John Malveaux: Salif Keita was the world’s best known person with albinism

Salif Keita

John Malveaux of 

www.MusicUNTOLD.com  

writes:

Part 14-LBCAA 30 year history

Part 12 began with the incorrect statement “MusicUNTOLD Juneteenth Worldwide Concert at the Terrace Theater (Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center), June 19, 2011 was the first event produced by an African American founded non-profit organization in the City’s history.”  The 2011 Juneteenth recital featuring Denyce Graves was the first classical music event produced by an African American founded non-profit organization in the City’s history. The first event produced by an African American founded non-profit at the Terrace Theater was Juneteenth Worldwide/Albinism Awareness concert featuring Salif Keita produced by MusicUNTOLD, June 15, 2010. Additionally, Salif Keita was the first African music performance in the history of the Terrace Theater.

Known as “The Golden Voice of Africa”. Salif Keita had been the goldsmith of modern Malian music for over 40 years. Keita made his first U.S. breakthrough with “Tomorrow” and “Papa” songs prominently featured on the original sound track for the 2001 motion picture “Ali” starring Will Smith. The internationally renowned singer-songwriter Salif Keita performed at the Terrace Theater to celebrate Juneteenth, the annual American holiday commemorating the end of slavery, and the promotion of human rights worldwide.

Known as “The Golden Voice of Africa,” Salif Keita had been the goldsmith of modern Malian music for over 40 years. Keita made his first major U.S. breakthrough with “Tomorrow” and “Papa,” songs prominently featured on the original sound track for the 2001 motion picture, “Ali”, starring Will Smith. His album, “La Différence,” was awarded the Best World Music 2010 Award at the Victoires de la musique, the French equivalent of the Grammy Awards. 

Keita was the world’s best known person with albinism. Rick Guidotti of Positive Images in New York transported an albinism photographic exhibit for display in the Terrace lobby. Rick Guidotti also briefly spoke during the concert. Several local residents with albinism covered in a Press Telegram story were introduced on stage.. Please see albinism links https://positiveexposure.org/frame/albinism/,

http://www.presstelegram.com/article/zz/20100610/NEWS/100619604

http://www.presstelegram.com/article/zz/20100610/NEWS/100619610

Also see Salif Keita perform live in Germany. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=himVTCbJ3uo

The 25-member MusicUntold Chorale opened for Keita with “I Dream a World” by Langston Hughes, musical arrangement by Dr. Rosephanye Powell; and “A Letter from Lincoln,” with music composed by Ulysses Kay to accompany the text of Abraham Lincoln’s correspondence to a Confederate widow. See/hear https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nK_7syfaqOI

John Malveaux: In 1979 I spent a day with Ali, picking him up in Hancock Park-Los Angeles to interview with KABC Sports Radio; in 2011 Salif Keita performed music from Ali film

Muhammad Ali

(BioReports.net)

John Malveaux of 

www.MusicUNTOLD.com 

writes:

In 1979, I was privileged to spend a day with Ali after picking him up from his home in Hancock Park-Los Angeles in a limousine and transport him to an interview with Bud Furillo on KABC Sports Radio. 

Then in 2011, as president of MusicUNTOLD, i produced a concert at the Long Beach, Ca. Performing Arts Center featuring Salif Keita from Mali, Africa. Salif composed music for the movie Muhammad Ali starring Will Smith (Foreman fight in Zaire). The Salif Keita concert was the first African music concert at the Long Beach Performing Arts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2F-1jy-aYA

See tribute from Salif Keita https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UiFDYPTPjM

Thanks

John Malveaux 

John Malveaux: Looking Back-June 2010 MusicUNTOLD presented the first African music concert in the history of the Long Beach Performing Arts Center-Salif Keita

Yambo, Yambo by Salif Keita 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gz2WMvHCJOU

John Malveaux of 

www.MusicUNTOLD.com 

writes:

Looking Back-June 2010 MusicUNTOLD presented the first African music concert in the history of the Long Beach Performing Arts Center-Salif Keita from Mali, Africa. The concert included performance of Yambo, Yambo. See later performance of Yambo, Yambo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gz2WMvHCJOU

Thanks

John Malveaux

John Malveaux: Attending Jan. 16, 2017 Los Angeles MLK Jr Parade televised by KABC afforded me the opportunity to reconnect with reporter Leo Stallworth

Leo Stallworth and John Malveaux

JoAnn Gregoire and John Malveaux

John Malveaux of 

www.MusicUNTOLD.com 

writes:

Attending  the January 16, 2017 Los Angeles MLK Jr Parade televised by KABC Television afforded me the opportunity to reconnect with KABC reporter Leo Stallworth. In 2009, Leo Stallworth was host/announcer for concert celebrating bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln JUNETEENTH concert featuring West Coast premiere of composer Roy Harris Bicentennial Symphony sponsored by City of Long Beach and Long Beach Central Area Association. In 2010, Leo Stallworth was host/announcer and he was honored with his family during opening ceremony of JUNETEENTH Worldwide Concert featuring Salif Keita from South Africa at the Long Beach Performing Art Center. Salif Keita from Mali, Africa was world music artist of the year and the first African music performance in the history of the Long Beach Performing Art Center. See pic with Leo Stallworth and second pic with guest JoAnn Gregoire.

African Diaspora Press: "Music of Sub-Saharan Africa: An International Bibliography and Resource Guide" by John Gray

Music of Sub-Saharan Africa: An International Bibliography and Resource Guide

John Gray

African Diaspora Press

African Diaspora Press

Music of Sub-Saharan Africa: An International Bibliography and Resource Guide / by John Gray (Black Music Reference Series; v. 8) (xvi, 1119 p., cloth).

ISBN: 9780984413478

For more than a quarter century African Music, the author’s acclaimed 1991 bibliography, has been a standard reference work on the subject. Now, at long last, we have its companion. Comprised of entirely new material, Music of Sub-Saharan Africa offers students, researchers and librarians a comprehensive guide to the enormous literature on sub-Saharan music which has emerged in recent decades.

The volume is organized into five easy to navigate sections—General Works; Musical Instruments; Regional Studies; African Music Abroad; and Biographical and Critical Studies—allowing users to quickly access the information they need. It also includes a detailed subject index providing a key to all of the book’s entries and another way to quickly pinpoint citations by topic, genre, instrument type, geographical location or ethnic group.

Major highlights include:

• Comprehensiveness. Offers more than 8000 annotated entries on print and digital works published between 1990 and 2014 as well as a wealth of older material not included in African Music
• Linguistic diversity. Covers works in English, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish and Italian
• Enhanced coverage of African sources, many not indexed anywhere else
• Broader examination of topical studies ranging from gender and AIDS to politics, migration and postcolonial identity
• In-depth coverage of music education throughout sub-Saharan Africa
• Two detailed sections on local and regional case studies—one focused on the four major subregions and 43 nation-states of sub-Saharan Africa and another on the diffusion of these traditions to 36 countries abroad, including major hubs in Europe, Israel, and the United States
• In-depth coverage of the subcontinent’s panoply of musical styles—folk, pop, art and religious. Offers particularly comprehensive coverage of art and choral musics, religious music of all kinds (Christian, Jewish, Islamic and indigenous), and a broad cross-section of popular styles, both well-established and newly emergent, e.g., highlife, jazz, taarab, and hip-hop
• Extensive biographical section documenting the careers of almost 1500 performers, composers, ethnomusicologists, and others. These range from pop icons such as Salif Keita and Miriam Makeba to literally hundreds of lesser-known oral poets, classical composers, and music industry figures. Also included are a select number of composers and performers from outside of Africa, e.g., Paul Simon, Gyorgy Ligeti, and Steve Reich, whose work has been deeply influenced by African traditions

An essential resource for all Africanist and music researchers, educators and librarians.

