Click here to view the embedded video.

“The Garifuna Nation” (2011, 82 min.)

Screening of documentary film

by Carlos de Jesus

Where: Bronx Museum of the Arts, 1040 Grand Concourse at 165th Street, Bronx.
Date: Friday, October 28
Time: 7:00pm

A feature-length video documentary, “The Garifuna Nation,” presents a cultural encounter between two distinct Afro-Caribbean experiences: Afro-Puerto Rican and Garinagu (also called Garifuna).

Through these two parallel perspectives, the video looks into how the slave experience has historically played itself out in different ways and how circumstances determine who we are today. Having escaped the ravages of slavery in the Americas, a group of West Africans joined with Carib Indians to form the Garifuna culture that has survived for over 212 years — on self-reliance, sacred spirit-possession practices and dance moves.

Now, the Garinagu people must face the challenge of interfacing western lifestyles and modern technology with the long-held values regarding their community.

Q&A will follow film.

Ile Ori/Ori Ile II, 2011, acrylic, wool and graphite on canvas, diptych, each panel 54×60 inches

Skoto Gallery is pleased to present Ile Ori/Ori Ile (House of the Head/Head of the House), an exhibition of drawings and paintings by Osi Audu. Born in Nigeria, the artist was educated in that country and the United States. For over a decade now, he has maintained a strong professional presence in Korea, Japan, Great Britain, United States, Italy, Germany, Austria and Africa through highly acclaimed exhibitions of his paintings. His work is in several private and public collections including The British Museum; The Horniman Museum, London; Schmidt Bank, Bayreuth, Germany; The Wellcome Trust, London, The National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC and Newark Museum, Newark, New Jersey. This is his second solo exhibition at the gallery.

The reception is on Thursday, October 20th, 6-8pm. The artist will be present.

 at

SKOTO GALLERY
529 West 20th Street, 5thFL
New York, NY 10011

Gallery Hours: Tuesday to Saturday 11 AM – 6 PM

For More Information: Ile Ori/Ori Ile

ORÍ ÒDE/ORÍ INÚ: Metaphysics of the Head in Osi Audu’s Art:

The images in the exhibition convey much more than meet the eye. For, notwithstanding their modernistic aspects, they have been inspired by the Yoruba notion of the self as an interface of spirit and matter, the one empowering the other in the natural world. The head (orí) dominates a typical Yoruba representation of that self for two main reasons. The first has to do with its biological significance as the seat of the brain, which coordinates the activities of the body, and the second, with the belief that the physical head—a site of identity, perception and communication—is no more than the outer shell (orí òde) of an inner/invisible head (orí inú), which localizes àse, the enabling power that sustains the cosmos and determines the personality as well as destiny of an individual. Little wonder that, in the past, many Yoruba dedicated an altar to the inner head (orí inú) for the purpose of harnessing its àse to cope with the existential struggle. This cone-shaped altar (ìborí) was kept inside a container called ilé ori (house of the head). Thus, to the Yoruba, succeeding in life depends, for the most part, on how well you are able to make good use of your head through a variety of processes involving the objective and subjective; the cultural, social, economic, political and spiritual; the technical and artistic, among others.

By employing highly conceptual imagery, Osi Audu hints at the empirical and metempirical dimensions of reality, in addition to stressing the role of the head (the location of the eyes) in its perception and interpretation. His Outer/Inner Head [Orí Òde/Orí Inú], #2, 2011 is a good example. Here, the artist combines minimalist geometric and organic forms with achromatic and contrasting colors to further underscore the interplay of the conscious, subconscious and superconsious in experiential responses, thereby obliging the viewer to look beyond the surface for deeper meanings. As a result, House of the Head [Ilé Orí], 1998, ushers the viewer into a dreamscape of sound and silence, remembering and forgetting, the exoteric and esoteric, the time-bound and timeless—all implicated in the human attempts to make better sense of the heard and unheard, the seen and unseen as well as the actual and virtual. Note the white cone in the middle. It recalls the shape of many Yoruba altars to the inner head (ìborí) and the configuration of an adé, the beaded crown of a Yoruba king (oba), thus stressing the apical location of the head on the human body. In effect, the head is to the self, what a king is to a kingdom and God (Olórun) to the universe–a source of power. This phenomenon also resonates in Osi Audu’s Ilé Orí/Orí Ile [House of the Head/Head of the House], 2011, which invokes the prominent gable roof (kòbì) that often distinguishes the entrance of a Yoruba palace (àfin), identifying the king as the head of the body politic with special powers to provide good leadership.

