magazine of the philadelphia folklore project · front cover: fatu gayflor teaching at the folk...

Volume 20:1/2 winter 2007 ISSN 1075-0029

magazine of the philadelphia folklore project

� African song / Fatu Gayflor

� War and wealth: song in Liberia

� Music for l iberation: Seku Neblett

� Adeeb Refela: Egyptian oud

� All that we do

3 From the editor

4 African song / newcontexts: An interview withFatu Gayflor

8 War and wealth: music in post-conflict Liberia By Ruth M. Stone

10 Music as a tool forliberation: Seku Neblett’swork in PhiladelphiaBy Elizabeth Sayre

12 The freedom to feel whatever you feel: Adeeb RefelaBy Elizabeth Sayre

14 All that we doBy Toni Shapiro-Phim and Debora Kodish

Front cover:Fatu Gayflor teaching at

the Folk Arts–CulturalTreasures Charter School. Photo: James Wasserman

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Works in progress is the magazine of the PhiladelphiaFolklore Project, a 20-year-old public interest folklifeagency. We work with people and communities in thePhiladelphia area to build critical folk cultural knowledge,sustain the complex folk and traditional arts of our region,and challenge practices that diminish these local grassrootsarts and humanities. To learn more, please visit us:www.folkloreproject.org or call 215.726.1106.

philadelphia folklore project staff

Editor/PFP Director: Debora Kodish Associate Director: Toni Shapiro-PhimMembers’ Services Coordinator: Roko KawaiDesigner: IFE designs + AssociatesPrinting: Garrison Printers

[Printed on recycled paper]

philadelphia folklore project board

Linda Goss Mimi IijimaGermaine Ingram Ife Nii-OwooMawusi Simmons Yvette SmallsEllen Somekawa Dorothy WilkieMary Yee

we gratefully acknowledge support from:

� The National Endowment for the Arts, which believesthat a great nation deserves great arts

� Pennsylvania Council on the Arts � Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission� The Pennsylvania Humanities Council

and the National Endowment for the Humanities’ We the People initiative on American history

� The Pennsylvania Department of Community andEconomic Development

� The Humanities-in-the Arts Initiative, administered by The Pennsylvania Humanities Council, and funded principallyby the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts

� The Philadelphia Cultural Fund� The William Penn Foundation� Dance Advance, a program of the Philadelphia

Center for Arts and Heritage funded by The PewCharitable Trusts and administered by the University of the Arts

� Philadelphia Music Project, a grant program funded byThe Pew Charitable Trusts and administered by the University of the Arts

� Philadelphia Cultural Management Initiative, a grant program funded by The Pew Charitable Trustsand administered by the Drexel University ArtsAdministration Program

� The Pew Charitable Trusts� The Malka and Jacob Goldfarb Foundation� The Samuel Fels Fund� Independence Foundation� The Philadelphia Foundation� The Douty Foundation� The Hilles Foundation� The Henrieta Tower Wurts Foundation� Stockton Rush Bartol Foundation� and wonderful individual Philadelphia

Folklore Project members � We invite your support:

thank you to all

editor

Last night was our annual“Dance Happens Here”concert. The culminatingprogram of our 20thanniversary year, it

included premieres of greatpercussive dance: new andchallenging work by local artistswho are deeply engaged inshaping vital vernacular art forms.The two featured groups,Flamenco del Encuentro and tapartists Germaine Ingram andEnsemble, have pushedthemselves to find their ownplaces, voices, and sounds whilerespecting and remainingresponsible to very particular greattraditions (and teachers). Onstage, they were spectacular andinspiring; the pairing helpedpeople to hear and see themdifferently and better. Suchoccasional concerts are one strandof PFP’s work. We work inpartnerships to create times andspaces where people can be fullywho they are, speaking, dancing,and playing in artistic languagesthat allow deep histories to befully present. And we invest inpeople’s capacity to sustain such processes.

There is nothing like the magicof great art happening in public:people can be transformed throughsuch moments. And these highlyvisible events get attention, buildingpublic knowledge of diverse formsof great, culturally meaningful arthappening here and now. Butbehind these events standssomething even more significant:what these events and genres allow,the relationships and knowledgethey build, the new pathways andpossibilities they open.

This issue of our magazinedirects you to some of these behind-the-scenes matters. Three artistsincluded in these pages—AnnaRubio, Antonia Arias, and FatuGayflor—have been featured inearlier Folklore Project concerts.Anna and Antonia were part of theDecember “Dance Happens Here”concert just mentioned. Fatu wasone of the artists performing in our

“African Song / New Contexts”concert last spring; Ruth Stone’sessay was first presented in an artistsalon this fall, part of an effort to contextualize that concert.

Anna, Antonia, and Fatu can beseen again in our currentdocumentary photographyexhibition, “All That We Do:Contemporary Women, TraditionalArts.” James Wasserman’sphotographs invite you to lookmore closely at some women inour region who retain acommitment to folk andtraditional arts, truly against allodds. We invite you to look againbecause we believe that theseartists and these vernaculartraditions require—and repay—close attention. Arts and artistslike these often seem to hide inplain sight, an advantage whenthey carry dangerous or minorityperspectives, but a disadvantagewhen they are overlooked anddismissed. In the labels forWasserman’s photographs, theartists’ own words begin tosuggest some of the values,motivations, challenges andstruggles that are part of theparticular kinds of art-making inwhich they are engaged.

Musicians Adeeb Refela, andSeku Neblett, also featured in thisissue, have been participants inPFP’s technical assistance (TA)program, which has served 68artists in the last three monthsalone. In gatherings andworkshops at PFP, artists sharetheir dreams and visions, theirneeds and issues. They considerhow to explain who they are andwhat they do. And they arecoached in the necessary work offinding the material resources torealize their dreams. Over the last20 years, more than 368traditional artists and culturalworkers have participated in thisfree program, raising more than $2.73 million dollars forlocally based folk and traditionalarts projects. Often these havebeen the first outside dollars to beinvested in cultural heritage

programs in particularcommunities of color. Ideas andcommon projects first mentionedat our TA workshops are oftenearly steps on a road to highlyvisible public programs, stagedunder PFP’s umbrella orindependently.

For 20 years we have used ourlong-running programs—publicevents, technical assistance, artseducation, this magazine andother documentary projects—tohelp keep local vernaculartraditions accessible andsustainable. We continue to beinspired by the seriousness ofpurpose of local artists working indiscrete cultural forms, by thepower and continuing relevanceof “minority” traditions, and bythe lively presence andsignificance of diverse alternativeartistic legacies in ourneighborhoods. We are privilegedto be on this road together.

— Debora KodishDecember 9, 2007

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Fatu Gayflor at PFP’sAfrican Song / New

Contexts concert,spring 2007. Photo:

Jacques-Jean Tiziou /www.jjtiziou.net

“Our songs, heard far fromhome, carry us back withmemories, but they alsoinspire us and give uscourage to go forward with our lives.”


Each participating artisthas experienced exileas a result of war andsocial and politicalviolence. Each has metstark racism and otherprejudices in theprocess of carving out a

life here—even while doing things thatothers might take for granted, such asbuying and settling into a new home,or sending one’s child down the streetto school. Each has had to figure outthe complex systems involved ingetting one’s artistic accomplishmentsacknowledged as valuable far from theoriginal contexts in which they werenourished. And each knows—throughpersonal experience or that of friendsand relatives—the daunting barriers tofamily reunification, full citizenship, and rebuilding a life. Part of PFP’s mission is to address issues of concernin the field of folk and traditional arts,and a just immigration policy is of

paramount importance to the lives ofmany who practice these traditionsand revitalize city communities. Ourconcert drew attention to thesignificance and artistry of localimmigrants; tables from activist andservice organizations providedinformation; and the artists themselvesused the occasion to share some oftheir own perspectives.

