Preface: Before you start reading our post below, click on to
http://www.myspace.com/ysayembarnwell and listen to Dr. Ysaye Barnwell's lyrics, starting with 1-"We Are."
Hey, Y’all! In our last posting, we were getting ready to leave our home of thirty years (wow!). Well, after saying goodbye to some really special friends and neighbors in Amherst, we left on Sunday, February 1st. As soon as we left, Jo Ann started taking pictures of our trip, starting from Amherst. Our first stop was in Maryland where we spent the night with our daughter Ayodele and grandson, Kofi; our son Heshima came over and cooked us a delicious meal (he’s a great cook!). On Monday morning we pulled out of Mt. Rainier.
After a couple of nights on the road (we stopped over in Fayetteville, N.C. Monday night), we pulled into Savannah on Tuesday, February 3. It was frigid, about 30 degrees with strong winds! Now, that was a surprise. But, so far, it has been all good. We had already met some good folks on our previous visits (Sara, Desi, and Safi), so it was good to see them again. And since we arrived, we have met some more people.
The first thing we had to do was to get unloaded, unpacked, and get the house in order; that’s a job in itself, and we’re still not done. But you know we just had to take the time to go out and see what attractions and events there were around the area.
In the first week, we attended the Savannah Black Heritage Festival, billed as a 2-week cultural festival held at several venues in the city, but actually lasting the whole month of February. We had missed some events, because the festival had started on January 30th, but those events we did get to attend were very rewarding. On February 6th, we participated in a vocal community workshop led by Ysaye Barnwell of Sweet Honey in the Rock on singing in the African American tradition. The next day was Grand Festival Day, the highlight of the festival, which was a family-oriented celebration held at the Savannah Civic Center. The performances varied from Capoeira and other dance groups to a parenting workshop with Rose Rock, Chris’ mother. Of course, there were many food and other vendors selling their wares. We were hoping to see the jazz group TRES, but the program was running late and we decided to leave. EnVogue was to perform after TRES. We heard from a friend the next day that TRES was fabulous but EnVogue was a little tired. We are having trouble finding out more about TRES. They are a violin, soprano sax and piano trio.
The following day, we went to an opening reception for three artists at the Beach Institute. Each of the featured, young artists, Lillian Blades. Cedric Smith and Wendell Smith (a Savannah College of Art & Design a.k.a. SCAD professor), gave a talk about their work. The Beach served as a school for African American children in the late 1800s, and is now a gallery for visiting African American artists. The Institute also has a permanent display of some amazing wood sculptures by Ulysses Davis, a barber by profession, carved while waiting for customers to show up. His sculptures are true examples of a self-taught artistic genius.
On Tuesday the 10th, there was a presentation called “Culinary Arts in the African American Tradition” featuring Elizabeth Pearce, who was really a “food anthropologist”. She spoke about the African ways of cooking, as well as the realities of slavery in America and the ways we had to adapt and “make do” in our cooking. All of this was followed by a food tasting which had some interesting (and tasty) dishes. It was great. Then, there was the annual W.W. Law Lecture we attended on February 12th featuring Dr. William E. Cross, Jr. who discussed Black identity formation after Obama . The lecture was thought-provoking, although it wasn’t attended as well as it could have been.
To cap off the first week, we went to the Universoul Circus which is well-known around the country, and which has performers from many countries. There were acrobats from Ethiopia, jugglers, trapeze artists from China, hip-hop artists, stilt-walkers, gospel singing, among many other acts. We were right down front seated in box seats about 3 feet from the ring, at the same level. It was a little scary when they brought the elephants out. Remember, we were only 3 feet from them. This was the first time that we ever went to a circus together, and we were acting like a couple of kids.
From what we can tell, it seems like there’s always something going on here in Savannah, so we should not have any problem finding something to do. Another thing that can help us enjoy our stay here is Savannah’s location. We are about 2 hours from Charleston, S.C.; 3 hours from Daytona, FL; and 3 hours from Atlanta, and there are a lot of places in between. So whether we choose to stay here permanently or not, we intend to make the best of our time. We’ll keep you posted in our next blog.
http://www.myspace.com/ysayembarnwell and listen to Dr. Ysaye Barnwell's lyrics, starting with 1-"We Are."
Hey, Y’all! In our last posting, we were getting ready to leave our home of thirty years (wow!). Well, after saying goodbye to some really special friends and neighbors in Amherst, we left on Sunday, February 1st. As soon as we left, Jo Ann started taking pictures of our trip, starting from Amherst. Our first stop was in Maryland where we spent the night with our daughter Ayodele and grandson, Kofi; our son Heshima came over and cooked us a delicious meal (he’s a great cook!). On Monday morning we pulled out of Mt. Rainier.