So it is that the art of Osi Audu conceals and reveals layers of meanings. Apart from exploring ancient and contemporary concepts and aesthetics, it relates brain and mind, body and soul, and the past to the present, offering food for thought and a mirror for self-reflection.

Babatunde Lawal, 2011
Art Historian
Virginia Commonwealth University
Richmond, Virginia

Following a year long stint in Lagos in 2009, Nigerian musician and film maker SIJI began his debut documentary dubbed ‘Elder’s Corner’, “a musical journey through pivotal moments in the colorful history of Nigeria as told through the lives and careers of the nations foremost music legends. It is a story about the eroding effects of colonialism, bitter ethnic clashes, politics, oil, power, money and their combined effects on a nation that recently celebrated its 50th year of self rule.”

“Elders Corner” featured a fitting video tribute to Afrobeat pioneer and music icon, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, who would have turned 73 last  Saturday. The video features anecdotes from a few of his avid admirer’s and peers who worked closely with him in his heyday.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

on Mixcloud

No Small Money Brass Band performed two awesome sets to close the night at BUKA Restaurant in Brooklyn. One of NYC’s hottest dance party sensations. Inspired by the rhythms, folk songs, highlife classics, indigenous church and big brass band music traditions of Africa and the Caribbean. No Small Money is really bringing something new to the dance floors of New York City. And folks are dancing!

A section of No Small Money performing at BUKA NYC

Band and Music Information coming soon:

on Mixcloud

NY Afro Fest 2011 brings together culture, arts, literature, music (both popular and sacred), politics, dialogue, food and community in its celebration of the African Diaspora, and in recognition of the United Nation’s designation of 2011 as the international year for people of African Descent. The festival also coincides with the release of Afrobeat Journal’s second Issue, themed: African rhythms, roots, culture, in homage to Randy Weston.

A cross section of NY Afro Fest 2011 Literary Panelists. Photo by Ayesha Haruna-Atta

The September 24th NY Afro Fest  event served up an exciting line up: a Literary Conference and live music performances. It will continue with live broadcast on WBAI 99.5 FM on Saturday Oct 1, 2011 of global African Sacred musics and African Art music. Buka New York Restaurant (946 Fulton St, Brooklyn, NY 11238) was co-host the September  24th event.

NY Afro Fest opened at BUKA with live music from Asiko Afrobeat’s pulsating sounds. Archive here: NY Afro Fest 2011: Afrobeat With Asiko

The Literary Conference followed, after the panel had to be moved  to wbai radio station  due to technical difficulties. The panel’s theme: Root Words: A Celebration & Discussion of African Literature. Our panelists are Catherine E. McKinley, author of Indigo: In Search of the Color That Seduced the World; Tanya Wright, author of Butterfly Rising, actress (HBO series True Blood) and director; Ngozi Achebe author of Onaedo – The Blacksmith’s Daughter; FitzGerald Chinemerem Ajoku author of “Continental Drift” The African, African American Experience and Marva Allen partner and CEO of Hue-Man Bookstore and Cafe in Harlem. Audio Archive here at the top.

The panel was moderated by the very able poet and writer Benjamin Hinson and assisted by Ayesha Harruna Attah, author of Harmattan Rain. The conference was pulled together by Nana Brew-Hammond author of Powder Necklace, Benjamin Hinson, Ayesha Harruna Attah and Afrobeatradio’s Wuyi Jacobs.

We then returned to BUKA to continue the festival with a wonderful performance by Tuelo el Bandimo: Audio Archive here: NY Afro Fest 2011: Tuelo le Badimo

The nights perfornces was xoncluded with an unbelieveable performance by No Small Money Brass Band. Audio Archive here:

NY Afro Fest continues on October 1 with sacred music of the African Diaspora. For updates visit www.AfrobeatRadio.Com.