Now living in New Jersey, FatuGayflor is a renowned singer andrecording artist from Liberia. A singerand dancer from a young age, sheperformed often in communitycontexts, including the ritual MoonlightDance, in her home village of Kakata.Later, as a member of Liberia’sNational Cultural Troupe, which isbased in the national artists’ village ofKendeja, she was given the title“Princess” in recognition of herexquisite renditions of songs in mostof the languages of Liberia’s sixteenethnic groups. (She herself is of mixed

Vai and Lorma ethnicities.) As a youngadult, she went out on her own,founding the successful Daughters ofKing N’Jola dance and music ensemblein Liberia’s capital, Monrovia. She hasrecorded three CDs and wasshowcased in Italy by the UnitedNations World Food Program to bringattention to the plight of Liberianscaught in civil war. In the United Statessince 1999, she has performed atLiberian weddings and othergatherings, has taught through thePennsylvania Council on the Arts/Artsin Education program, and is currentlyteaching Liberian music and dance atthe Folk Arts-Cultural TreasuresSchool in Philadelphia. “It is importantthat artists be heard,” she says:

“Our songs, heard far from home,carry us back with memories, but theyalso inspire us and give us courage togo forward with our lives. Eachtraditional song has a long, long history,

by Toni Shapiro-Phim

african song / new contexts:f atu gayflor

[Continued on next page >]

Over the past year, the Philadelphia Folklore Project has been marking our 20th birthday by paying closeattention to how local communities and artists sustain diverse and significant cultural traditions. In April,we presented three noted local African immigrant musicians—Fatu Gayflor, Zaye Tete, and MogauwaneMahloele—along with their ensembles in a concert performance. All of the featured artists are nowpracticing music in contexts that differ greatly from those in which they learned and performed in theirhomelands. They are making music that maintains a continuity with what came before, but also requires,inspires, and challenges people to open up to previously unimagined possibilities.


with complicated meanings. It is sohard to describe. Each is part of ourwhole way of being. The songs can addto the world’s understanding ofLiberia. I hope that, one day, morelocal traditional artists will berecognized for what they give allpeople, as well as what they give theirown communities.”

In last spring’s concert, artistspresented songs that reflect the beautyand the pain of moving forward in newand sometimes unwelcomingsurroundings. In other songs and otherarts, immigrant artists’ experiences areless visible, but no less present.Gayflor, for example, closed theconcert with a song she composed,“Awoya.” This is a plea for an end to

fatu gayflor/continued from p. 5

war. Sung in the Vai language,“Awoya” speaks of the suffering ofinnocent people who were simplygoing about their business when warbroke out and destroyed their lives.Gayflor wrote this while living in exilein the Ivory Coast after the death ofher baby during the early days ofLiberia’s civil war. Singing it was, shesays, a way of focusing her grief, and releasing her tears.—Toni Shapiro-Phim

The following interview with Fatu Gayflor was conducted by Timothy D. Nevin in the dancestudio space of ACANA, Inc.(African Cultural Alliance ofNorth America), in SouthwestPhiladelphia, on August 11,2006.

“ Each traditional song has a long, long history, withcomplicated meanings. It is so hard to describe. Each ispart of our whole way of being. The songs can add tothe world’s understanding of Liberia. ”

L-R: FatuGayflor anddrummerBlamoh Doe.Photo: JamesWasserman. Fatu performing“Awoya” atPFP’s “AfricanSong / NewContexts”concert. Photo:Jacques-JeanTiziou /www.jjtiziou.net


Tim: Fatu, if you don’t mind me asking, how did you get thetitle of “Princess”? Does this meanthat you come from a royal familyand that your father was a king? Fatu: Actually no, even though myfather was a chief in a Vai village, I don’tconsider myself to be actual royalty. Ireceived the title of “Princess” when Iwas crowned Princess of LiberianFolklore Music in 1984, during the timeof President Samuel K. Doe. I was giventhat title for being the first woman tolearn to sing folksongs in most of thesixteen national languages.

Tim: That is really interesting. So what was your first experiencein the recording studio, recordingthat famous “golden voice” ofyours? Fatu: Well, before 1980 no recordingstudios existed in Monrovia except forthe tiny “ABC Studio” with its two-track recording device in the crowdedWaterside Market. This set-up was veryrudimentary and exploitative. Recordingartists were only given a very smallamount of money in a lump sum afterrecording a song, and there was nosuch thing as a recording contract. Itwas pretty bad. The situation improveda little bit a few years later when asecond recording studio, called “Studio99,” was opened by a Lebanese mannamed Faisal Helwani. Studio 99 waslocated on 5th Street in the residentialSinkor neighborhood.

Tim: I am curious, what was yourbiggest hit song during this earlyperiod? Fatu: My biggest hit song, “Si Kele We,”was recorded in 1984 with a total ofonly 25 vinyl records being pressed!These records were given as gifts tovisiting foreign dignitaries. The rest ofthe recordings were only released oncassette tape and promoted by thestate-run radio station, ELBC. OtherCultural Troupe members, such as

Nimba Burr, did not record in thestudio until much later, in the 1990s.

Tim: Did any of those early vinylrecords survive the war? Do youhave any of them with you still? Fatu:: Unfortunately, no, none survivedthat I know of.

Tim: How would you compareyour music at the time to thefunky hit songs of the “doyendiva” of Liberian music, MiattaFahnbulleh? Fatu: Well, we both have a Vai ethnicbackground, but her music was“modern” and mostly sung in English,while ours was “traditional.”

Tim: So tell me, what was it likeliving as a young teenager in theNational Art Village at Kendejabefore Charles Taylor’s rebelinvasion and the civil wardestroyed the campus at thebeginning of 1990? Fatu: I left the campus in 1985, sofortunately I was not there when thewar reached the campus in 1990. Mymemories are from before the warcame. One striking feature at Kendejawere the various examples ofindigenous architecture. Traditionalhouses were built at Kendeja, includinghomes in the Vai, Kpelle, Bassa, andMandingo building styles, all of whichare different. Many were built with thesame materials, including thatch roofs,but with vastly different designs. It wasimportant that the Mandingos wereincluded there because many Liberiansdidn’t consider the Mandingos to be“true citizens” of Liberia even afterliving several generations in the country.They were a group that wasmisrepresented through history lessonsand generations of storytelling. Peopleforget that all of us are fromsomewhere else. The way Africannations were carved up [by Europeanimperialists] had little to do with what

ethnic groups were living on what land,and which groups had good relationswith each other.

Tim: Who was the director of theCultural Center when you arrived? Fatu: Peter Ballah was the director ofthe campus, and Mr. Zumana was thestage director.

Tim: Fatu, how did you supportyourself financially while part ofthe Cultural Troupe? Fatu: At that time I received a monthlysalary from the government—theDepartment of Information, CulturalAffairs, and Tourism (ICAT)—as didother members of the troupe. Therewas also a school, a dormitory, and acafeteria on the campus.

Tim: I was surprised to learn thatwhile you were living in theNational Art Village at theKendeja Cultural Center, therewas also a Sande “Bush” Schoolset up nearby that initiated younggirls into the ways of their elders. I normally associate Sande “Bush” Schools with rural areas inthe Northwest of Liberia, not with metropolitan areassuch as Monrovia.Fatu: Yes, there was a Sande Villagecalled Kenema for the instruction of theyoung women. It was within walkingdistance of Kendeja. One of theprominent instructors there was anolder woman named “Ma Gbessay”(Gbessay Kiazolu). I personally wasnever involved in the actual trainingaspects. Remember, the KendejaCultural Center was not located indowntown Monrovia; we were in thecountry area to the south of the city, onthe beachfront.

