Ujamaa - Kwanzaa's financial support day

Habari gani? UJAMAA!!

In 1966, when Dr. Maulana Karenga and his "The Organization US" set out to create a purely Black tradition, it is no wonder they turned to the successes of East Africa as a foundation. For example, in Kenya, successful Harambee thought lead to that country adopting this word as its motto. In Tanzania, President Julius Nyerere employed Ujamaa principles from the 1960s, and published these principles officially in 1967. The results of Ujamaa in Tanzania included an increase of literacy, enrollment in schools, declines in infant deaths, and more. It is important to note also that in East Africa Swahili is widely used, and Swahili has become one of the most spoken languages in the continent.

In an effort to create a more universal ethos to this Black/Pan-African holiday, Dr. Karenga used terms in Swahili for creating Kwanzaa, which comes from the Swahili matunda ya kwanza or "first fruits of the harvest". As written on the official Kwanzaa website, maintained by "The Organization US":

"First, Kwanzaa was created to reaffirm and restore our rootedness in African culture. It is, therefore, an expression of recovery and reconstruction of African culture. Secondly, Kwanzaa was created to serve as a regular communal celebration to reaffirm and reinforce the bonds between us as a people. Thirdly, Kwanzaa was created to introduce and reinforce the Nguzo Saba (Seven Principles): Umoja (unity), Kujichagulia (self-determination), Ujima (collective work and responsibility), Ujamaa (cooperative economics), Nia (purpose), Kuumba (creativity), and Imani (faith). Kwanzaa was conceived as a fundamental and important way to introduce and reinforce these values and cultivate appreciation for them." 

On this fourth day of Kwanzaa - one of the "struggle" days**, we must intimate how our efforts in cooperative economics shall bring to life our purpose (Nia) as a community.  Do you celebrate Kwanzaa? If so, what did you do today for Ujamaa? Today, I donated to Castle of our Skins, an organization dedicated to celebrating Black artistry through music.

Heri za Kwanzaa!!

** Celebrating Kwanzaa involves lighting candles of various colors that sit on a kinara or candle holder. Since Kwanzaa is a week-long celebration, there are seven candles that are to be lit each day of the week. The first candle is black. It is in the center, and represents the (Black) people. It is lit to symbolize unity (Umoja). Then a series of red and green candles are lit in an alternating pattern. The red candles symbolize "struggle", while the green candles symbolize "the future and hope that comes from the struggle". Lighting a red candle and then a green candle symbolizes that through struggle comes positivity. In this way, Kujichagulia (self-determination) begets Ujima (collective work and responsibility); Ujamaa (cooperative economics) begets Nia (purpose); and Kuumba (creativity) begets Imani (faith). 

Claude McKay, Olly Wilson, and the recent murders

The incredible Festus Claudius "Claude" McKay (1889 - 1948) was a Jamaican-American writer and poet. He was active during the Harlem Renaissance, writing books and poetry, non-fiction and fiction. He was also a communist sympathizer, who later retracted his support, despite a favorable months-long stay in the communist Soviet Union. One of his favorite genres to employ was the Sonnet, and arguably his most famous Sonnet is the magnificent "If We Must Die":

If we must die, let it not be like hogs
Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot,
While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs,
Making their mock at our accursed lot.

If we must die, O let us nobly die,
So that our precious blood may not be shed
In vain; then even the monsters we defy
Shall be constrained to honor us though dead!

O kinsmen! we must meet the common foe!
Though far outnumbered let us show us brave,
And for their thousand blows deal one death-blow!
What though before us lies the open grave?

Like men we'll face the murderous, cowardly pack,
Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back! 

This poem was published during the "Red Summer" of 1919, a time of intense, racially-motivated violence, mostly against Black Americans.

Fast-forward to 1991: the equally breath-taking, jaw-dropping Olly Wilson composes a large-scale work for choir, vocal soloists, and orchestra called "Of Visions and Truth". The last movement of this work incorporates the McKay Sonnet exquisitely. Olly Wilson himself was born in 1937, and has lived through the intense racial struggle of the 60s, and is now currently witnessing the delicate and explosive situation that is occurring at this very moment in the United States. You can listen to his powerful work here:

23 years later, and the situation is bubbling again. Sentiments held by those who are racist towards Black Americans that should have been corrected before the turn of the 1900s are arising yet again, just as powerful and just as nonsensical as ever. The innocent victims - Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, John Crawford III, Darrien Hunt, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, and others - have been used to be "killed like hogs". Yet, those who know and have intimated the struggle also know that these beautiful, innocent Black Americans are human, and their deaths are NOT in vain.