The author is veteran bibliographer John Gray whose previous music titles include Hip-Hop Studies; Carnival, Calypso and Steel Pan; Afro-Brazilian Music; Baila!; Afro-Cuban Music; Jamaican Popular Music; From Vodou to Zouk; African Music; Fire Music; and Blacks in Classical Music.

Release date: April 3, 2018.

To order please visit the ADP website: www.african-diaspora-press.com. The book is also available through most library vendors.

Also Available:

Hip-Hop Studies: an international bibliography and resource guide (v. 7)

Carnival, Calypso and Steel Pan: a bibliographic guide to popular music of the English-speaking Caribbean and its diaspora (v. 6)

Afro-Brazilian Music: a bibliographic guide (v. 5)

Baila! A bibliographic guide to Afro-Latin dance musics, from Mambo to Salsa (v. 4)

Afro-Cuban Music: a bibliographic guide (v. 3)

Jamaican Popular Music, from Mento to Dancehall Reggae (v. 2)

From Vodou to Zouk: a bibliographic guide to music of the French-speaking Caribbean and its diaspora (v. 1)

Praise for the Previous Edition:

“[African Music] is a book that belongs in every university library, as well as the personal library of serious scholars of African music. It is a remarkably well-researched bibliography...which should be of use to scholars of Africa in general and of African music in particular.”—International Journal of African Historical Studies

“John Gray’s African Music is a truly outstanding achievement. The work of an experienced bibliographer, [it] is likely to become the standard reference tool on African music for the next decade or so. With a staggering 5,802 entries, African Music supersedes all previously available bibliographies in scope, the clear organization of its data, and of course, its up-to-dateness.”—African Music

Praise for the Black Music Reference Series:

“...the definitive starting point for study [of] music of the African diaspora.”—Choice

“...a milestone in Caribbeanist and African Americanist bibliography. Not only are these volumes the most comprehensive bibliographic tools available to date for the study of Caribbean vernacular musical traditions, they are surely the most balanced.”

—Kenneth Bilby, New West Indian Guide

Hip-Hop Studies

"...a worthwhile addition to all music collections...Highly recommended. All libraries. All levels."—Choice

Carnival, Calypso and Steel Pan

"Best Reference of 2015"—Library Journal

"With his most recent installment in the Black Music Reference Series, Gray continues to set the standard for bibliographic guides on black music and culture...It is nothing short of a seminal work."—Music Reference Services Quarterly

"...an essential starting point for research on [Caribbean Carnival arts and music] that should be in libraries throughout the country, indeed the region, as well as in the collections of every serious scholar."—Trinidad and Tobago Guardian

Afro-Brazilian Music

“A monumental new book on a particularly complex subject...Highly recommended.”— Choice

“...an essential resource for scholars of Afro-Brazilian music and Brazilian music in general.”—Fontes Artis Musicae

"A superb reference book on a crucial field...Coverage is global, with an emphasis on works published in Portuguese, English, French, and German. [Offers] an essential tool for scholars on Afro-Brazilian music. Will also benefit specialists in Atlantic Studies and the African diaspora."—Handbook of Latin American Studies

Baila!

Winner of the 2015 Vincent H. Duckles Award from the Music Library Association for ‘best book-length bibliography or other research tool.’

“Best Reference of 2013.”—Library Journal

“...a landmark work that belongs in all music libraries and Latin American and Caribbean collections.”—Choice

“A critical compendium for Afro-Latin researchers and enthusiasts.”—Library Journal

Afro-Cuban Music

“Not only is Afro-Cuban Music an essential handbook for anyone researching or merely enjoying Afro-Cuban music; it is a testament to the traditional hard-copy bibliographic guide in an era where paper resources are increasingly eclipsed by digital ones.”—Latin American Music Review

“...an impressive accomplishment that will prove an invaluable resource for researchers.” —Robin Moore, University of Texas at Austin

Jamaican Popular Music

“...the first comprehensive guide to resources on Jamaican popular music. Offers a wealth of resources for the student and scholar at any level.”—Latin American Music Review