A N I N T E R V I E W W I T H F A T U G A Y F L O R by Timothy D. Nevins

[Continued on p. 25 >]


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Photos (L-R): St. Peter’sKpelle Choir, Monrovia,

Liberia (two photos):Dancer at the Momo Kainefuneral, Sanoyea. Liberia.Photos by Verlon L. Stone,

courtesy of LiberianCollections Project, Indiana University.

by Ruth M. Stone

Ileft Liberia in thesummer of 1989knowing that thepolitical situation wasshaky at best. Thedictator Samuel Doe had

jailed many relatives of the Kpelle singers I worked with inMonrovia, and these musiciansoften stopped by to relay storieswhen they returned from visitingfamily members in prison. InDecember 1988 my husband and I had filmed the funeral ofJames Gbarbea where singerscovertly protested politicaloppression with song lyrics suchas “Ku kelee be lii ee, Doe a pailii, ee” (We all are going, Doe isgoing). Gbarbea, a formergovernment minister, had fled to

Charlotte, North Carolina. Hereturned in death to hishomeland. After a funeral inMonrovia, his family brought himback to Sanoyea, some 90 milesin the interior.

The 14 years of war anddestruction that followed are wellknown to the world. Vastnumbers of people were killed;many more fled to other parts ofLiberia, or the neighboringcountries of Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana,Guinea, or Sierra Leone. OtherLiberians went farther, includingsome who are living in thePhiladelphia area. Philadelphiahas been fortunate in that severalfine singers, including FatuGayflor and Zaye Tete, wereamong those refugees. And their

talents were featured in awonderful concert here lastspring. I wasn’t able to join youfor that event, but I’m thrilled toshare a few thoughts about myrecent research trip to Liberia.

Although the country wasdevastated by war, and reportsoften focus on the resultingdamage to the infrastructure, I want to tell you what has beenpreserved—what has actuallyflourished—during the 18 years I was absent. To anethnomusicologist the vitality ofthe music was impressive, a cause for celebration for all whoknow Liberian music.

Before I tell you about themusic I experienced in June andJuly this past year, let me say that

war & wealth: music in p o s t-c o n f l i c t L i b e r i a


I visited Liberia for the first timewhen I was three years old and myfamily went to live in Bong County.After being home-schooled in themornings, I accompanied Kpellepeople to the fields, went fishingwith them, and sat with them by thecooking fires. My parents, who weremissionaries for the Lutheranchurch, took me and my brother toLiberia, where we lived in BongCounty until we left to obtain ourhigh school and college educations.

I returned in 1970 as a graduatestudent and lived there on and offuntil 1989.

I planned this last June and Julyto visit sites where I had recordedbefore the war and to research theperformers and their music. Ibegan my work at St. Peter’sLutheran Church in Monrovia,where we had worked with theKpelle choir—that bold group ofwomen singers and maleinstrumentalists who sang aboutinjustices in the late 1980s. I knewthat many members of the choirhad fled to the Bunduburamrefugee camp in Ghana during thewar. They had written me a letterfrom Ghana describing the musicthat they were performing even inthose difficult times.

As I walked into the church on aSaturday afternoon, when I knewthere would be choir practice, Ilooked for Feme Neni-kole, the

dynamic female soloist who hadbeen the choir’s sparkplug. Asvarious choir members saw me,they came up to welcome me, hugme, and relay the news that Femewas gone—she had traveled toUtah to visit her daughter.

The good news was that therewere now three dynamic youngsingers who could lead the singing inthe choir. We were thrilled to recorda choir still bound together as a tightsocial group and greet some

members who had been in the choirsince the 1980s, such as Tono-pele.

The horror of the massacre of1990, when soldiers of the ArmedForces of Liberia killed more than600 people in St. Peter’s, seemedfar away as the women sang intheir tight call-and-responsearrangements accompanied bytheir gourd rattles. This is howmusicians communicate and buildcommunity. Kpelle people say,“Kwa faa ngule mu.” (We respondunderneath the song). This sametechnique is used by both FatuGayflor and Zeye Tete in their music.

In the summer of 2007, the St.Peter’s choir was no longeremphasizing protest against thegovernment, as they felt they hadto do in 1989. They proudly sangthe Liberian national anthem inKpelle and requested that werecord it.

Even more tightly coordinatedwere the transverse hornensembles we encountered in theGbanga area of Bong County, some120 miles interior. We recordedone group in Baaokole, nearGbanga. In the Baaokole group,each horn played only one or twonotes, and each player timed hisnotes to create a part of the whole.

A drummer added anotherrhythmic layer to the richly textured sound. The women

dancers created visual rhythms thatamplified the excitement of theplayers. This Baaokole group has been playing together since the 1960s and continues today,often getting invitations to play forthe county superintendent. Whilein earlier years they might haveplayed in the chief ’s officialensemble, in the twenty-firstcentury they are more like freelance musicians.

In nearby Suacoco we found agroup that had added a struck metalinstrument to an ensemblecontaining four horns and onedrum. The musicians told me thatthey had painted their horns lightblue, the color of the UN troops,because they had played at severalfunctions for the Bangladeshicontingent now resident nearby,helping to keep the peace. The


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Adeeb Refela. Photo:

Elizabeth Sayre

AADEEB REFELA IS AN ‘UD (OUD) PLAYER AND

violinist from Cairo, Egypt, resident in Philadelphiasince 2003. Understanding his musical world meanscrossing wide spans of time and space. One of his twospecialties, the ‘ud, is a short-necked, pear-shaped,fretless lute; it dates from the seventh century.

1Some

of the melodies and types of pieces he plays on it aremore than a thousand years old. His other instrument,the violin, was introduced into Egypt and other Arabareas in the late nineteenth century during the Britishcolonial period.

2Most importantly, Refela grew up in a

dynamic, urban environment. Cairo is a regionalcultural capital, where musicians continually adaptolder genres and incorporate new ideas into theirwork. Including old and diverse roots, representingcomplex and cosmopolitan understandings, his musicis very much born out of the moment in which it isplayed. Virtuosic melodic and rhythmic improvisationsare characteristic of Arab music.

Of his family, early life, and first experiences withmusic, Refela says:

“I was born on the 22nd of December, 1957, inCairo. My father was in the military. He had artisticinclinations. My mother, too. My mother was ahousewife, and she used to sing as she was doinganything, washing dishes, or whatever. She soundedgood. I have nine siblings; I’m number eight.[They all have] musical inclinations—they love musicso much! My younger brother, he’s a singer. Hestarted after me. He’s a singer in Egypt, and he hassome albums. His name is Ameen Samy.

I was introduced to music by my [older] brother

buying a guitar. By the age of 16, I had figured out how toplay. I didn’t know how to tune it at that time, and Iasked one of my friends, he was a musician, how to tuneit, and I got it very quickly. And I practiced. After that Iplayed the ‘ud. The ‘ud is the national instrument in ourcountry. I used to listen to it on the radio; I used to like itvery much. So I decided to try it. When I started, I usedto go to some friends in the music field. Theyencouraged me; that’s why I kept going. Otherwise, Iwould have stopped. I was stuck in the second year ofcollege for three years. I didn’t finish because I wasdistracted by music too much, because I love it!Whoever goes on in this field has too much struggle withthe culture and everything…and with their parents. If itwasn’t for love, they wouldn’t go on.”

Growing up, he heard records, radio, and TVbroadcasts, and quickly developed an interest ininstrumental music:

“I used to know songs, but not the lyrics. I don’tknow why. The music was more interesting to methan the lyrics. Sometimes the lyrics didn’t meananything to me. That’s what I thought when I wasyoung. The composer of music is deriving the feelingfrom somewhere else, not writing to the lyrics,anyhow. That’s all over the globe. They derive thefeeling, or the picture of unity of the composition,from somewhere else. So the lyric is something to fill in.”