–

NY Afro Fest is a collaboration between WBAI producers Wuyi Jacobs of AfrobeatRadio and Imhotep Gary Byrd of Global Black Experience with the support of WBAI management and team of engineers.  New York Afrobeat Festival, Inc. is a not-for-profit enterprise dedicated to fostering and promoting African cultures and communities through art, music, performance and visual arts. We aim to excite, entertain, inform, educate and to create awareness of the value of the cultures of Africa within the vibrant multicultural fabric of New York City.

Afrobeatradio on Mixcloud

For those of you who missed the NY Afro Fest’s September 24th debut, which a lot of people did due to technical problems with connecting to WBAI 99.5 FM, Tuelo le Badimo (which means Tuelo and the Gods/Ancestors) performed at BUKA Restaurant in Brooklyn after the Literary panel. The music is exhilarating. The banter between band members, the improvisation with Anthony Sloan and the play on words and songs,  the restaurant bell chiming in at inordinately appropriate moments, the foot traffic and street conversations, even MTA buses and vehicular traffic contributed to this unique Brooklyn experience. Tuelo le Badimo led by Tuelo Minah truly brought down the blessings of the Ancestors to NY Afro Fest 2011. Look out for Tuelo le Badimo on AfrobeatRadio on WBAI soon.

Tuelo le Badimo at BUKA Restaurant, NYC. Photo: Nat/BUKA

The Band

Tuelo Minah Singer/Songwriter/Guitarist, from Mafikeng, South Africa; Mark Anselm, lead guitar- Annapolis from Maryland; Dominique Joseph, Drummer/Percussion- Tampa from Florida, and Tsholo Mokubung, singer, hand percussion from Kimberley, South Africa.

The Songs in order of appearance:

1. Here we are
2. Trafficking
3. Come as You are
4. Kelebogile
5. Bombs
6. Will the circle be unbroken- Cover, Carter Family
7. Malabulabu – Tswana Traditional
8. Dominique Joseph – Drumming
9. Fela

Thank you for such a wonderful performance.

By AfrobeatRadio

on Mixcloud

Michelle Materre

On Saturday September 3rd, 2011, Michelle Materre, Curator of the film series “Creatively Speaking” joins AfrobeatRadio’s Wuyi Jacobs at WBAI radio studios live to talk about The film series opening at the BAMcinématek in Brooklyn on September 17 to 18, 2011.

Materre, an Assistant Professor of Media Studies and Film at the New School with a professional background spanning more than 25 years experience as film producer, writer, arts administrator, and distribution and marketing specialist.
Creatively Speaking opens BAMcinématek BAM at the Peter Jay Sharp Building 30 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn

For Schedule/Times/Tickets: BAM.ORG

Admission: $12 Cinema Club members: $8

See: “Creatively Speaking” Film Series Returns To BAMcinématek

This program was broadcast live on AfrobeatRadio on WBAI 99.5 FM on Saturday September 03, 2011as part of our  regular weekly program.

Skoto Gallery  present paintings by eminent New York artist

Kendall Shaw

In

Back Seat at the Drive-in
Surabstract paintings

September 8th – October 15th, 2011
The reception is on Thursday, September 8th, 6-8pm.  The artist will be present.

SKOTO GALLERY 529 West 20th Street, 5FL.
New York, NY 10011 212-352 8058
info@skotogallery.com www.skotogallery.com

Behind the Trellis, 1992-96, mixed media on paper, 44×72 inches.

‘Back Seat at the Drive-In,’ is a selection of paintings that have been taken from an ongoing body of work done by Kendall Shaw over a long and productive career. The show is concerned with the artist’s personal response to the body, its interactions, and kinetic and social expression. Love, desire, passion, and playfulness rule our intimate responses to each other; all these things are referenced in Shaw’s paintings. There is quiet regard, as in a 1965 painting in which a few simple, but clearly rendered lines on warm-colored unprimed canvas evoke the soft female presence of Frances, the artist’s wife. Then there is the Dionysian bacchanal of forms that animate an ‘abstract’ painting from 1994 such as “Sex And The Hot Toyota.” The ecstatic vibrancy of notational line and color in “Hip Hop,” completed in 2002, puts the active figure back at the evocative center of painting. Rather than the cooling down effect as occurred in contemporaneous minimalist abstraction and an intensifying ‘painting is dead’ despair, Shaw concentrated the visual into an erotically sensitized skin of paint across the live body of canvas.

