http://blog.651arts.org Brooklyn's gateway to performance of the African Diaspora Wed, 04 Jun 2008 15:34:24 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en   Highway 61 by Pat Thomas  This recording of Highway 61 was made in a plantation graveyard with the Delta blues musician and part-time grave digger, Pat Thomas.   Pat is the son of Son Thomas, the famous bluesman first recorded by Bill Ferris in the 1960s.   The song Pat is singing is ... http://blog.651arts.org/2008/06/04/the-longest-road-i-know/ Check out this great piece by Siddhartha Mitter on the Mississippi Delta and Jimmy "Duck" Holmes that aired on Saturday on WNYC. You can catch Jimmy "Duck" live, on a double-bill with gospel great, Marie Knight, this Thursday, June 5 at the Kumble Theater at LIU.  Click here to listen! http://blog.651arts.org/2008/06/01/check-out-jimmy-duck-holmes-on-wnyc/ Rambling, running, roving -- travel is at the heart of the Mississippi Delta blues.   Spiritual escape is made possible through the playing of music, but sometimes, it's the player that needs an outlet.   This was the case when McKinley Morganfield left the Stovall Plantation in 1943.  He made his break for Chicago, where he would rise to prominence ... http://blog.651arts.org/2008/05/30/highway-651-arts/ Diane McIntyre and Olu Dara appear on June 3rd & 4th at BRICstudio as part of the 651 ARTS Mississippi Delta Heritage Project Last Sunday, the New York Times wrote a full spread on Diane McIntyre and the Mississppi Delta Heritage Project.   Read it HERE.   http://blog.651arts.org/2008/05/27/ny-times-features-diane-mcintyre-and-651-arts/ Sharde Thomas will travel from her hometown of Senatobia, Mississppi to play with The Rising Star Fife and Drum Band at the Masonic Temple in Ft. Greene on June 1st, 2008 The fife is a handmade instrument cut from natural cane – it's roots music, literally.  Fife blowing is an African-American tradition that goes back to ... http://blog.651arts.org/2008/05/26/senatobia-to-cotonou/ The Mississippi Delta Heritage Project, now through June 7! Please check out our new website to learn all about upcoming performances:  www.651arts.org http://blog.651arts.org/2008/05/19/our-new-website-is-here/ Mississippi's Rising Star Fife and Drum Band, founded by the late great Otha Turner, is undeniably the most famous fife and drum group in the world.  On Sunday, June 1, New York’s Toshi Reagon and BIGLovely are performing on a double-bill with blues great Otha Turner’s granddaughter - Sharde Thomas and the Rising Star Fife and ... http://blog.651arts.org/2008/05/19/otha-turners-legacy-lives-on/ 651 Production Manager, Robert Henderson, and Managing Director, Anna Glass, went down to Mississippi last week to meet with some of the musicians who will be participating in 651's Mississippi Delta Heritage Project. They were primarily in Clarksdale, Cleveland, Greenville. Here are some classic images from the trip....   http://blog.651arts.org/2008/03/18/down-in-the-delta/ We are thrilled for April Yvette Thompson and Jessica Blank on the success of their new one-woman play, Liberty City,  (of which 651 ARTS supported the development) now running at New York Theater Workshop.  You only have until this Sunday (March 16) to see it- so get your tickets now: click here for tickets     Variety ... http://blog.651arts.org/2008/03/11/liberty-city-rules/ PHOTO: ANTOINE TEMPE Check out this amazing interview with magnificent dancer/choreographer, Nora Chipaumire:  NPR interview/Chipaumire Some of you may have been lucky enough to have seen her breathtaking performances at 651 ARTS' Salon 651 Series  at BRICstudios last spring. If you haven't seen her perform, now you have another chance! Chipaumire's new piece is ... http://blog.651arts.org/2008/03/11/interview-with-nora-chipaumire/