From Vodou to Zouk

“...will prove an indispensable, in-hand reference to current French Caribbean music scholarship.”—Library Journal

“…represents a major update of available bibliographical guides…exceedingly pleasurable to recommend…”—Notes (Music Library Association)

John Malveaux: The state of New York recognized JUNETEENTH as an official state holiday. MusicUNTOLD partnered with Long Beach to present JUNETEENTH

 

John Malveaux of MusicUNTOLD.com writes:

The state of New York recognized JUNETEENTH as an official state holiday.   See https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-cuomo-signs-legislation-designating-juneteenth-official-public-holiday-new-york-state. MusicUNTOLD is a national leader in producing JUNETEENTH concert celebrations featuring headliners in multiple genres including jazz, symphony, opera, African, gospel, and popular music.

MusicUNTOLD partnered with City of Long Beach, Ca. Park Recreation & Marine Department to present free JUNETEENTH celebrations featuring Grammy winners Andrae Crouch in 2005 and Shirley Caesar in 2006.  After the City of Long Beach Parks Recreation & Marine Department discontinued City funding of JUNETEENTH, MusicUNTOLD presented the only JUNETEENTH Celebration in the nation held in a major downtown venue-The Long Beach Performing Arts Center- in 2010.  The concert featured the 2010 Best World Music artist, Salif Keita from Mali, Africa. MusicUNTOLD is devoted to presenting arts and educational programs that promote diversity and human dignity. See attachments of selected posters

Sergio A. Mims: New York Times: A Classical Music Lover Changes Kenyan Children’s Lives [Elizabeth Njoroge founded Ghetto Classics Orchestra]

The New York Times: Stephen Kamau, 15, a student in the Ghetto Classics music program, practices on his cello in Nairobi’s Korogocho slum. In the background is the huge open-air dump next to the slum. Credit Sergio Ramazzotti/Parallelozero

Elizabeth Njoroge performed “Ave Maria” during a concert of the Safaricom Youth Orchestra in July. Credit Safaricom Ltd.

The Ghetto Classics orchestra is shown rehearsing in Nairobi’s Korogocho slum. Credit Sergio Ramazzotti/Parallelozero

Sergio A. Mims forwards this article:       

The New York Times

By GINANNE BROWNELL MITIC

OCT. 26, 2016

NAIROBI, Kenya — As thick white smoke from a huge garbage dump billowed into the sky and the smell fell over the audience, the brass section took deep breaths, the woodwind players pursed their lips and the string performers gripped their bows. Brian Kepher, the 21-year-old conductor of the Ghetto Classics orchestra, lifted his baton, gave a slight nod and cued the teenagers to begin.

The orchestra is part of the Ghetto Classics music education program, which benefits youth in the slum of Korogocho and other poor areas. The program, created in 2008, is one project of Kenya’s Art of Music Foundation, set up in 2009 to enrich the lives of young Kenyans through music.

The musicians, wearing clothes such as Ghetto Classics T-shirts and jeans as well as soccer warm-ups with flip-flops, performed works that included Pachelbel’s “Canon in D” and Hans Zimmer’s “Pirates of the Caribbean.” As the last notes of the final piece, “Hapo Zamani” by Miriam Makeba, echoed through the rundown cement amphitheater at the St. John’s Catholic primary school and community center in Korogocho, the audience applauded wildly.

For the Ghetto Classics orchestra, which was started in 2009 by the classical music enthusiast Elizabeth Njoroge, this concert on Sept. 25 was special. Though the musicians have performed for dignitaries like President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya and Pope Francis, this was the first time their families and friends had heard them perform. And for most of the 250 or so in the audience, it was their first exposure to classical music.

Margaret Wambui, who scavenges in the dump for a living, was so excited to see her 16-year-old son, Simon Mungai, play the trombone that she was the first audience member to arrive. He remembered the exact day he joined the Ghetto Classics program. “It was February the 2nd 2014,” he said. “I remember that day because for me it is like my second birthday.”