Once again, McKay - in 1919 - ended his Sonnet with this powerful couplet:

Like men we'll face the murderous, cowardly pack,
Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back! 

There are different ways to fight. McKay fought with his pen. Olly Wilson fights with his compositions. Castle of our Skins is also fighting, by celebrating Black artistry through music. Our voice, our work to celebrate the voice of beautiful Black artists, our concerts, our education work, our attempt to plant the seeds of social change and cultural curiosity and awareness - this is our fight.

Thank you.

Abolotion Tidbits

The fame of the eloquent, extremely intelligent, popular (and justly so) abolitionist Frederick Douglass usually eclipses the success of his contemporary William Wells Brown. In 1853, he published a fictional novel in London called Clotel, which is considered the first novel published by an African American.

Brown himself was a slave who escaped to the north when he was 20 (in 1834). After working with some abolitionists in America, he traveled to England with his daughters in 1849 to lecture against slavery. The following year, the United States passed the Fugitive Slave Act, and - for fear of his and his family's safety - Wells stayed in England, only to leave in 1854 when his freedom was purchased. During his time in England, his daughters gained the education he never had, and Brown became a prolific writer in many genres (including plays and travel writing). He also documented the text of many songs sung at Anti-Slavery meetings in a compilation called The Anti-Slavery Harp; A Collection of Songs for Anti-Slavery Meetings. (It is also worth while mentioning that his personal slave narrative, published two years after Douglass's, was also a US bestseller, second to that of Frederick Douglass's.)

Along the lines of important success being eclipsed by popular (and equally important) success, the work of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society and other anti-slavery societies around this juncture in time is worth more attention.

During its seven year history - from 1833 to 1840, it managed to hold 3 national women's conventions, develop a large petition campaign, brought litigation upon southerners who brought slaves to Boston, and raise money through successful, elaborate fundraisers. Their preamble was the following:

"Believing slavery to be a direct violation of the laws of God, and productive of a vast amount of misery and crime; and convinced that its abolition can only be affected by an acknowledgement of the justice and necessity of immediate emancipation, - we hereby agree to form ourselves into a Society TO AID AND ASSIST IN THIS RIGHTEOUS CAUSE AS FAR AS LIES WITHIN OUR POWER".

This particular group was interracial, and provided further momentum for other anti-slavery societies at the time, including the Salem Female Anti-Slavery Society (which was begun by a group of Black women, and expanded to become interracial after 2 years).

The “Black” problem – a reflection on recent articles discussing Blacks in Classical music

Hello everyone! Anthony Green here, and I wanted to share with you a reflection.

Last month, The New York Times published a short article – “Great Divide in the Concert Hall: Black Composers Discuss the Role of Race”, by William Robin (8 August 2014) – in which Black composers of “Classical music” discuss what it means to be a Black composer today. This article comes in the line of some notable articles discussing various aspects of this subject, including the Guardian article “Class, Race, and Classical Music” by Candace Allen (4 April 2014), and “How African Americans Changed Classical Music” by Leonard Slatkin (22 February 2014). Each article contains one or more theses about this issue, yet one singular article or a collection of articles with a specific (short) length cannot fully address this problem. My immediate emotional response to these articles was mixed. As a Black composer, I am happy that such popular media sources are bringing light to this topic. Similarly, I am disgusted that such articles about “the problems of Blacks in Classical music” are necessary to make changes, rather than these media sources simply publishing more articles about the notable Black artists they have highlighted, but I digress. 

Foremost, there is a problem of expectation. This particular issue was discussed in every article that I mentioned, and – to me – is the biggest issue concerning the presence, active and passive participation, and the promotion of Blacks in Classical music.

