he said. According to Michael, artists are good at preventing the discussion from becoming “just a didactic experience because we speak on a human level that is impossible to deny,” he said. “No matter what you might think of someone because of their race or orientation, you can’t deny what the other person’s experience is when they express it through their art.”

His connection to longtime Blues Fest performer Guy Davis led him to be a part of this year’s festival, Michael said. He is also featured on the newest CD of Nerak Roth Patterson, a Blues Fest performer and the son of one of the Blues Fest founders, Faith Patterson. Michael and Faith Patterson see eye to eye on the importance of creating music for the Blues Fest.

“We are addressing what we hope the world will embrace,” Patterson said. “We believe the more we know about each other, the more we can live in harmony.”

Sangmelé, a Creole word meaning “mixed blood,” is an outreach ensemble for Common Ground that revolves around the Gospel-trained vocals of Lea Gilmore. Dr. Henry Reiff is the New Orleans bassist and Michael plays guitar and hammered dulcimer. They are scheduled to perform on Saturday, Sept. 9, from 6:40 to 7:25 p.m..

The lineup

The festival will kick off as always with the Gospel Fest, where the roots of all the festival’s other musical genres began, at the Central Chapel AME Church on Wednesday, Sept. 6, from 7–9 p.m. The following night Kevin Dean, director of the Selby Gallery at the Ringling School of Art and Design in Sarasota, Fla., will give a talk at 7 p.m. at Antioch’s Herndon Gallery.

Dean will talk about a piece he has been creating for 20 years describing his work and his experience as an artist, he said on Monday. The piece is partly written and partly visual, and it addresses his slow realization that the mystery behind the rock and roll music he loved as a younger person came from the blues music of BB King, Muddy Waters and, before them, the gospel tradition.

The Panyard Steel Drum band, a 7-piece drum orchestra from Akron, Ohio, will perform after the lecture in the gallery. The members of Panyard travelled to Trinidad to learn how to make the traditional instruments, and perform Afro-Carribean, latin, reggae and salsa.

On Friday evening, Sept. 8, at 7 p.m. at the Antioch College amphitheater, the Terra Blues Band will play, followed by the W.G. Blues Unit at 8:15, and at 9:30 Karen Patterson and jazz guest performers Marion Hayden (bass), Mulgrew Miller (piano), Donald Walden (sax), André Wright (drum), and Nerak Roth Patterson (guitar). The Ark Band, a reggae band, will perform at 10:45.

Saturday during the day is devoted to the Innovation Stage from noon to 5 p.m. at the amphitheater, where musicians and performance artists from all levels and backgrounds get to know each other at a special jam session known as “Paths Crossing Paths.” Karen Patterson, a professional music performer and educator, coordinates the session. That afternoon will also feature the soul foods of Chef Jerome, who has had a presence at the Blues Fest for several years and who will present his techniques in a cooking class, Patterson said.

Saturday night at 5:30 p.m., Guy Davis opens the house, followed by Sangmelé at 6:40, Jimmy Vincent and Stallion Blues Band at 7:50, Nerak Roth Patterson at 9, and the Mo’ Blues Band at 10:45 p.m. The members of Mo’ Blues come from Santa Fé, Argentina, and they sing in both Spanish and English. Mo’ Blues’ lead guitarist Sebastián Casis said that though their music comes from the traditional blues of Stevie Ray Vaughan, Willy Dixon and others, their U.S. audiences tell them their music is “spiced with the sounds and nuances of our culture.”

Sunday’s extended concert begins at 4 p.m. Guests are encouraged to bring lawn chairs and blankets to sit on the grass. The identity of the guest artists will remain under wraps at the request of festival organizers.

The suggested donation for Friday and Saturday’s evening events is $10 for adults and $5 for youth under 18. Sunday’s concert will be $20 for adults and $10 for youth under 18.

Contact: lheaton@ysnews.com