651 ARTSblog

Highway 651 ARTS

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 with a new name, Muddy Waters, and a new style of electric blues.  Rolling Stone magazine, and the rock band, the Rolling Stones would later take their names from his lyric: “sho’nuff he’s a rollin’ stone.”

Hear it here: Muddy Waters / Rollin’  Stone

Fast forward to 2008 at 651 ARTS — this week in Brooklyn, the Mississippi Delta Heritage Project becomes a new stage for Delta musicians traveling in the footsteps of Muddy Waters.   Music, once again, is the cultural crossroads that leads, albeit momentarily, out of the Mississippi, Delta.

Jimmy “Duck” Holmes performs at the Kumble on June 5th

This week in Brooklyn, expect to hear music that rarely, if ever, has made it to New York, including Jimmy “Duck” Holmes, who like Muddy Waters, was recorded by Alan Lomax.   Jimmy “Duck” is the inheritor of a regional style called Bentonia blues.  He is the last in a long-line of players, including Skip (”I’d rather be the devil than to be that woman’s man”) James.

Another surprising style comes to Brooklyn from Sharde Thomas, who is a native of Senatobia, Mississippi and is the granddaughter of Otha Turner.   Fife and Drum music cropped up throughout isolate pockets of the Deep South, but Sharde is perhaps the last to carry the torch of this now world-famous spiritual-blues tradition.   It’s the sound of Eurpoean colonial marching music re-mixed (and re-mastered) by slaves and share-croppers throughout the South:

That’s a video we found recently (through http://www.livebluesworld.com/profile/MississippiDeltaHeritageProject) of Sharde leading the Rising Star of Fife and Drum Band.   They perform on June 1st at the Masonic Temple at 7pm in a double-bill with Brooklyn’s own Toshi Reagon.

Add comment May 30th, 2008

Go see: Passing Strange on Broadway!

Passing Strange, a musical for the 21st century, created by rock musicians, STEW and Heidi Rodewald, was first seen in New York at The Public Theater last spring and had everybody talking. It’s now rocking the house at The Belasco Theater- get tickets while you can!  passingstrangeonbroadway.com

NYTimes review here

Add comment March 3rd, 2008

The Mississippi Delta Heritage Project

MAY/JUNE 2008 
Beginning in early May 2008, 651 ARTS will present a series of concerts, performances, symposia, workshops and film screenings examining the influence that the Mississippi Delta has had on culture throughout the United States. The emphasis of the project will be an examination of the roots of Delta Blues in West African traditional music as well as how the Delta Blues has influenced and continues to influence contemporary blues, gospel, rock and jazz. This project will benefit greater New York area audiences, musicians and students, as well as the musicians of the Mississippi Delta. Because of 651’s commitment to reflecting contemporary culture of the Diaspora, we have also included three commissioned dance/theater works related to or by artists from the Delta, which will premiere during our season. 651’s Delta Heritage Project is born out of the desire to preserve a very particular and special part of American culture, as well as to illuminate its important influences. Details on upcoming shows coming soon!

Add comment February 27th, 2008