Point one: Black artists are not expected to be involved in Classical music. Not only does a majority of the Black community consider Classical music to be “elitist” or plain and simply “bad”, but the institution of Classical music is known to be predominantly non-Black. Therefore, the expectation from non-Blacks to see Blacks involved in this tradition is rather low, despite the long history of Blacks involved in this tradition. Perhaps this last point is more associated with a sort-of non-deliberate institutional racism that looms over the Classical music industry; if this industry is mostly associated with non-Blacks, then it just means we are not wanted. Somehow, certain analogous sports industries have overcome this scorn, golf and tennis in particular. But I still wonder if stars like Tiger Woods and the Williams sisters would have such fame if they weren’t Black. Their skin color is a part of their story. By the way, who are the other Black golfers playing today other than Mr. Woods? Does it even matter that they are Black?

Point two: when a Black artist is involved in music in some way, it is expected for this artist to be involved in Jazz or another more popular style of music, and if involved in Classical music, to be a vocalist. While I was studying at New England Conservatory, it was more likely for someone – Black or non-Black – to ask me “are you a vocalist?” rather than “what are you studying?” Even worse, I cannot count the number of times I’ve heard someone say to me “Don’t forget your roots.” I would get such a comment usually from a Black person after telling him or her that I am a Classical composer. I desperately wanted to retort, “Yes, I know much about Chevalier de Saint Georges and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, and I love more recent composers like Ed Bland and Pamela Z and Olly Wilson. I count these wonderful composers as part of my ‘cultural-musical’ roots. Have you heard of any of these people?”

Point three: Black composers should compose music that reflects a typical, popular, predominantly Black experience. The worst aspect of the expectation problem comes even further when examining the type of music that a Black composer must compose to be taken seriously. It is expected, even today, that a Black Classical composer should compose Classical music that has some element of Jazz or Rock or R&B or Blues or Gospel or Funk or Spirituals. Sometimes it is even better if the title of the piece reflect this, for example “Afro-American Symphony” or “Five Movements in Color.” I think when people encounter the score and audio to my piece 3 Groups, it causes a bit of confusion. Not only is the title rather vague, but not something generic like Sonata No. 8 or Piece for Chamber Ensemble, but the music is a meditative, unstable, non-4/4 type of experimental music, with a score that looks mostly blank, and has notes without stems. Coincidentally, this piece won a competition where the scores where judged blindly. Since then – since my face and website with my headshots are now associated with this work and can be easily googled, it has not been performed.

It is apparent that I can discuss the issue of expectation alone in a document of about 100 pages, and probably still not exhaust the issue, while still not discussing other issues such as the nature of enjoying Classical music (which is, for the most part, less stereotypically immediate than more popular music), how the changing face of Classical music can never be separated from its silently racist, predominantly non-Black past, and how sub-culture does NOT have a problem with Blacks involved in Classical music, but is rarely taken seriously by the mega-institutions responsible for creating the face of Classical music as it is today. And even then, I would be far away from discussing the non-race-related issues of the Classical music industry (including big prizes given to questionably-deserving artists, indirectly ruining the personal worth of such prizes, and inevitably destroying their status as a symbol of achievement). Such non-race-related issues, in my opinion, get in the way of the race-issue being taken seriously, and also discourage any aspiring Classical artist – Black or non-Black – from entering this highly political world that doesn’t seem political to those who are not involved. But I would like to end my reflection with this question posed by Leonard Slatkin:

“Is going to hear music written by an African-American meaningful – not just to the regular attendees, but is it meaningful within the African-American community? Does it inspire others to want to follow that? I wish I could answer that question. I don’t know.”

Honestly, I don’t know either. But I do know this: hearing music written by Black composers inspired me, and I wouldn’t be attempting to inspire Black and non-Black communities within and outside the context of Castle of our Skins if I had never done so. 

Black Patti - Sissieretta Jones

Walking around my hometown of Providence, RI, I stumbled upon the sign below, erected by the Rhode Island Black Heritage Society.

It reads:
"Sissieretta Jones 'The Greatest Singer of Her Race', 1868 - 1933.

Matilda Sissieretta Joyner Jones, the Internationally celebrated soprano known as 'Black Patti', lived near this site at 7 Wheaton Street until her passing on June 24, 1933.

With 17 medals and a diamond tiara bestowed upon her, she was the highest paid performer of her race and the first African American woman to appear at Carnegie Hall. For 28 years she toured the world, singing for 75,000 at Madison Square Garden, four U. S. presidents, the German Kaiser, and the British Royalty.