The artist’s innate love for people in all their physical diversity, personal differences and complexity, includes the life-affirming drive toward natural expressions of sensuality and sexuality in art as in life. Disregarding art world cynicism, his touch energizes the potential of abstraction in a drive away from the anomie that prevails in much current art. In formal terms, Kendall Shaw, whose paintings have long married a humanistic foundation with formal abstraction and representation, defines a new term—surabstraction, that provides an over- arching concept for his work— one that would help us understand his drive toward a metaphoric ‘realness’ within the arena of abstract form:

People ask what kind of paintings do you make. Humans love to classify, and that was the base of Aristotle’s writings as he saw new plants and animals on his journey through India with the conquering Alexander. If I answer that I make abstract paintings folks become satisfied, because that classification is familiar to them. The problem with classification is that there are rules and descriptions. The classification becomes a box with restrictions. A painting can be a metaphor for what seems to be real in life. I want a painting to echo life as much as possible, to be real in itself.

Born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, Shaw left behind his advanced studies in science and a burgeoning research career, to engage in an active and affirmative life amongst a seminal group of progressive artists. With teachers, friends, and colleagues who were at the driving center of classic American modernism such as Ralston Crawford, Stuart Davis, George Ricky, Ida Kohlmeyer, and Mark Rothko, the young scientist was directly immersed in an advanced stream of artistic thought and accomplishment. In 1961 he was Invited to teach at Columbia University School of Architecture, and has lived in New York ever since.

Over the latter half of the twentieth century, the eighty-seven year old artist has had an exemplary career not only as artist and teacher, but also in the field of stage design. For example, his design for a John Bernard Meyers produced musical, with words by Gertrude Stein and music by Ann Sternberg was at the Astor Place Theatre in 1972. The play was later performed at the Museum of Modern Art, as well as the Grace Rainey Rodgers Auditorium of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Music was recorded and released by Polydor Records.

Kendall Shaw’s most recent solo shows include his 2011 idiosyncratic interpretation of Bible stories, ‘Let There Be Light’ presented at the Narthex Gallery & Living Room Gallery of St. Peter’s church in mid-town Manhattan. Both the Ruskin Gallery/East Anglia University, Cambridge, England, and the Ogden Museum for Southern Art, in New Orleans, presented retrospectives in 2007.

While this is his first solo exhibition at Skoto Gallery, Shaw was represented for more than thirty years by fabled gallerists such as Tibor de Nagy, John Bernard Meyers, and the Lerner-Heller Gallery. His work is now part of many private and public collections around the world. A brief list includes: Peter Ludwig, Aachen and Vienna; Museum of Contemporary Art, Nagaoka, Japan; Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn; Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse; The Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans; Orlando Museum, Florida; IBM Corporation, New York; Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson; J.P. Morgan/Chase Manhattan Bank, NY.

Carl E. Hazlewood
August 2011
Brooklyn, NY

The Acclaimed Curated Film Series

September 17 to 18, 2011

BAMcinématek BAM
Peter Jay Sharp Building 30 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn
For Schedule/Times/Tickets: BAM.ORG
Admission: $12 Cinema Club members: $8

BAMcinématek presents “Creatively Speaking” September 17th and 18th. Celebrating its fifth year at BAMcinématek, Creatively Speaking™ offers films that speak to the wide-ranging experiences of people of color across the Diaspora. In celebration of the United Nations declaring 2011 as The Year of People of African Descent, this year’s Creatively Speaking film series at BAMcinématek brings together a hand-picked selection of high quality, entertaining and informative films and videos representing the breadth and depth of the diversity of people of African descent from around the world.

Curator, Michelle Materre, states, “This year, we present three feature films that have yet to receive widespread theatrical exposure. Children of God is a debut feature narrative by Kareem Mortimer, set against the backdrop of the beautiful island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas –a nation grappling with a surge in violent homophobic crimes. Fire in Babylon, by award-winning UK director Stevan Riley, tells the story of the glorious domination of the West Indian cricket team which became one of the greatest teams in sports history, while also celebrating the emancipation of a people with its roots in politics, pride, anti-colonial fury and music.