Martha Aluoch, 19, agreed. “Elizabeth is like a second mother to me,” she said, packing up her violin after the concert. “What I find here, it is hard to find at home.”

Ms. Njoroge, 45, is a mother figure to the teenagers of the Ghetto Classics program and orchestra, and she is also one of the leading figures for getting young people across Kenya involved in classical music through The Art of Music Foundation, which she created in 2009. The Ghetto Classics orchestra has about 80 members from roughly the ages of 14 to 20, and there are over 600 children from Korogocho and five other poor communities who participate in the Ghetto Classics music education program. In January the Ghetto Classics education program will be expanding to the coastal city of Mombasa.

She also founded the Kenya National Youth Orchestra, or K.N.Y.O., and runs the Safaricom Youth Orchestra, or S.Y.O. The K.N.Y.O. — which started in 2010 and is made up of young people from across the country who are from 14 to 24 — meets three times a year for intensive rehearsals and a few concerts, including a performance in July 2015 at the state dinner held for President Obama. On Oct. 23 the K.N.Y.O. performed with over 250 children from six schools in disadvantaged areas of this city as part of New York’s Carnegie Hall Link Up, a global program that teaches music to young people by having them play with local orchestras.

The S.Y.O., which was formed three years ago by telecom company Safaricom’s chief executive, Bob Collymore, practices every Saturday at the company’s headquarters here. It includes 18 members of the Ghetto Classics orchestra, children from middle-class and wealthy Kenyan families, and expat children. They hold a number of concerts throughout the year including performing at February’s annual Safaricom International Jazz Festival.

“Elizabeth is the indefatigable visionary for the power of classical music in Kenya,” said Eric Booth, a New York-based arts education specialist who has served on the faculty of Juilliard and the Lincoln Center Institute, and who introduced Ms. Njoroge to the people behind Link Up.

Ms. Njoroge grew up near this city and fell in love with music when she began piano lessons at 4. “Music was encouraged until I started my A Levels,” she said, referring to her last two years of school. “That was when I was told ‘no more.’ ”

She studied biochemistry at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada (where she was a member of the school choir and took singing lessons) and had what she calls an “existential crisis” before she began pharmacy school at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow.

“My voice teacher in Canada said to me, ‘You need to study music,’ so when I got to Glasgow I went to the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and picked up a prospectus,” she said with a chuckle. “For one week, I really thought I was going to go for it, but I did not have the guts.” Instead she sang in choirs in her free time, in Glasgow and later when she moved to London to work in hospitals.

When Ms. Njoroge moved back here in 2003, she was struck by not only how few classical music options there were but also how they seemed to mostly focus on the white Kenyan and expat communities. “I think at that time the Nairobi Orchestra had one black person in it,” she said.

She started holding recitals for friends across the city, began a classical music newsletter and then a glossy classical music monthly magazine.

In 2007 she began hosting a weekly two-hour classical music radio program, sponsored by Safaricom. “There was one guy who called in who said he played my show in his matatu,” she said, referring to the privately owned minibuses used in Kenya. “That showed me that all sorts of people loved classical music, and it needs to be on the menu.”

The community project that became the Ghetto Classics program began with just 14 children using instruments borrowed from the Kenya Conservatoire of Music. A Catholic priest from Korogocho asked Ms. Njoroge to teach music at the community center he ran in Korogocho, and she brought in Levi Wataka, a music teacher who is now the K.N.Y.O. music director. They could only afford to meet every other week, but thanks to donations they eventually had enough instruments for more regular lessons.

The project limped along for a number of years through private donations and the determination of Ms. Njoroge’s growing staff, but in 2013 Mr. Collymore, who had taken over as chief executive of Safaricom, asked Ms. Njoroge to form the S.Y.O. “We decided that we would bring together these children who are living in the most desperate conditions with similarly talented kids from more privileged backgrounds,” Mr. Collymore said in an email. “After all, music doesn’t really recognize economic boundaries so why should we?”