Nonetheless, one of his major inspirations was avocalist who reinvented art song in the Middle Eastand who drew much of her authority from childhood


2007-2008 Winter WIP 11

Adeeb Refela: “The freedom to feel whatever you feel”

by Elizabeth Sayre

12 WIP Winter 2007-2008

adeeb refela/continued from p. 11

training in Qur’anic recitation (an important verbal/vocal genregoverned by very specific rules ofpronunciation):

“I used to listen to Umm Kulthum.She’s legendary. She had fans from allover the Arabian countries, even theTurkish people, even in Persia, Iran.She passed away in 1975. So I didn’thave the chance to… I was too youngto go to concerts, you know? Myfavorite composer’s name is[Muhammad] ‘Abd al-Wahhab.”

It would be hard to overestimate thecultural impact of Umm Kulthum,“unquestionably the most famoussinger in the twentieth-century Arabworld.

3” She and singer-composer

‘Abd al-Wahhab were of the samegeneration, born in the early 20thcentury, and were media stars, directcompetitors, and eventuallycollaborators in the 1960s and 1970s.In some ways they representedopposing trends in Egyptian music.‘Abd al-Wahhab was known as amodernizer who borrowed fromWestern styles in his compositions,while Umm Kulthum, always a savvy judge of her audience as well as a spectacular performer, positioned herself as an authenticallyEgyptian traditionalist.

4

Both Umm Kulthum and ‘Abd al-Wahhab lived at a time when Egyptianmusic, particularly music performed inhighly visible public venues orbroadcasts, was undergoing atransition in the uses of Western-stylestaff notation. Until the mid-twentieth

century, many great Egyptianperformers had little use for Westernmusical notation.

5Umm Kulthum, for

example, was famous for teaching newpieces to her accompanists by rote—that is, by ear, through repetition.Although many musicians trained inWestern classical music develop a biasthat elevates the ability to read musicover aural skills, musicians who play inother styles recognize the advantagesof learning by ear. Refela commentsabout his own process as a student:

“I started by ear. Actually… if youwant to learn music, and get the bestout of yourself, the logical way is tolearn by ear, because it’s like language.We spoke before [we] inventedwritten language. You get the feelingand you get the ideas. Anyway, Istarted by ear, but afterward I taughtmyself how to read and write byreading method books. By reading, andasking somebody if it’s right or wrong,some musician. It was too much work,but it’s more engrained in my brainthan [if I had been] led by somebody.”

In Egypt in the mid-twentiethcentury, highly visible professionalensembles became more and moreused to playing from written scores,which also meant that the sound ofinstrumental ensembles becameincreasingly uniform and lessheterophonic.

6This change, in part due

to the creation of musicconservatories with fixed curricula andthe resulting standardization ofrepertoires and styles, also meant thateducated musicians had to beincreasingly literate, in addition toaurally skilled, in order to manage bothtraditional and Western-influencedmusical jobs.

While in college, Refela made animportant connection with a brilliant Cairo musician who exemplified the aural andimprovisational skills necessary to playArab music well. Abdo Dagher (b.1936) did not read or write music or

any language, yet he is famous andwidely admired for his brilliantlystructured compositions (many ofwhich have been transcribed byadmiring students). At Dagher’s salon-like gatherings, Refela learnedthese pieces, as well as more about the art of creating melody.

In 1976, Refela began performing inpublic, and in the early 1980s hemoved to the United States, joiningfamily members in California. Early on,he experienced the typical mishaps ofnegotiating a new environment in aforeign language:

“I had difficulty when I came first toAmerica. I lost my luggage, and I hadto deal with a worker in the airport. Itwas difficult for me to describe. I toldher, ‘I lost my bags.’ She asked me,‘Your luggage?’ I didn’t know what thehell is ‘luggage.’ I thought she wastalking about something else. But,anyway, they sent me the luggage onthe second day. I was successful ingiving them the address.”

Working many different kinds of dayjobs, for more than six years he playedthree nights a week in nightclubs andother venues in the Los Angeles andSan Diego areas. In 1988, in order tocomply with U.S. immigration rules,Refela returned to Egypt.

In the early 1990s, twoopportunities arose that wereimportant for his music career. Thefirst, in 1993, was an international ‘udcompetition in Cairo; his sister readabout it in the newspaper andsuggested that he enter. Refela wonsecond place (but, he notes, the first-place winner told him he should havewon). Second, and just a few weeksafter the ‘ud competition, he joinedthe National Ensemble for ArabicMusic at the Cairo Opera House, acultural institution somewhat likeLincoln Center, with many differentsubdivisions and ensembles. Onehundred members strong, the National


Adeeb Refelaand his oud

(details).Photos:

Elizabeth Sayre

Ensemble played “the classical stuff,serious compositions,” says Refela, ona variety of instruments, both Araband European. The European bowedstrings play Arab music:

“The base of our group is the violin.You can add as many as you [like],because they sound good together.We have the violin, and the cello, andthe double bass; we don’t have theviola. The ‘ud is usually a soloinstrument; you can have only one, ortwo at the most. And we have aninstrument made from reed, it’s callednay. Like a flute. They [make theholes] in it in a certain way [so] thatthey reach our tunes, with thequarter-tones. The nay is solo, too;you have only one. We have theqanun. The qanun is a zither, youpluck it. You hook picks to yourfingers with, like, opened thimbles.And a percussive section—you havethe tabla, and we have something likea tambourine, we call it ‘riqq.’ And wehave a bigger size [of frame drum]; wecall it ‘duff,’ so we have the bass soundof it.”

He remained with this group for tenyears and also traveled with smallergroups to Austria and Germany andcountries in the Arab region: Kuwait,Bahrain, Lebanon, Syria, Morocco, andTunisia. In 2003, however, facingeconomic difficulties despite theseprestigious performanceopportunities, Refela made thedecision to return to the UnitedStates. This time he came toPhiladelphia, where one of hisbrothers lives, and where he foundthat it is easier for a newcomer tomake a living than in California. Refelavery quickly connected with local ArabAmerican musicians:

“The first week I came here, mybrother told me, ‘Why don’t you goto a place called The Nile?’ It was at2nd and Chestnut in Old City. Igrabbed my violin and went thereSaturday night, and talked to the

group performing at that place. I toldthem, ‘I do this and this.’ And theysaid to me, ‘Why not? Why don’t youjoin us?’ I performed the whole nightwith them. Not for five minutes or tenminutes, I performed the whole nightwith them, because we got…engaged.They knew what I did. They’reAmerican, second-generationLebanese. Joe Tayoun was the firstperson I knew. He played the drumand his brother played the seconddrum, and there’s an ‘ud player, hisname is Roger Mgrdichian. So I joinedthem, and from that time, I used toperform with them regularly. That was2003, January. I performed with themfor six months. I had to go back toEgypt; because of my visa, I had toleave after six months. I went back toEgypt and I came back after twomonths. Not even two months. Andstarted performing with them again.”

He has found performing forAmerican audiences to be creativelystimulating:

“Americans, by culture, look forwhat’s new. It’s not that they getbored easily, it’s because they’relooking for progression, improving allthe time. So they look for somethingelse. Since this [music] is completelydifferent from what they’ve heard,they find it very unique. They interactwith us more than anyone else. That’show I feel it. They get it more thanother foreigners, our music.

The audience back home, they knowthe stuff… So we have to be relevantto whatever they know. You [can’t] go too far from what should be played.So they won’t be like, ‘Oh, what areyou doing? You’re out of your mind!’But here it’s more free. You can comeup with different things because of the audience here.”

A permanent resident of the UnitedStates since 2005, Refela has readilyjoined in others’ educationalperformance projects. AlongsideJewish, Greek, and Lebanese American

artists Bruce Kaminsky, BillKoutsouros, and Michele Tayoun,Adeeb works as a violinist in the SpiceRoute Ensemble, one of the musicalgroups affiliated with Musicopia(formerly Strings for Schools, anorganization that presents localmusicians in school residencies andperformances).8 He has been aninstructor at Al-Bustan Seeds ofCulture summer camp in ChestnutHill, an organization that educatesyouth of all backgrounds in Arabiclanguage and culture (“Al-Bustan”means “the garden”). He alsoparticipates in “Intercultural Journeys,” aPhiladelphia non-profit organization thatpromotes cross-cultural collaborations,particularly between Arabs and Jews—the artistic director is Israeli cellist UdiBar-David of the Philadelphia Orchestra.Nonetheless, Refela is eager to expandhis teaching and sharing of Arab music;he would like to take his wealth ofknowledge to university students whowant to know about the inner workingsof Arab music.

