Arts and Culture

West African Dance Company Presents “The Forbidden Bush”

Published

7 years ago

January 7, 2017

Nimely Napla’s “The Forbidden Bush” addresses the little known deforestation devastating most of West Africa in a production presented by Diamano Coura West African Dance Company.The performance tells a stark, scary story that is unfortunately all too true. Though Napla’s “Bush” looks at the relationship between global warming and rain forest depletion in his native, Liberia, the work is emblematic of the clearcutting of virgin forest throughout Africa.

In much of Africa where there is bush or forests, boys carry chainsaws like cowboys toted pistols in the old west. Quick to draw, despite sagging pants, boys complete over how fast they can chop a tree down.

The production continues to be topical, whether we are looking to the 2015 production on the eve of climate talks in Paris or at the shaky truce at Standing Rock in 2016 or at President Obama using his authority to save and preserve public lands as monuments with the Antiquities Act.

The full production, which included a short documentary, was presented at Diamano Coura’s annual fall program at Laney College Odell

Forbidden Bush: Zoe with servant. Zoekeyah in rear. Photo by Wanda Sabir.

Johnson Theatre in November.

The story begins with a single mother needs wood to cook dinner. Her neighbors, both men and women, refuse to share their supply with her as they pass by her home.

One suggests that she send her daughters into the woods to gather wood. She warns the girls to avoid the sacred forest as she gives both of them machetes.

The children set off, yet once they arrive at the forest it is full of stomps . . . the trees have been chopped down. The girls see a lit path which takes them deeper into the woods or Forbidden Bush which is only safe for Zoe, medicine people and spiritual masks.
Zinnah (Laija Loving) escapes, but her sister Ma Titah (Sia Bandabaila) is captured. The Zoebah masks are huge creatures – all Black, layers and layers of raffia with a white crown and white designs on its faces.

There is an even bigger mask (Gbatu), which grows large and then collapses to the floor when he dances. It is the one-eyed monster that

Forbidden Bush: Villagers distressed over the news of Ma Tita’s capture. Photo by Wanda Sabir.

terrifies the men from the village who promised Ma Yatta (Betty Robinson), they would save her daughter.

In the Bush mortals are clearly disadvantaged. Without magic there is not much they can do to protect themselves, not to mention save a child, but they do.
Clever often trumps magic, and when the brave village men (Diony Gamoso, Phillip Amo Agyapong, Akebulon) subdue and then kill the beast, the Zoe or chief medicine women (Mama Naomi Diouf) removes the spell from Ma Titah and she returns home with the elders.
Each scene is characterized not only by the superb dance – a fusion of traditional and folkloric, but by colorful amazing Napla’s costume design. Yes, he is also the choreographer.

The forest, the girls’ capture, then the village celebration which includes the Zoe and her entourage are stunning especially the Mystical Fire which grows from four women to 20 (or so it seems) and the stunning solo by the Zoekeyah.

The film, which looks at programs which address deforestation on Liberia and facts about the environmental impact on Liberia’s loss of rainforest which between 1980 and 2001 has been losing 2.6 percent of forest a year. The decrease has only grown faster since, increasing by 17.3 percent to 1.74 percent per annum. What is a tragedy is that Liberia has much of what remains of the rainforest in Africa. While Forbidden Bush doesn’t offer a consummate solution, it does pose strategic and thought-provoking scenarios and resources for the audience to get involved.
Next up at Diamano Coura is its 22nd Annual Collage des Culture Africaines March 9 – March 12 at Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts.

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Arts and Culture

Faces Around the Bay Dr. Carl Blake, Pianist

Born in Liberty, Missouri, Carl Blake, a virtuoso and respected pianist, made his most recent migration to the East Bay in 1999. One might have seen him performing recently at Noontime Concerts in San Francisco, or at the Piedmont Center for the Arts in Oakland. He is Director of Music at The Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples in San Francisco. He was also co-organizer and collaborative pianist at Herbst Theater for The Majesty of the Spirituals concert in 2022 and has held several church positions in the Bay Area.

Published

2 days ago

April 17, 2024

Oakland Post

Dr. Carl Blake

By Barbara Fluhrer

Born in Liberty, Missouri, Carl Blake, a virtuoso and respected pianist, made his most recent migration to the East Bay in 1999.

One might have seen him performing recently at Noontime Concerts in San Francisco, or at the Piedmont Center for the Arts in Oakland. He is Director of Music at The Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples in San Francisco. He was also co-organizer and collaborative pianist at Herbst Theater for The Majesty of the Spirituals concert in 2022 and has held several church positions in the Bay Area.