The telecom company then began the Safaricom International Jazz Festival, and proceeds from the ticket sales help fund the Ghetto Classics program. As part of the festival, international musicians like Branford Marsalis, Kirk Whalum and Salif Keita were brought to Korogocho to hold master classes.

Mr. Whalum, a Grammy-winning saxophonist, was so inspired that he plans to write an original score for the Ghetto Classics orchestra, while Mr. Marsalis has donated reeds, which are hard to find in Kenya. 

John Malveaux: Part 20-LBCAA 30 year history

Steve Leary "El Presidente" performs Saturday in Long Beach. (Photo courtesy Steve Leary)

Long Beach Press-Telegram

Performer sees music as a unifier

FESTIVAL: Steve Leary draws on his African-American and Latin roots.

By Greg Mellen
Staff Writer

Posted: 09/10/2009 09:37:40 PM PDT

LONG BEACH - As an artist and a person, Steve Leary straddles two worlds.

To look at the 6-foot-7 African-American former pro basketball player is to get one perception.

To hear him speak in his native Spanish and listen to his Latin-infused hip-hop music, is to get an entirely different perspective.

And through his music, Leary hopes to become a bridge to bring the two cultures together.

"I haven't hit the big time yet, but when I do, it's all over," Leary says. "I'll use my powers to unite everyone." 

It may sound like idle boasting, but to get to this point in his career and life, Leary has had to manage tricky currents of dual identity, and to embrace diverse cultures.

Long Beach will get a chance to see this unusual amalgamation Saturday when Leary, who has several stage names and personas, including El Presidente, plays at 6:10 p.m. at the inaugural Latin American Parade and Festival downtown.

Born and raised in Panama as the child of an American serviceman, who returned to the U.S. when Leary was young, and a Panamanian mother, Leary is very much a man of two cultures, two identities.

When Leary was 16, he came to the United States to live with an uncle in South Central Los Angeles. At Manual Arts High School, he got a rough introduction.

"Being black-Spanish in the U.S. is no joke," he says.

It was the late 1980s and Leary says racial tensions between Latinos and blacks were particularly high.

"My friends were Mexicans because I could speak with them and blacks were looking at me like, `Why are you talking to them?"' Leary says. "It was a culture shock. In Panama we didn't really have racism like that."

Leary says that during his first year in high school he was regularly beaten and robbed of his lunch money by his black classmates.

Eventually, for his safety, he transferred to Los Angeles High School.

It was through basketball that Leary first bridged the culture gap. Although he only played volleyball and soccer in Panama, Leary was cajoled into hoops.

"That was one of the reasons Americans embraced me," he says. "I wouldn't talk much and after they embraced me it was hard for them not to like me."

Leary played at El Camino College and Cal State Los Angeles. He also played for Magic Johnson's All-Stars, an international barnstorming team.

"Basketball was a way for me to see my American side," Leary said. "Then hip-hop came and I said `Oh, man, I'm home."'

The Central Area Association sponsored Leary at the Long Beach festival after he had performed at a photo exhibit in Long Beach featuring Afro-Mexicans called "Journey to Black Mexico."

John Malveaux of CAA said Leary was a natural fit.

"Part of CAA's mission is bridging different communities and cultures and he's an artist who quite conspicuously brings Latin and African-American cultures together."

Since 1997, Leary has been performing extensively, primarily in Mexico.

Locally, he has played venues such as the Stock Exchange, Key Club and the House of Blues in Hollywood.

In 2006, he won top Latino hip-hop artist at The World of Rap awards in Las Vegas.

Leary is finishing an album and would like to follow with the "Presidential Tour."

Leary says he sees a huge relatively untapped market in Latin hip-hop, especially with the African-American sensibility he brings.