Refela is known as a specialist in agenre called taqasim, a solo instrumentalimprovisation that combines “traditionalunderstandings of the Arab maqamsystem with the present-dayperformer’s individual creativity.9 ”

“The word ‘taqasim,’ it’s an Arabicword and they used it afterwards inGreece, [where] they call it ‘taksimi.’

2007-2008 Winter WIP 13



14 WIP Winter 2007-2008

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Yvette Smalls. Photo: James Wasserman, 2007 (For more detailed caption, see exhibition text).

17]

On display at the Philadelphia Folklore Project, 735 S. 50th Street, Philadelphia throughspring 2007, after which it is available as a traveling exhibition for rental. Call for details:215. 726.1106. The full exhibition text is included here. Text and all photographs may alsobe viewed online at http://www.folkloreproject.org/programs/exhibits/wedo/index.cfm

all that we do:contemporary women, traditional arts

2007-2008 Winter WIP 15

IntroductionThe women pictured in thisexhibition choose, against allodds, to learn, practice and teachcultural heritage—folk andtraditional arts—in the 21stcentury. Here are nine exceptionalartists, caught in moments that hint at the complexity of their livesand arts: Antonia Arias, FatuGayflor, Vera Nakonechny,Ayesha Rahim, Anna Rubio,Yvette Smalls, MicheleTayoun, Elaine Hoffman Wattsand Susan Watts. Art forms represented includeflamenco, Liberian song, Ukrainianneedlework, African Americancrochet/crown-making and hairsculpture, Middle Eastern dance and song, and Jewishklezmer music, a small sampling of the vital contemporary practice of traditional arts in Philadelphia today. Some of thewomen pictured were featured inrecent Folklore Project concerts,salons or exhibitions; others willbe featured in concerts thiscoming year. This exhibitiontakes viewers behind the scenes,suggesting some of the ongoingwork behind polishedperformances and exquisite craft,reminding us of the depth andbreadth of relationships in whichthese women work. Here areartists honoring responsibility tofamily and broader communities(and to cultural practices and

their lineages), all whileenmeshed in the fast-paced globalshifts that impact us all. And allwhile producing exquisite andimportant art.

In her own way, each of the featured artists isgroundbreaking: juggling a push atconventions (artistic and social)while respecting canons, orbalancing a life-long dedication tolearning a cultural practice whileisolated from other suchpractitioners, or insisting onconstructive, positive self-imageryin the face of racism and inequity.

Nine women, out of hundredsof artists with whom the FolkloreProject has worked over twodecades: this 20th anniversaryexhibition reflects ongoing andshared commitments to wideningpublic knowledge about whatcounts as culture, to grapplingwith the continuing significance of heritage in a fractured world, and to creating (somehow, and together) systems and structures supporting meaningfulcultural diversity.

Responsibilityand BalanceCome into their homes! Like thearts in which they excel, these arewomen with many places theyconsider home. With roots inLiberia, Lebanon, Spain, Ukraine

and elsewhere, they create andperform on many more stages thanan outside public can know, or thana conventional biography mightreveal. Their balancing acts,whether improvised or well-planned, reflect responsibility tofamily, community, heritage, artistictraditions, social justice, and more.

1] Yvette Smalls does hair: she is a master braider and a hairsculptor, revealing the beautywithin her clients. Here shewelcomes the photographer, andus, to her home in WestPhiladelphia, 2007.

2] Saturday morning breakfastfor Liberian singer Fatu Gayflorand family (husband TimothyKarblee and daughter FayolaThelma Karblee) at home inSicklerville, New Jersey, 2007.Because of work schedules, thefamily can enjoy a morning mealtogether only once or twice aweek.

3] Anna Rubio (center) andfellow flamenco dancer GigiQuintana stretch before arehearsal in the Rubios’ SouthPhiladelphia rowhouse. Anna’sson David is on the left, 2006.

4] Ukrainian needlework artistVera Nakonechny, wearing atraditional embroidered shirt,lights candles for Easter dinner


by Toni Shapiro-Phim and Debora Kodish

16 WIP Winter 2007-2008

“Spirit comes and spirit talks. Spirittells you where to put this color, thisshell. So that’s basically how the hatswere made…”— Ayesha Rahim

20]

About the photographerJames Wasserman began his photographic career covering the life of the city,shooting for a Philadelphia weekly. Over the 20 years since then he has workedregionally, nationally and internationally. His photographs have appeared inNewsweek, Time, The New York Times, Far Eastern Economic Review, Le NouvelObservateur and other publications. He has had one-man exhibitions at thePainted Bride Art Center, Old City Coffee, and Nexus Gallery. He has recentlyrelocated to China, where he is exploring the impact of the changinglandscape on peoples’ lives.

L-R: Ayesha Rahim, YvetteSmalls, Anna Rubio andAntonia Arias, Anna Rubio andMichele Tayoun, Elaine Wattts.Photos: James Wasserman. (Fordetailed captions see theexhibition text).

“I weave tradition, creativityand love into my tapestry of naturalhairstyles; especially since generationsof Black women have been taught to wage war on their coil…” — Yvette Smalls

5] 14]

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2007-2008 Winter WIP 17


18 WIP Winter 2007-2008

with her family, at home inNortheast Philadelphia, 2007.

5] Yvette Smalls in her home,doing Patricia Green’s hair, withKarima Wadud-Green (right)socializing while waiting her turn,2007. Her studio is itself a work ofart, filled with culturally andpersonally significant objects. Thecopper plate on the wall, a girlbraiding hair, from Tanzania, isYvette’s favorite image. She bought itat an African Liberation Day festivalin Washington, D.C. “Patricia comesup from Maryland so that I can doher hair. I give her a choice of hairoils, all of which I’ve mixed myself.

We take a tea and zucchini breadbreak (or whatever else I’ve made),and when she’s back in the chair,someone else comes in. My sanctuaryis my studio, and a gatheringplace.”—Yvette Smalls

CommitmentMinority traditions—discrete andparticular forms of artistic andcultural expression—continue tohave meaning because people make acommitment to them, within families,over generations and also acrossboundaries and borders. Anna, Vera,Fatu, Susan and Elaine are activelyteaching technique and largermeanings about these arts, whetherthey are in performance, in anintimate setting with one cherishedstudent, or in a classroom. As well,

they model lessons about therewards and values of lives devotedto preserving and re-imagining a heritage.

6] Anna Rubio with studentSamantha Hogsten during a lesson inAnna’s basement studio, 2007. “Myfriend [flamenco dancer] Fibi gotthese shoes from Spain for mywonderful student, Samantha. In thispicture, I’m explaining the features ofprofessional flamenco shoes. I callSamantha ‘La Joyita’ because of heramazing smile, and because she’s agem, a jewel.”—Anna Rubio. “I don’thave the words to describe whatAnna has meant to me. She’s my

teacher, but also a role model, and, insome ways, a mother.”—Samantha Hogsten

7] Vera Nakonechny examiningdetails of traditional Ukrainianpatterns with her student, MelaniaTkach, 2007. In a context far fromUkraine, Vera figures out how toexplain the meanings and designs tosomeone who may continue topractice and pass on the tradition.

8] Fatu Gayflor teachingLiberian song and dance to a sixthgrade class at the Folk Arts -Cultural Treasures Charter Schoolin Philadelphia’s Chinatown, 2007.Young people previously unfamiliarwith Liberian arts have their worldexpanded through this exposure tosongs, dances, and stories shared by

their guest teacher.

