Saturday June 4th Performance – Sunday June 5th Workshops
Two Day Festival of LGBTQ of Color Arts and Culture
Washington Hall 153 14th Ave Seattle 98122
PERFORMANCE – June 4 – 7 p.m. Doors/8 p.m. Show – Tickets $10-$25 Sliding Scale
THREE WORKSHOPS – June 5 – 12-6 p.m. – $30 for all with VR ticket stub. OR $20 per workshop/$50 for all three without ticket stub.
PERFORMANCE
Saturday June 4 7PM Doors/8PM Show Tickets $10-25. sliding scale
http://www.brownpapertickets.com
Edwina Lee Tyler
EDWINA LEE TYLER headlines an evening of drum passion, poetry and performance. Named a Grandmother of the Drum, Edwina has been drumming for over 40 years. She has toured internationally in Europe, Africa, the USA , Canada and Korea. A NYC native, her credits include performances/residencies at Alice Tully Hall, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Dance Theater Workshop, La Mama E.T.C, and Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival. She was one of the first percussionists for the renowned dance troupe Urban Bush Women. In the 1980s she led a groundbreaking troupe of Black women dancers, drummers and performers named “A Piece of the World”, and her performances are legendary amongst all who treasure drumming as spiritual power.
Percussionist, composer, vocalist, dancer and actress, Edwina Lee Tyler blends these entire elements into more than just a performance… into jubilation! She has pioneered the playing of traditionaL African percussion instruments by women, a practice long thought to be forbidden in African culture. Her performances feature a combination of drum, djembe, songbey, conga, steel drum, calabashes, bongos, marimba, kalimba, shekeres, bells,and conch shells.
One who has witnessed her drumming writes: “I know that there is a level of drumming to which master drummers aspire. That deep inner level of drumming that can heal or kill with a touch. Few will talk about it. One of mine slipped once and spoke of the energy that travels through the head…and opens the third eye so one can see the lines that run through the body. The Spirit of Music mounts the Horse, takes over the hands and drums one’s body. Broken meridians are rebuilt, tone by tone, slap by slap. Healing occurs. They covet the knowledge that heals. They cover what Edwina Lee Tyler does naturally…”
Hosted by the fabulous Chad Goller-Sojourner , Seattle-based writer, solo-performer and recipient of a distinguished Artist Trust/Washington State Arts Commission Performing Arts Fellowship.
Also featuring:
Crystal Ybarra
Crystal Ybarra uses words as inexorable power to transcend barriers. Her inspiring and fearless poetry will be published in “Collective Brightness: LGBTIQ Poets on Faith, Religion and Spirituality”
Georgena Frazier
Georgena “Gigi” Frazier found her writer’s voice as age ten. An organizer of Ladies First performance series, she has blessed the stage at Indayog, Ladies First, and Isangmahal.
Fabiola Romero
Fabiola Romero is a passionate Chicana poet and performance artist. Born in Michoacan; her brilliant cuentos, poems, and and performance speak truth to the soul.
WORKSHOPS
Sunday June 5 12-6 p.m. at Washington Hall. 153 14th Ave Seattle 98122.
Tickets available at door only.
An Afternoon of Workshops Featuring Edwina Lee Tyler, Christine Cruz Guiao/April Nishimura and Fabiola Romero
12-2 p.m.
Edwina Lee Tyler – Learning the Spirit of the Drum
Two hour djembe/drum workshop with Master Drummer Edwina Lee Tyler. Only Northwest workshop~
Her collaborations with Dance and Theater artists include, “Song of Lawino” (1988) with choreographer Jawole Zollar and director Valerie Vasilevsky, “Death of the King’s Horseman” (1987) at Lincoln Center, with Nobel prize winner Wole Soyinka, “Anarchy, Wild Women & Dinah” {1986) with Urban Bush Women, and “Life Dance Trilogy”{1987) at Alice Tully hall with Jawole Zo1lar which earned Tyler a Bessie Award for achievements as a composer for dance. Edwina Lee Tyler was the subject of Edwin Kim Kimber’s documentary, “To Be a Massai.” She has appeared on numerous television programs and interviews focusing on African American Culture Her work has been supported by a variety of foundations including, Meet the composer, the New York State Council on the Arts, the Eastman Fund and the Brooklyn Arts Council Association. Tyler has recorded solo performances and has appeared as a percussionist on various CD’s. Her
recording, Drum Drama was released on audio cassette by’ Percussion Piquant the 1980’s. Her latest CD recording, Things Are Gonna Change, weaves together her unique style of African, jazz and classical rhythms.
Drums not provided. Beginners welcome.
2-4 p.m.
Fabiola Romero – “Individual and Collective Time Travel Along the Borders of Self Workshop”
This workshop is intended to uncover the power of story telling and how it can be used for individual and community healing. Fabiola Romero, Alejandra Abreu, and Norma Alicia also knows as Hijas de Su Madre, will share excerpts from their performances and invite participants to engage in the process of discovering their own stories.
Hijas De su Madre is a combination of Ritual, Mutaciones, Cruzadas, Desvios, Relajos, Desmadres, Metamorphosis y Time Travel Along Las Fronteras del Ser, of Intergenerational healing, Spoken Word, Story, Authentic Movement, Performance Art, Chisme, y Brujeria De Las Buenas.
https://hijasdesumadre.wordpress.com/
4-6 p.m.
April Nishimura and Christine Cruz Guiao, facilitators – “Beyond Identity”
For many queer people of color, identity-based politics has been a source of strength and community. But too often, identity politics revolves around a story of victimization, where our sense of who we are is formed by our relationships to our oppressor(s). We will explore identity in a spiritual context, learning about the stages of spiritual development as described by sages and mystics from wisdom traditions around the world. Through writing exercises and other tools, we will both honor the gifts of these identities as well as examine the ways in which they hold us back from evolving as spiritual beings. This workshop will broaden our understanding of our identities, enabling us to transcend their boundaries and rediscover the power of our true eternal nature.
BIO:
Christine Cruz Guiao and April Nishimura believe that music and art, like clean water, nutritious food, and justice, belongs to all people and not just those privileged few who have resources and access to it. Both are impassioned to explore social issues through their art, using the powerful vessels of music and spoken-word for transformation and healing. Christine Cruz Guiao is a Brooklyn-born, Northwest-raised Pinay mystic healer and has performed in the Queer People of Color Liberation Project and venues as diverse as the Under the Volcano Festival, Chop Suey and the Folklife Festival. April Nishimura has played for cello for over half her life, and has studied the Mongolian horsehead fiddle for the past 4 years, an instrument little-known in the West. April has performed at Benaroya Hall, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Meany Hall, amongst many others. She is currently studying Structural Medicine, learning how to integrate people’s bodies in order to unlock their full creative and spiritual potential. Christine and April have been playing music together for the past year in the band Dreamcake, and have since fallen deeply in love.
More info: voicesrising@gmail.com