She is buried at Grace Church Cemetery, Providence."

This sign is posted near where she lived, which was then called Wheaton Street. Today, this sign is on Pratt Street on the East Side of Providence, appropriately rather close to "The Music Mansion", on the corner of Meeting Street and Congdon Street.

Upon further research, I discovered that as a child, she attended one RI's historic Black churches, Pond Street Baptist Church, where her father - Jeremiah Malachi Joyner - used to preach. She was born in Portsmouth, Virginia, but her family moved to Providence, Rhode Island at a young age. She would eventually get accepted to Boston's New England Conservatory, where she performed at Boston's Music Hall to critical acclaim for an audience of 5,000 in 1887.

The next year, Ms. Jones made her New York City debut at Steinway Hall, but it was not until another NYC performance where she caught the attention of the manager of another famous singer at the time, the Italian diva Adelina Patti. With this manager, "Black Patti" toured the west Indies with the Fisk Jubilee Singers, sang for President Benjamin Harrison (and eventually for Grover Cleveland, William McKinley, and Theodore Roosevelt), and performed at the Grand Negro Jubilee at Madison Square Garden for 75,000 people. These and other successes lead to her recital at Music Hall in New York, which was later renamed Carnegie Hall. The review from this concert sealed her notoriety.

Her career would end up including collaborations with the Czech composer Antonin Dvořák (teacher of H. T. Burleigh), tours across the world (including places in South America, southern Africa, Europe, and Australia), and the formation of a vaudeville troupe called The Black Patti Troubadours. Looking back on such a review from modern eyes may cause a bit of discomfort. However, the sad reality was that, despite Ms. Jones's obvious talent, the color of her skin prevented her from performing at many opera houses at the time. Despite her performance at a racially segregated (at the time) venue in Louisville, Kentucky, where Black Patti's performance was the first time a "colored performer received a bouquet" at that theater, Ms. Jones knew that she had to form this troupe to continue singing opera in the United States. The Black Patti Troubadours put on a show of incomparable grandeur, including 40 jugglers, comedians, dancers, and a chorus of 40 singers. The show would include Ms. Jones singing opera, to great acclaim.

Ms. Jones was inducted into the Rhode Island Music Hall of Fame in 2013.

Writer Wednesday

Today's post will feature the first of many writers to be highlighted here on BIBA - Countee Cullen (pronounced Count-tay).

Mr. Cullen was involved in quite a number of activities throughout his life, mostly related to literature. There is not much concrete knowledge of his early childhood; details of his birthplace, date, and early caregivers are uncertified speculation at best. However, it is known that he attended DeWitt Clinton High School (The Bronx, New York City), and - while there - became editor of the weekly newspaper, was inducted into the honor society, served as vice president of his graduating class, and graduated with honors in Latin, Greek, French, and Math in 1922. His post-secondary education includes a Bachelors at New York University (where he graduated Phi Beta Kappa), and a Masters degree at Harvard University. At this juncture in time, he reached his greatest height of fame with his poetry collections Color (1925), Copper Sun (1927), and The Ballad of the Brown Girl (1927). His talent, education, and popularity all culminated in him receiving a Guggenheim Fellowship to study in France. However, upon returning in 1930, his works received less and less acclaim, and his renown was replaced by other literary giants, including Zora Neale Hurston and Langston Hughes. He turned down professorship offers to become a substitute teacher in the New York City public school system, and later a French and English teacher at Frederick Douglass Junior High School, where he remained until his death in 1946. During this time, he published more poetry, a novel, the first major translation of a Classical piece of literature by a Black writer, children's books, and works for theater, including a musical adaptation of a work by Arna Bontemps. He also was a teacher to James Baldwin.

Countee Cullen immediately succeeded Phillis Wheatley and Paul Laurence Dunbar as a "serious" and successfully published Black poet, despite the publication of Claude McKay's collection Harlem Shadows in 1922. Interestingly enough, all three of these poets mastered traditional forms, and contributed to them by including their unique cultural perspective and voice. Mr. Cullen, however, strongly considered himself to be a poet first, and not a "Negro poet." He explains:

"If I am going to be a poet at all, I am going to be POET and not NEGRO POET. This is what has hindered the development of artists among us. Their one note has been the concern with their race. That is all very well, none of us can get away from it. I cannot at times. You will see it in my verse. The consciousness of this is too poignant at times. I cannot escape it. But what I mean is this: I shall not write of Negro subjects for the purpose of propaganda. That is not what a poet is concerned with. Of course, when the emotion rising out of the fact that I am a Negro is strong, I express it. But that is another matter.