9] Fatu Gayflor, with J. BlamohDoe on drums, 2007. Fatu andBlamoh worked together in Liberia.Coming from an ensemble tradition,and now somewhat isolated from apool of Liberian artists with theirskills, Fatu, Blamoh and local peers have had to adapt to smaller-group community and concertperformances.

"I really like the expression in thispicture. I’m telling the audience that I am giving everything through mysong. I can’t be distracted; mymessage and my art will come out

loud and clear. There’s always somuch to think about, to worry about:relatives in Africa, work schedule, myyoung daughter at home. I’m justdoing my own thing in this picture.That’s the only way to take controlfrom the stage.”—Fatu Gayflor

10] Klezmer musician SusanWatts (center) with sister EileenSiegel and father Ernie Watts, at afamily Hanukah celebration, Eileen’sbasement, Havertown. 2006. Othergenerations of this musical dynastyaren’t pictured, including Eileen’sson, Bradley, who takes drumlessons from his grandmotherElaine. “I call this ‘Family Portrait,With Chair’: I love the diagonalconnecting my dad to two of hisdaughters—me, the youngest, andEileen, the oldest. We’ve continued

L-R: FatuGayflor, VeraNakonechny,Susan Watts ,

and AnnaRubio with

family.

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all that we do/continued from p. 17

2007-2008 Winter WIP 19

in the family business: klezmer.”—Susan Watts

11] Susan Watts teaching atKlezKamp, an annual gathering ofYiddish arts and culture enthusiastsfrom all over North America, upstateNew York, 2006.

12] Klezmer drummer ElaineHoffman Watts teaching CurranBrowning at Rosemont School of theHoly Child, 2006. “This is a greatpicture. I’m showing Curran how touse his hand and wrist, not his arm.I’m teaching the kid. That’s the wholepoint, passing on the art.”—Elaine Hoffman Watts

VisionWhat do we see and hear in publicperformance of folk arts? So much islikely outside the immediateexperience of the onlooker. Yet,what we don’t notice has been partof the artists’ vision as they worktoward a concert, festival, or ritualevent. The intensity of performancecarries within it the passion ofrehearsal, long histories ofknowledge of a particular piece orrhythm, and the devotion to pullingtogether all the elements that gointo the spectacle the audience willtake in. Color, shape, sound, andmovement coalesce at a certainmoment, in a certain place, afterextensive time and effortbeforehand, creating beauty, magic,

and meanings. And paths for a next step…

13] Anna Rubio sewingcostumes in her basement. She sewsflamenco dresses as well as costumesfor the Kulu Mele African AmericanDance Ensemble and other dancetroupes,

14] Anna Rubio, flamenco singerAntonia Arias, Tito Rubio (guitar) inconcert at Amada Restaurant in OldCity, Philadelphia, where theyregularly work, 2006.

15] Middle Eastern dancer and singer Michele Tayoun (left)rehearsing with the Herencia Arabe

Project, which combines Arabic musicand dance with flamenco, St. Maron’sHall, Philadelphia, 2005.

16] Anna Rubio (dancing), JosephTayoun, Antonia Arias and Tito Rubioin concert at Amada Restaurant inOld City, Philadelphia, 2006.

CourageThe myriad aspects of behind-the-scenes art-making are often unknown,or invisible, once a hair sculpture,crocheted hat, embroidered shirt, ormusical piece is presented to theworld. Lock-by-lock, stitch-by-stitch,note-by-note, and then over again(sometimes starting completely overagain): the process is part of theartistry. Also often unknown or

hidden are the histories of theseparticular arts, and the women whopractice them.

17] Yvette Smalls doing the hairof Estan Wilsonus El in her sanctuaryat home, 2007. Through her hairsculpture and her documentary film,“Hair Stories,” Yvette activelyopposes racism and negative self-image: “Some of the techniques Iemploy are over 10,000 years old…I weave tradition, creativity and loveinto my tapestry of natural hairstyles;especially since generations of Blackwomen have been taught to wage war on their coil.”

18] Separating the locks. YvetteSmalls, at home, 2007.

19] Ayesha Rahim, crocheting ather home in North Philadelphia, 2006.Her hats and “crowns” are widelyprized in the community now; it tookyears to find her way, to push pastinstitutions that diminished her gifts.“My art is like spirit work. I was overat Temple University selling the hatsand I was impressed because theywere telling me what part of Africathey were from. I had no idea! Spiritcomes and spirit talks. Spirit tells youwhere to put this color, this shell. Sothat’s basically how the hats weremade… I used to say, ‘Whose handsdid they give me?’ because they are sobig! Lord God! Whose hands are


10] 3]


20 WIP Winter 2007-2008


these? They didn’t look like the restof me to me! But God blessed mewith these hands, I know that now.He gave me a gift. My hands arespecial, but I sure didn’t know thatthen. But they are supposed to belike this. These are my hands. Butthey still are big! Special hands. Theyare healing hands, soothing hands.There is a power that comes throughmy hands.”—Ayesha Rahim

20] Ayesha Rahim’s handsbeginning a crocheted hat, 2006.

21] Vera Nakonechny in herspecial embroidery corner at home,2007. Vera embroiders designs andpractices rituals that were banned fordecades in the 20th century, while theUkraine was part of the Sovietsphere. A whole generation losttouch with these arts. “I think I’vebeen given two gifts, the gift ofhealing and the gift of my art, theembroidery. I remember when I wasyoung I was always trying to makepeople feel better. Eventually, Ibecame a masseuse, after studying inEurope. With my embroidery, I amalso healing in a way. I researchpatterns and rituals in which theembroidered cloths were used, andtry to give that back to mycommunity, before all this vanishes.”—Vera Nakonechny

22] Elaine Hoffman Wattsplaying drums as part of a familyHanukah celebration in the basementof her daughter Eileen’s house, 2006.As a young klezmer musician, Elainewas often excluded fromperformances because she is female.Nowadays, thanks to theperseverance of Elaine and others,women are seen and heard inklezmer bands across the country.

CamaraderieJoy, perseverance, friendship: theseartists and artistic traditions thrive onthe interplay of shared wisdom,talent, and interpretation. Traditionsevolve from such interchange.Relationships between and amongartists deepen; and artistic and

personal understandings emergeanew, keeping the arts dynamic.

23] Antonia Arias (vocals) andTito Rubio (guitar) accompanyingAnna Rubio’s flamenco dance class,University of the Arts, Philadelphia,2007. “The moon and dots on mytattoo reflect the Muslim influence onflamenco. The polka dots you see onso many flamenco dresses are actuallycalled ‘moons’ in Spanish. Also, thisgrouping of smaller dots is a symbolused by sailors to represent travel.I’m a traveler, too.”—Antonia Arias

24] Susan Watts (left), BenHolmes, Elaine Hoffman Wattsand Frank London practicing (in thehall, on a table) for a faculty concertat KlezKamp, an annual gathering ofklezmer musicians and Yiddish culture enthusiasts in upstate New York, 2006.

25] Michele Tayoun (singing,with raised hand), Roger Mgrdichian(oud), Antonia Arias (vocals) and TitoRubio (guitar) rehearsing for theHerencia Arabe Project whichcombines Arabic music and dancewith flamenco, at St. Maron’s Hall inSouth Philadelphia, 2005. “Thiscollaborative experience is unique.And we can’t, we shouldn’t let it go.Everyone has strengths they bring toit. I love working with this group ofpeople.”—Michele Tayoun

26] Michele Tayoun (right) withdancers Anna Rubio (left) andMariah del Chico, and Tito Rubio(guitar), Joseph Tayoun (drum), anddancer Hersjel Wehrens (seated), as part of the Herencia ArabeProject, St. Maron’s Hall, in theheart of Philadelphia’s Lebanesecommunity, 2005.

CodaCultural anthropologist MaryCatherine Bateson writes about “lifeas an improvisatory art, about theways we combine familiar andunfamiliar components in response tonew situations, following anunderlying grammar and an evolvingaesthetic.” Skilled in particular arts,

the women pictured on these wallshave each been improvising in theface of conflicting loyalties andresponsibilities (to family, work, art,community and more). Some havefaced exile and war. Others dealtwith racism, disparagement, lack ofresources, and cultural isolation.They have fought old boys’ networks.They have endured, resisted, andsometimes outlasted people whohave questioned their innovativeapproaches to tradition, or theirparticular (regional, ethnic, local,personal) synthesis of tradition. Asthey make art, they also make, oftheir lives, works of art—stitching,composing, braiding, andchoreographing the disparateelements—emerging with deepenedwisdom and beauty. Their lives are asinspiring as their arts.

27] Ayesha Rahim in one of hercrocheted hats, 2006.

28] Susan Watts on stage at South Paw in Brooklyn, New York, 2006.

Biographies of the artistsAntonia Cruz Arias, flamencocantaora (singer), was born in 1988 in San Francisco. Her paternalgrandmother was California-bornSpanish singer Elena Acevedo.Antonia was raised in the world offlamenco, but began her formal musicand dance training in the classicaltradition at age four. She studiedclassical and jazz technique at theCatholic Institute, flamenco cante atthe Fundación Cristina Heeren deArte Flamenco in Seville, Spain, andflamenco dance in Jerez de laFrontera, Spain. She has also studiedintensively with Jesus Montoya, Gypsysinger from Seville. Antonia has sungfor many important artists such asAntonio Hidalgo, Nelida Tirado andEdwin Aparicio, and has shared thestage with other singers includingRocio Soto from Jerez, Spain, AlfonsoCid from Seville and Marcos Marin,


2007-2008 Winter WIP 21

and has been the singer for theclasses of La Chiqui de Jerez. Antoniasings for all performances ofFlamenco del Encuentro and theHerencia Arabe Project. She is astudent at St. Joseph’s University. Sheperformed in the Folklore Project’sDance Happens Here program inDecember 2007.

Princess Fatu Gayflor is arenowned recording artist fromLiberia. A singer and dancer from ayoung age, she performed often inritual dances in her home village ofKakata. Later, as a member ofLiberia’s National Cultural Troupebased in the national artists’ village ofKendeja, she was given the title,“Princess” in recognition of herexquisite renditions of songs in mostof the languages of Liberia’s sixteenethnic groups. (She herself is ofmixed Vai and Lorma ethnicities.) Asa young adult, she went out on herown, founding the successfulDaughters of King N’Jola dance andmusic ensemble in the capital city ofMonrovia. She has recorded threeCDs, and was showcased in Italy bythe United Nations World FoodProgram to bring attention to theplight of Liberians caught in their civilwar. In the U.S. since 1999, she hascontinued performing at Liberianweddings and other communitygatherings, and has taught throughthe Pennsylvania Council on theArts/Arts in Education program, andat both the African Cultural Allianceof North America and the Folk Arts–Cultural Treasures Charter Schoolin Philadelphia. Having lived in theIvory Coast and in Guinea, she singstraditional songs of many places. She has performed in FolkloreProject programs including “PhillyDance Africa” at International House and in the spring of 2007 at World Café Live.

Vera Nakonechny came to theUnited States as a teenager, andcontinued studying the varioustechniques of Ukrainian embroideryher mother had taught her as a younggirl. She soon became a part of thestrong Ukrainian-Americancommunity in Pennsylvania where sheexpanded her skills as an

embroiderer. After the Ukrainegained its independence in 1991, Verawas able to return to her homelandwhere she conducted archivalresearch about folk art traditions,and studied with master craftspeople.She has researched and taughtembroidery, beadwork, weaving, andother traditional forms related totextiles and adornment, andvolunteers as a teacher of these artsat community sites and at theUkrainian Heritage Studies Center atManor College. Vera is also aprofessional masseuse, having studiedin Europe where, she explains,“Massage is integrated into people’sidea of how to take care ofthemselves, of how to prevent illness.Doctors even refer their patients tomassage therapists.” Her work hasbeen displayed in recent exhibitionsat the Down Jersey Folklife Center,and at the Philadelphia FolkloreProject, in our 2006 “CommunityFabric” show.

Ayesha Rahim made clotheswhen she was a school child, andcontinued to grow and develop as anartist. She saw images in her sleep,spirit-driven, crediting her inspiration:“I had not a clue. I am just figuringout how images are in theatmosphere and they come fromGod. How else could they come? Isee them in my sleep. I was adesigner and I made the clothes that Isaw in my sleep. I didn’t have themoney to make the outfits that I sawand I would go to my cousin. It onlytook a dollar for fabric. And all I everneeded was a measuring tape andpins. I never made a pattern. And Icame out of High School being ‘BestDressed,’ Gratz High School, 1955. Igot scholarships to Moore College ofArt.” Concerned with social issues,wanting to make a difference, andalready an active designer for artists,musicians and performers, Rahimfound art school an inhospitable placeand turned down the scholarship.Eventually, she returned to art,figuring out how to crochet. She hadmodels around her in others, butmost of her craft was hard-won, self-taught. She was wearing one of herhats when Charita Powell, from the

stand Amazulu, in the ReadingMarket, saw it and asked for another.That was the beginning. She has been making hats for decades now, and they are prized within thecommunity. She was a featured artist at a salon at the FolkloreProject in 2006.

Anna Rubio began her training indance and music at age four. Afterstudying ballet at the PennsylvaniaAcademy of Ballet, she startedmodern dance in her early teens withJoan Kerr and Susan Hess. Annamoved to San Francisco in 1982,continuing her modern training withseveral teachers, including LucasHoving and Ed Mock, andcommencing flamenco studies withRosa Montoya (of the importantMontoya Gypsy clan) and with thelate Maestro Cruz Luna. By 1986 shewas a member of Theatre Flamencoof San Francisco under the directionof Miguel Santos. In 1991 shereturned to Philadelphia and becamea member of the Flamenco Olecompany under the direction of JuliaLopez. Anna and her husband,flamenco guitarist Tito Rubio, spenttwo years in Spain before returningto Philadelphia, where they nowteach at the University of the Artsand perform with their groupsFlamenco del Encuentro andHerencia Arabe. Anna was awardedan Artistic Fellowship for the year2001 from the IndependenceFoundation and a Leeway Grant for2004. Anna and Tito return regularlyto Spain, where Anna continues herstudies with La Chiqui de Jerez, JavierLatorre and Juan Polvillo. Sheperformed in the Folklore Project’sDance Happens Here program inDecember 2007.

Yvette Smalls is a master braider,hair sculptor, and emergingfilmmaker, She says, “Hair is myartistic medium and became mymission.” She began braiding, dressingand sculpting African Americanwomen’s hair in the late 1970s, toput herself through school. She waspart of a movement of AfricanAmerican women rejecting


[Continued on p. 30 ]

22 WIP 2007-2008 Winter

>art

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Seku Neblett,2007. Photo:

ElizabethSayre

SEKU NEBLETT:music as a tool for liberation

A few minutes of conversationreveal Seku Neblett’s grace,good humor, and deadly serioussense of purpose as activist andartist—not to mention hiswealth of life experiences. Eversince he came to Philadelphia in2006 to teach at the renovatedCecil B. Moore RecreationCenter at 22nd and Huntingdon,Neblett has contributed tocultural and political organizinghere. His life story and his Pan-Africanist politics shed light onthe challenges facing artists inAfrican dance and music inPhiladelphia and North America.With more than 45 years oforganizing to his credit, Seku Neblett purposefullyarticulates the connectionsbetween African creative workand political struggle.

