Blayer Pointdujour and the Rockers Galore are a band based in Philadelphia. Calling themselves the adopted child of Saul Williams and Paul Simonon (of The Clash), the group combines different musical styles, including punk rock, reggae, funk, hip-hop, and Haitian rhythms. Pointdujour aims to put a new twist on old music, making a new style […]
Read More Modern Griots Interview: Blayer PointdujourWhat are the spiritual and physical consequences of us not studying the spiritual and magic systems of the African Diaspora in depth? This is one question amongst several explored in the British documentary film, Ancestral Voices: Esoteric African Knowledge. Premiering in New York City last Saturday at the New York African Diaspora International Film Festival, […]
Read More Modern Griots Review: Ancestral Voices“Why do I love children? I think it is because the child in each of us is our most precious part” – Walter Dean Myers’ Brown Angel: An Album of Picture and Verse Despite the destruction of two storms in New York City, the A Is For Anansi conference carried on last weekend, and despite […]
Read More Modern Griots Recap: A Is For AnansiThree words could describe singer-songwriter Alex Kelly — fiery, funky and fierce. The fellow Queens, NYC native covers a range of styles in her music from electronic to dance to rock to pop. Her first step in setting her music career into motion was meeting Robby Takac, bassist of the Goo Goo Dolls, who picked […]
Read More Modern Griots Interview: Alex KellyWithout stories, we are nothing but shells, only giving others the physical form of ourselves. Stories ground the spirits and forces around us and make them real. Oya priestess Isoke Nia expressed this sentiment last night at the Schomburg Center in Harlem at the enlightening tribute to the Yoruba orisha, Oya, and writer Octavia Butler. […]
Read More Modern Griots Review: Oya and Anyanwu — The Faces of ChangeThe United States has the largest incarcerated population in the world, yet it is easy to forget about prisoners and their lives before and outside of prison. We usually do not think about these lives that our made invisible to us, hidden away in cells, and how prison steals possible futures of them and their […]
Read More Modern Griots Reviews: Middle of Nowhere“Sexuality-cum-sensuality is the experiential link between mind and matter, the vivid and eternal refutation of the alleged dichotomy between them. This understanding … is the throbbing glistening heart of Kiini’s body of work. This book is alive. Be not afraid,” is how author Nisi Shawl (Filter House) introduces Kiini Ibura Salaam‘s latest collection of short […]
Read More Modern Griots Spotlight: Kiini Ibura SalaamLast Saturday was a packed day for me. I attended three events — Moving with MUV (Movement for the Urban Village) dance workshop, the screening of My Nappy Roots: A Journey Through Black Hairitage at The Brothers Speak On Natural Beauty and URB ALT Festival with Muthawit and Leon Ware. Moving with MUV involved an […]
Read More Modern Griots Review: Calling the Names of the Ancestors and Elders…Last weekend, I saw two of Terence Nance‘s films, The Oversimplification of Her Beauty and Triptych, at Urbanworld. It was as if swirling in a void somewhere between reality and fantasy. That is one way I would describe the first of Nance’s introspective and experimental films, The Oversimplification of Her Beauty (previously known as How […]
Read More Modern Griots Reviews: Terence Nance WeekendJoy Jones is a Trinidadian-American musician, medical and cultural anthropologist and scientist (she studied biology). She released two albums, The Joy/This Too Shall Pass and Godchild. Jones blends her church and gospel music upbringing with a mixture of styles including soca, classical, African choral music, soul, jazz and elctronica, as well as her experiences in […]
Read More Modern Griots: Joy Jones
Sherese Francis 