Blake obtained a Bachelor of Music from Boston University and continued post-baccalaureate studies in Jamaica before earning a Master of Arts in Music at San Jose State University. He was the recipient of two Fulbright residencies in Honduras and completed a third residency at the University of St. Petersburg in Russia. He has a Doctor of Musical Arts from Cornell University.

At age 19, Blake, then an undergraduate piano major at Boston University, was “discovered” by Impresario Dr. W. Hazaiah Williams, who is the Founder and Director of Today’s Artists/Four Seasons Arts.

Williams honored Blake by awarding him the first Marian Anderson Young Artist Award. Anderson personally presented the award at the Masonic Auditorium in S.F. Subsequently, Blake was presented by Dr. Williams in his San Francisco debut at The Herbst Theatre. Williams subsidized a year of study abroad for Blake at the Paris Conservatory of Music. Additionally, Williams sponsored Blake’s New York Weill Hall debut, where he has performed twice since. Blake performed several times at the Yachats Music Festival in Oregon.

Blake continues to perform nationally and abroad. His hobbies are reading, baking and travel. He says, “I’m still pumping ivories, as Belgian pianist Jeanne Stark described the disciplined practice of concert piano.”

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Arts and Culture

Oakland Jazz Great Offers Master Class as City Declares “John Handy Day”

World-renowned jazz master saxophonist John Handy, a McClymond’s High School graduate, was presented with a Mayor of Oakland Proclamation declaring Feb. 12, as John Handy Day in the city. Handy is most notably known as the featured saxophonist for Charles Mingus on “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat” from the album “Mingus Ah Um” (1959) and on “Hard Work” from his own album “Hard Work” (1976).

Published

2 months ago

February 24, 2024

Oakland Post

(L-R) Del Handy, John Handy, Roger Glenn, and Joe Warner celebrate John Handy Day at Geoffrey’s Inner Circle, Oakland. Photo by Lady Bianca.

By Conway Jones

World-renowned jazz master saxophonist John Handy, a McClymond’s High School graduate, was presented with a Mayor of Oakland Proclamation declaring Feb. 12, as John Handy Day in the city.

Handy is most notably known as the featured saxophonist for Charles Mingus on “Goodbye Pork Pie Hat” from the album “Mingus Ah Um” (1959) and on “Hard Work” from his own album “Hard Work” (1976).

“John Handy is a jazz icon and an inspiration to musicians everywhere,” said Ayo Brame, a 16-year-old Oakland tenor saxophone player who is enrolled at the Oakland School for the Arts.

In celebration of this day, the reception in downtown Oakland at Geoffrey’s Inner Circle was a gathering of artists, young and old, coming together in his honor and celebrating his 91st birthday.

Handy presented a Saxophone Colossus free masterclass for musicians. This class afforded a rare opportunity to learn about the saxophone from an aficionado. The class was free and open to all – saxophonists, vocalists, aficionados, students, and casual listeners.

“As a longtime friend for over 60 years, and fellow musician who has had numerous opportunities to share the stage with John, it has always been a pleasure performing with him and hearing his creative interpretations of the music and his gift of ease inspiring the next generation of jazz musicians,” said Roger Glenn, a multi-instrumentalist.

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Arts and Culture

Musical Chronicling Life of Betty Reid Soskin Set for Bay Area Debut

Betty Reid Soskin’s storied 102 years includes time spent as a WWII defense worker, activist, business owner, songwriter, National Park Service park ranger and so much more. Now the Richmond icon is the subject of a musical based on her incredible life.

Published

2 months ago

February 24, 2024

Oakland Post

Betty Reid Soskin. Photo courtesy of Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond.

The Richmond Standard

“Sign My Name to Freedom,” a San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Company (SFBATCO) production which will focus on the life, music and writing of Ms. Soskin, will premiere at San Francisco’s Z Space Friday, March 29 and continue through Saturday, April 13. Tickets range from $15–$65 and can be purchased online at https://www.sfbatco.org/smntf

The musical is directed by Elizabeth Carter, while playwright Michael Gene Sullivan integrates Ms. Soskin’s own music throughout dialogue between what SFBATCO calls “The Four Bettys” as they progress through a century of experiences of this awe-inspiring American woman.

The cast of “Sign My Name to Freedom” features Tierra Allen as Little Betty, Aidaa Peerzada as Married Betty, Lucca Troutman as Revolutionary Betty and Cathleen Riddley as Present Betty Reid Soskin, according to Artistic Director Rodney Earl Jackson Jr. and Managing Director Adam Maggio. Other casting will be announced in the future.

Jackson said that having Soskin’s blessing to steward her life’s story is an honor and career highlight for him and that her journey stands as “a beacon for Black Americans, women and people of color all across the world [and] is a testament to the strength of the human spirit.”

San Francisco’s Z Space is located at 450 Florida St. in San Francisco. Check out the trailer here at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-ap9N2XBB0