For Updates & Information: Creatively Speaking on Facebook

For Immediate Release Contacts:
Tamika Durham, Press Coordinator at durham.tamika@gmail.com ; cell: 973-752-7884
or Neyda Martinez at neydamartinez1@hotmail.com ; cell: 917 656 7846.
creativelyspeaking.tv/upcoming.html www.BAM.org/BAMcinematek

With standing-room only, the 600 seats at the Broad Street Ballroom was filled with fashionistas, buyers, press, designers, admirers and models as Africa Fashion Week July 11-17 kicked off with the with edgy sophistication of Korto Momolu, the Project Runway star from Liberia. Totaling over 21 featured designers including headliner Bill Witherspooon, Kikoromeo, Suakoko Betty, AAMAA a la Mode, Washington Roberts, and Saint Wobil, fashion designers from Africa and the Diaspora were gracing the downtown Manhattan runway. Sponsored by USAID/East Africa’s “Origin Africa”, the three day fashion show and week long programme was organized by luxury brands company Adirée and included an exhibition and industry networking events.

Just a few years old, Africa Fashion Week is a phenomena occurring in London and other major cities. This event is part of an on-going effort to improve African trade and encourage sustainabilty, fair trade and green marketing.  According to Diane Harper, a blogger for USAID, “…By building the capacity and increasing competitiveness of African goods, USAID promotes broad based, sustainable economic growth that is necessary to accelerating development and eradicate poverty in Africa.” Some $7.8 million in business deals where reportedly generated between the American garment sector and African businesses.

With a mirade of cultures whose innovative traditions serve as a source for both  materials and ideas it isn’t surprising that  many US and European designers and fashion houses would look to Africa for inspiration. However, the issue of intellectual property rights, living wages for workers, transfer of techonology and training that will move the continent one step closer towards realization of MDG’s and other socioeconomic objectives is yet to be realized.  The East African Community (EAC) and other regional intergovernmental organizations such as the Southern African Development Community (SADC) focused on developing economic markets within the continent seek to make Africa a producer of goods and finished products, not just provider of raw materials, raw talent or skills. Africa Fashion Week (AFW) shows promise. See: www.AFWNY.com

Overall, the show catered to the occidental market but it did host a few gems for those with global African sensibilities. Some of the pieces took our imaginations to the most extreme places, like a few designs those featured in the photo essay.  Mr Witherspoon’s (see photo styling a straw fedora) radically chic, funk-inspired clothing for men mixed bright colored leathers, graphic prints, fake fur, bone and silk to make one of the most potent statements about black male power spiritually; physically; and sartorially made the fashion shows nothing short of fantastic.  But for all its glory, occassioanl groaners and questionable political agenda, it appears the organizers themselves did not fully support the argument they are making for their brand or understand the objectives of Origin African and USAID.

If Adirée expects the rest of us to encourage design and fashion from African then the least they could do is be consistent and through with that most important message. Perhaps they should consider how they show their support and respect for African farmers, weavers, printmakers, designers, tailors, seamstresses, manufacturers, and distributors thorough out the continent by doing what any exceptional artists does well: pay attention to details. With the plethora of European hair weaves flitting about the heads of key organizers of the event, and the hopelessly conventional compunction of having team members do the “NY thing,” with their wardrobe, a powerful message was lost however subliminally on the audience and potential buyers. Namely otherwise beautiful young female ushers of African descent wore “little black dresses” instead of sporting attire no matter how short or of what sartorial tradition that send the message home: Support African Fashion!  And be the change they want to see in the world. Adirée’s organizers and staff should have worn outfits made with African textiles or designed by one of the African designers showcased. They didn’t … Perhaps next year?

All images and reporting by Dowoti Désir

For more AfrobeatRadio Images, visit AfrobeatRadio on Flickr

Ms. Dowoti Désir is the Founder of the DDPA Watch Group. She is culture rights activist, curator of contemporary art in the African Diapsora, and independent scholar based in New York. Dowoti Desir is producer with AfrobeatRadio.