Many composers set his works to music; among them are Charles Marsh, Virgil Thomson, William Schuman, William Lawrence, Margaret Bonds, Clarence Cameron White, Emerson Whithorne, Noel DaCosta, and William Grant Still. Click HERE to listen to Still's setting of If You Should Go in his poignant song cycle Songs of Separation. 

Tuesday Tidbits

Today's post will give you a very small glimpse into three Black artists of a visual nature: James Montford (multi-media), Bill T. Jones (dance), and Zanele Muholi (photography).

Multi-media artist James Montford has had a successful national career, being rather firmly situated in the Boston/Providence area of New England. His work includes such media as photography, collage, and performance art. His bold works are intrepid in their focus, and speak to a multi-dimensional stereotype narrative that intertwines the White, Native American, and Black experience. In his words, "We're defined by who we are and where we come from. It's hard to break out of a class structure, and we don't talk about class structure in this country, but there is a class structure." While he does not have a formal website, you can read more about his work and philosophy here, and you can see his work at Yellow Peril Gallery in Providence, RI till July 13th.

Bill T. Jones's work has been hailed across the world. His work as a dancer and choreographer lead to him co-founding the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance company, with his late partner Arnie Zane. Furthermore, his talent has yielded collaborations with such artists as composer Michael Tippett, writer Toni Morrison, and soprano Jessye Norman. His work with visual artist Keith Haring is also widely known and lauded. While it is difficult to explain his talent with words, THIS VIDEO FRAGMENT from his performance entitled "Breathing Show" captures a small amount of his creative and analytical genius. Enjoy!

Known more as a "visual activist", photographer Zanele Muholi is an inspiration, a creative giant, and a path-paver. Born in South Africa, she studied photography in Johannesburg before receiving an MFA in Toronto, Canada. "Her masters thesis mapped the visual history of Black lesbian identity and politics in post-Apartheid South Africa." (Wikipedia) Since then, she has fought for equal treatment of the Black LGBT community in South Africa through visual art (photography) and documentary. Her exhibitions and her encouragement of others in this community to pick up a camera has helped to reshape concepts of beauty and normalcy in an otherwise harsh environment, and her humanitarian approach is captured poignantly and vividly in a documentary she co-directed entitled "Difficult Love." You can read more about her here.

Beauty in Black Artistry (BIBA) Blog

Welcome to the first post of the BIBA Blog! If you've gotten here through Facebook or Twitter, please tell your friends to like and follow us! If you got here through our website, a link from another website, or word-of-mouth, thank you for checking this out, and tell others! The goal of this Blog is to highlight and/or promote Black artistry in a succinct, respectful, and educational manner. Furthermore, it is to examine unique facets of the Black experience and the Black story around the world. With this in mind, if you're interested in making a suggestion, WE'D LIKE TO HEAR FROM YOU!

Our first post is about the renown violist Nokuthula Ngwenyama.

As a violist, Ms. Ngwenyama has achieved many respected awards, and has performed across the United States and around the world. She has studied at top institutions, including the Curtis Institute of Music, and the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique de Paris. She also is a fine administrator, directing the Primrose Viola Competition, and serving as President of the American Viola Society.

Culturally, Ms.Ngwenyama is Japanese (mother) and Zimbabwean (father). However, if this mixture is not already unique enough, she recently discovered that her background includes a unique Jewish lineage from her father's background.

"What's interesting about my father's background is that he came from a group of Ndebele, but also Lemba, who are the Jews of southern Africa. I didn't know much about this growing up because my father was extremely secular," explains Ms. Ngwenyama. Because Judaism in the Lemba tribe is indeed patrilinial, she did not need to convert to Judaism when she married her husband, who is a Ukrainian-Lithuanian Jew.

Her story continues in this article, HERE!

Watch her perform the (in)famous fourth movement from Hindemith's solo viola sonata Op. 25 No. 1: