Blues: Roots, Branches, and Beyond - Roots of the Blues

Join us at the Blues: Roots, Branches, and Beyond for a fascinating look at the roots of the blues and points of confluence and difference between Native and African/African American music and styles. Producer and Aboriginal arts activist Elaine Bomberry (Ojibwe/Cayuga, from Six Nations, Ontario) will explore the Native connection to the blues and show highlights from her award-winning Canadian television show, Rez Bluez TV—a popular, groundbreaking series that showcases Aboriginal blues music.

Ron Welburn (African-American and Native American descent), a poet and professor of English at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, will discuss his research on Native Americans in jazz and the blues. He was formerly coordinator of the Jazz Oral History Project (National Endowment for the Arts) at the Institute of Jazz Studies at Rutgers University. A lively question-and-answer session with the audience will follow the presentations.

PERFORMANCES
INDIAN SUMMER SHOWCASE 2009—The Blues: Roots, Branches, and Beyond.

Carolina Chocolate Drops
Concert
Saturday, August 22, 2009
5 pm
Outdoor Welcome Plaza

George Leach (Sta'atl'imx) comes from the majestic mountain terrain of Lillooet, British Columbia, Canada, bringing his soulful rock-driven music derived from a cherished tradition of Aboriginal and mainstream music.

The Rez Bluez All-Starz, an Aboriginal blues collaboration of phenomenal proportions, joins together especially for this concert: Shakti Hayes (Plains Cree), vocals, bass guitar; Murray Porter (Mohawk), vocals, piano; Beaver Thomas (Plains Cree), guitar; Oren Doxtator (Oneida), drums. The Rez Bluez All-Starz will perform at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage on Sunday, August 23.

Corey Harris, an artist whose musical reputation and repertoire is ever-expanding, has explored the many roots and branches of the blues, from the Mississippi Delta to Mali, while incorporating ska, reggae, rap, and jazz into his music.

The Carolina Chocolate Drops, a trio of young African American musicians (with Native ancestry as well), are reviving the tradition of African American string-band music from the time and places in the Carolina foothills where the blues and many other American musical traditions first took root.