Note: This post has been updated.
Some December treats from Georgia and South Carolina are coming to DC this month.
David Pleasant’s “Drum Folk” at the Anacostia Community Museum”
Since August, Word, Shout, Song:Lorenzo Dow Turner Connecting Communities through Language has been on exhibit at the Anacostia Community Museum. The exhibit has been extended through July 2011.
Sunday, December 12 (2 PM), master percussionist/composer David Pleasant presents “Drum Folk,” a participatory workshop and discussion that highlights the sounds, movements, and histories of coastal and Sea Island Gullah-Geechee culture.
Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum
1901 Fort Place Southeast
Washington D.C., DC 20020-3298
(202) 633-4820
Wendy Perron, editor of Dance Magazine wrote:
“… music man extraordinaire David Pleasant gave us a total rhythm experience… he kept us on the edges of our seats by going from subtle rhythmic changes into a frenzy of total body involvement. His inventiveness and wit were dazzling… He uses the tambourine the way a tap dancer uses his feet: you can’t tell exactly when he’s striking, but you hear incredibly complicated sounds. Using his body, a tambourine, a harmonica, and Roberta Berman’s totem-like sound sculptures he worked himself into a state of being possessed… In between instruments he told us how African American music and dance derived from slaves who were forbidden to use drums… Pleasant makes visible the human spirit that generates both music and dance.”
In 1993 Pleasant created “RiddimAthon! Inc.,” a performance and teaching method developed from a synthesis of African, Caribbean and African-American musical traditions featuring Gullah (Georgia and South Carolina’s Sea Island) culture. His rhythm-effects vocals and drum-voice-body techniques have been featured in numerous theatrical and broadcast programs including: “Reading Rainbow” (PBS), MTV Unplugged; “ABC Nightline/Primetime”; Nickelodeon, Disney Channel and others.
David’s been featured on this blog before. Recently he’s been performing in Rome and they’re diggin’ it. I hope more Americans will get more excited about home grown artistry.
Gullah Themed Food and Folklore at Eatonville Restaurant
Gullah Cuisine’s Charlotte Jenkins is coming up to DC from Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina to join Eatonville Restaurant’s new chef, Garret Fleming (the secret’s out) in the kitchen for a special feast, Sunday, December 19th. Menus is TBD by Mrs. Jenkins. I’ll have some more of her fish head stew. The 4-course meal will include a book signing. Charlotte Jenkins’ Gullah Cuisine: By Land and By Sea is a collection of stories and recipes taken from Frank and Charlotte Jenkins’ lives and traditions in and outside their Gullah family kitchens. The narrative for the book was written by Fleming’s godfather, William Baldwin. There’s always a connection.
Purchase tickets here.
Check out this post featuring Charlotte Jenkins in her restaurant on the Eatonville Restaurant Food Stories blog.
Update: Charlotte Jenkins will sign her book at the Anacostia Community Museum, Saturday, December 18 at 11 AM.