MAY 14 | SFJAZZ Poetry Celebration
May 14, 2022
Miner Auditorium
PLEASE NOTE:
This page is an archive of a past production
Please visit our calendar for all upcoming SFJAZZ shows.
Original show description below.
The SFJAZZ Poet Laureate and Rockefeller Fellow Marc Bamuthi Joseph presents Blackbird, Fly, a riveting and celebratory new work that explores some of the biggest questions of our time.
This intimate collaboration between composer and violinist Daniel Bernard Roumain and spoken-word poet Marc Bamuthi Joseph, both sons of Haitian immigrants, unveils their life stories in search of their identity and role models and delves into universal themes of immigration, tolerance and inclusion. This introspective, uplifting piece beautifully weaves movement, music and spoken word into a richly layered multi-sensory evening. Usually performed as a duet, this exclusive performance will include special guest San Francisco-based poet and activist Tongo Eisen-Martin and the soulful Sacramento jazz-funk band The Damani Rhodes Experience.
Founding Program Director of the non-profit Youth Speaks, Bamuthi is one of America’s vital voices in performance, arts education, and artistic curation. He was the artistic director of the HBO documentary series Russell Simmons presents Brave New Voices and an inaugural recipient of the United States Artists Rockefeller Fellowship. He was named to the inaugural class of Doris Duke Artists in 2012.
Steeped in a hip-hop aesthetic, Marc Bamuthi Joseph's Blackbird, Fly is a riveting and celebratory new work that explores some of the biggest questions of our time.