After a couple of nights on the road (we stopped over in Fayetteville, N.C. Monday night), we pulled into Savannah on Tuesday, February 3. It was frigid, about 30 degrees with strong winds! Now, that was a surprise. But, so far, it has been all good. We had already met some good folks on our previous visits (Sara, Desi, and Safi), so it was good to see them again. And since we arrived, we have met some more people.
The first thing we had to do was to get unloaded, unpacked, and get the house in order; that’s a job in itself, and we’re still not done. But you know we just had to take the time to go out and see what attractions and events there were around the area.
In the first week, we attended the Savannah Black Heritage Festival, billed as a 2-week cultural festival held at several venues in the city, but actually lasting the whole month of February. We had missed some events, because the festival had started on January 30th, but those events we did get to attend were very rewarding. On February 6th, we participated in a vocal community workshop led by Ysaye Barnwell of Sweet Honey in the Rock on singing in the African American tradition. The next day was Grand Festival Day, the highlight of the festival, which was a family-oriented celebration held at the Savannah Civic Center. The performances varied from Capoeira and other dance groups to a parenting workshop with Rose Rock, Chris’ mother. Of course, there were many food and other vendors selling their wares. We were hoping to see the jazz group TRES, but the program was running late and we decided to leave. EnVogue was to perform after TRES. We heard from a friend the next day that TRES was fabulous but EnVogue was a little tired. We are having trouble finding out more about TRES. They are a violin, soprano sax and piano trio.
The following day, we went to an opening reception for three artists at the Beach Institute. Each of the featured, young artists, Lillian Blades. Cedric Smith and Wendell Smith (a Savannah College of Art & Design a.k.a. SCAD professor), gave a talk about their work. The Beach served as a school for African American children in the late 1800s, and is now a gallery for visiting African American artists. The Institute also has a permanent display of some amazing wood sculptures by Ulysses Davis, a barber by profession, carved while waiting for customers to show up. His sculptures are true examples of a self-taught artistic genius.
On Tuesday the 10th, there was a presentation called “Culinary Arts in the African American Tradition” featuring Elizabeth Pearce, who was really a “food anthropologist”. She spoke about the African ways of cooking, as well as the realities of slavery in America and the ways we had to adapt and “make do” in our cooking. All of this was followed by a food tasting which had some interesting (and tasty) dishes. It was great. Then, there was the annual W.W. Law Lecture we attended on February 12th featuring Dr. William E. Cross, Jr. who discussed Black identity formation after Obama . The lecture was thought-provoking, although it wasn’t attended as well as it could have been.
To cap off the first week, we went to the Universoul Circus which is well-known around the country, and which has performers from many countries. There were acrobats from Ethiopia, jugglers, trapeze artists from China, hip-hop artists, stilt-walkers, gospel singing, among many other acts. We were right down front seated in box seats about 3 feet from the ring, at the same level. It was a little scary when they brought the elephants out. Remember, we were only 3 feet from them. This was the first time that we ever went to a circus together, and we were acting like a couple of kids.
From what we can tell, it seems like there’s always something going on here in Savannah, so we should not have any problem finding something to do. Another thing that can help us enjoy our stay here is Savannah’s location. We are about 2 hours from Charleston, S.C.; 3 hours from Daytona, FL; and 3 hours from Atlanta, and there are a lot of places in between. So whether we choose to stay here permanently or not, we intend to make the best of our time. We’ll keep you posted in our next blog.
Peace.
JoAnn and Jesse
JoAnn and Jesse
Additional Resources:
Sweet Honey in the Rock: http://www.sweethoney.com/
Wendell Smith review from 2006: http://www.thecampuschronicle.com/arts/profiles/060210.cfm
Sweet Honey in the Rock: http://www.sweethoney.com/
Wendell Smith review from 2006: http://www.thecampuschronicle.com/arts/profiles/060210.cfm
Pictures:
View our slide show from the first week here. NOTE: On this site, click "Show Info" for captions.
Here is a video of some capoeiraistas at the Grand Festival.
View our slide show from the first week here. NOTE: On this site, click "Show Info" for captions.
Here is a video of some capoeiraistas at the Grand Festival.
Hey, Folks-
ReplyDeleteGood update. Glad to know Savannah's got so much culture and that y'all are there to enjoy it. Ulysses Davis' stuff if fantastic, from what little I could find on google. Any chance you could snap a few pictures of his work (while nobody's looking) next time you stop by the institute?
-Heshima