"There's no one out there who looks like me," he says "I have the best of both worlds now."

greg.mellen@presstelegram.com, 562-499-1291

 
 
 

 

Media Credit: Grace Orozco

CELEBRATION: Roots poetess Sufia Giza performs poems at PCC on Thursday, Feb. 18 as part of the Black History Month activities.

Long Beach City College Viking News

Peace, unity on stage

Grace Orozco

Issue date: 2/25/10 Section: City Style

About 100 people came and went during an hour-long performance by roots poetess Sufia Giza and reggae singer Claudius Linton at the PCC, on Thursday, Feb. 18.

After being introduced by vice chair of the Cultural Affairs Committee Martha Childress, each performer brought their own message of peace and unity through song and spoken word as part of LBCC's Black History Month activities.

Linton sang six songs while strumming his acoustic guitar, including "Crying Time," a Rasta consciousness anthem showcasing the lost message of leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., which was first released in 1976.

Linton began his career by taking singing lessons with Bob Marley and Peter Tosh in Jamaica in the 1970s.

Linton finished his set by covering Bob Marley's "Redemption Song." As he sat at the edge of the stage several people walked up to him and placed money by his side.

He said, "It is a beautiful day and I wanted to keep the audience focused. We have to keep positive."

Giza performed poems from her latest album "Sankofa Times" with a background of reggae beats and accompaniment by bassist Del Ferron.

Some tracks included "Armchair Revolutionries," Human Cargo," "Morena/Black Woman" and the debut track "Lover's Recipe."

During the performance of "Prisioneros De Guerra/Prisoners of War," Giza encouraged the audience to chant the chorus "prisoners of war" while she chanted back in Spanish.

She also read a poem called "Langston's Blues," a tribute to poet Langston Hughes.

Cultural affairs chairman Micheaux Fortson said he was pleased and proud of the event.

"I'm a poet myself and I'm glad that this is taking place. We really take pride in this. Our mission is unity and diversity and expression is key," he said.

Sheet metal major Ulysses Lee said, "It's (Giza's poetry) really closer to heart and it's appropriate for Black History month."

Giza said, "I think it went really well. There was some head-nodding and I noticed as I went along that some people were humming the words."

She also gave praise to Linton as she signed autographs', "I was so pumped up to be on the same stage as Claudius. It's good to be home

John Malveaux of 

www.MusicUNTOLD.com  

writes:

Part 20-LBCAA 30 year history

Classical music is the primary but not exclusive music style produced by MusicUNTOLD.  Musicuntold presented the Spanish speaking African American hip hop rapper El Presidente (Steve Leary) during the first and second 2009 & 2010 Long Beach Latin American Music Festivals. El Presidente was the only hip hop artist on the extensive line up both years. His performances provided striking pictures of diversity. Each performance of approximately 1,000 or more (children & adults) rocking and waving hands to the beats and clean lyrics of a 6’7’’ very dark skinned African American rapping in Spanish on an outdoor stage. See Greg Mellen Press Telegram article-attachment 1

In contract to the 2010 African American Heritage Month recital featuring Countertenor Darryl Taylor (Part 13), Msicuntold presented hip hop poetess Sufia Giza at Long Beach City College-PCH campus. Sufia Giza describes herself as an ancestrally inspired Artist who uses words to incite and inspire. She informally learned Spanish from neighbors in San Bernardino and perform poetry and hip hop in English and Spanish. See Long Beach City College Viking News article-attachment 2.

 MusicUNTOLD presented world music legend Salif Keita from Mali, Africa at the Long Beach Performing Art Center in June 2010 with albinism exhibit and discussion as educational component (Part 14). MusicUNTOLD presented “PiWAI & NASAMBU Acoustic Music and Soul Stories from Kenya, Zimbabwe, and Beyond” live at Long Beach Manazar Gamboa Community Theater preceeded by video studio session at Long Beach City College. Each artist accompanied the other in performance of original songs and telling of African stories (verbal portraits of African folklore and proverbs).  Piwai & Nasambu each played multiple instruments. See/hear  complete video studio session https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGzN2xkmXcM