Music has always been part ofNeblett’s life and work, and hisart has always been intended toinspire political unity. He andolder brother Charles Neblett,along with Bernice JohnsonReagon and others, wereoriginal members of theFreedom Singers, created in1961 in Albany, Georgia. (Hisbrother still coordinates thegroup today.) In the 1960s, theFreedom Singers toured theUnited States to raise moneyand organize support for theStudent NonviolentCoordinating Committee(SNCC), a key organization inthe Civil Rights / Black Freedommovement. Years later, in 1991,

a chance encounter whileperforming with the FreedomSingers led Seku to play thebougarabou, the signature drumof the Jola people in thesouthwest of Senegal and theGambia. Performing traditionalAfrican music forms as they weretaught to him, he has joined theranks of the twentieth-century“African Cultural Renaissance”—men and women like KatherineDunham, Pearl Primus, ChiefBey, Nana Dinizulu, andPhiladelphia’s own BabaCrowder, who have researchedAfrican music and dance and putthem to creative use in theAmerican environment. InPhiladelphia, Neblett’s passionfor creating unity throughcultural work has found a rich,historical environment in whichto continue growing.

Mr. Neblett was born in 1943in Simpson County, Kentucky,the fifth of six siblings in asharecropping family. Of hisearly life and early experiencewith music, he says:

“We lived in the countrywithout electricity, without anyof the utilities. Our primary cropwas tobacco, but we greweverything that we ate. We onlyhad to buy at the store spices,sugar, salt, pepper, that kind ofthing… During the day, the workwas very hard. We didn’t havetractors, [or] mechanical tools atfirst. I actually learned how toplow with a mule and tocultivate the crops with animals.

I think it was about 1956, ‘57,when we got our first tractor…There was a lot of music in myhome. My father played theguitar and the rhythm bones.The rhythm bones [are] cow’sribs put in the fingers back toback, and with your wrist actionyou get a polyrhythm that’straditionally African. My oldestbrother played guitar. Mymother sang common meterhymns in church and in thehome. My second-oldest brotherplayed the trumpet and the trapdrums. My second-oldest sisterplayed the French horn, and is atremendous singer… When myfamily moved to southernIllinois, still sharecroppers, inabout 1956, the high school thatwe went to was segregated, butit was the only school in thecounty that had a band. Theband director, Mr. Stanley F.Thomas, whom I will admireforever, actually taught us musictheory, which was unheard of fora high school student in thosedays in a rural setting like that.So my brother played trumpet;we organized a little danceband. I was trying to play thetrap drum set, which I neverquite mastered. I played a littlesaxophone. I didn’t really comeinto my own until I started toplay the traditional Africandrum, much later in life. But wehad a wonderful experiencewith music. And the music

2007-2008 Winter WIP 23

by Elizabeth Sayre

[Continued on p. 26 > ]

24 WIP Winter 2007-2008

evening we recorded in Suacoco,the horn players gave way to chantefable or story songs (meni pele) aspeople laughed, joked, and sang.One performer even presented anepisode from epic (woi-meni-pele).

I was surprised that anyonecould still perform this complexgenre. Many Kpelle people willtell you that woi-meni-pele is theessence of Kpelle life. Eighteenyears ago, it had been hard to finda performer capable of singing it,and I thought that this rich aspectof culture might have faded withthe war. But I was surprised todiscover several performers withina 40-mile radius in just two shortmonths in Liberia. Woi epicappeared to be even more alivethan it had been before the war.

Woi epic, featuring thesuperhero Woi, is emblematic ofsome of the most importantaspects of Kpelle society. Andpeople proudly point to it as akind of encyclopedia of Kpelle life,an index to “a wealth inknowledge.” This wealth inknowledge in turn is related towhat Jane Guyer and Samuel EnoBelinga have said of EquatorialAfrica as a whole: “The study ofgrowth in Equatorial Africa in thepre-colonial period might be seenas, in part, a social history ofexpanding knowledge, and thehistory of the colonial era as oneof loss, denial and partialreconstitution. That much of thismust remain inaccessible shouldnot deter us from creating thespace to envisage it.”1

The Woi epic demonstrates atremendous wealth in knowledge.The episodes that I recorded in2007, and in the years before thewar, are embedded with richdetails of animals, plants, anddomestic objects. These are detailsthat are much more extensivethan required for simpleexistence. One performance of aWoi epic included the spider, tuu-tuu bird, anteater, poling bird,squirrel monkey, tsetse fly, beetle,bat, bull, and bees. Plants tooplayed roles in the battles—the

bele tree, koing tree, pumpkin,and koong leaf—as did objectslike a bow and arrow, a bagcontaining implements to helpWoi, an axe, a cutlass, and adouble-edged knife.2

As the historian Jan Vansina hassaid: “Local communities knewmuch more about their localhabitats than they needed toknow,” and “such scientificknowledge for knowledge’s sakewas an essential ingredient” ofsocial life.3 The essential discovery,which I made several years afterfirst recording the Woi epic, is that this epic symbolicallyrepresents the migration of theKpelle people, beginning in the 14th century from thegrasslands area of the kingdom of Mali to the forest region of the coast. Through allusion andmetaphor we can see the traces of this history, which is detailed more literally in oral narratives.4

The Kpelle, as one of manybranches of the Mande people,responding to various pressures,left the grasslands and startedtoward the coastal rainforest. Theyencountered other people on thatlong migration and fought small-scale wars to defend the areaswhere they settled for a time, astheir oral histories tell. PeterGiting, a member of the famousGiting family of chiefs fromSanoyea, told of battles in theKpelle area of what is today BongCounty. Peter narrated how eachwarring side had a musician whoplayed before battle to increasethe warriors’ courage and pumpthe troops up for battle.

When the fighting began,musicians were immune fromattack by either side. Followingthe battle, the winners had theprerogative of taking themusicians belonging to the losingside. Through this practice, the musicians became a kind of prize of war.

In the Woi epic, the heroalludes to the migrations: Woi isconstantly moving his house as

battles are brewing:“Woi is ready. He said, ’You

singing that, Zo-lang-kee, the waris ready.’

And I was in the house. I saidto him, ‘Ee.’ I said to him, ‘Woi?”

He said to me, ‘Mm.’I said to him, ‘What war is

prepared? You yourself see theSitting-on-the-neck crowd here.Why is the war being preparedsince there is no one equal toyou?’

‘Fine, when Kelema-ninga haspumped my bellows and theyhave sewn my clothes, then wewill start on the war.’”5

The moving house, filled withthe extended family, symbolicallyrepresented the Kpelle people asa whole migrating toward thecoast. Woi stood for the greateraggregate of Kpelle people. Whenknowledgeable Kpelle hear theepic being performed, theyfrequently comment on thisconnection, noting how the Woiepic indexes the coming of theirancestors to the area in Liberia orGuinea that they occupy in the present.

In the wealth of performancesthat I found in Liberia in 2007, Iwas most surprised to find severalpeople capable of performing thisquintessential form. One epicpourer we were able to record inBong County performed in Totota.He sang of the familiar characters,including the hero Woi, the spider,and many others. But he also sangof body parts, reflecting the realityof a people working through thehorrors of war. While all of thiswill require much more study, it’sabundantly clear that music isflourishing, thriving, and healingpeople in Liberia.

In Philadelphia too, music,whether performed by FatuGayflor or Zeya Tete or others, hashelped to underscore people’shumanity and transport themhome, if only for a few moments.

I left Liberia on August 1st,convinced that music has been

war and song/continued from p. 9


2007-2008 Winter WIP 25

war and song/continued from p. 24

vital to Liberians wherever they havebeen and wherever they live. And therichly layered rhythms, tone colors, andallusive texts continue to build that richlegacy that is grounded in expressiveculture.—Ruth M. Stone

Notes1

Guyer and Belinga 1995: 94-952 Stone 1988: 943 Vansina 1990: 89, 225 as quoted inGuyer and Belinga 1995: 934 Geysbeek 1994: 49; d’Azevedo 1962: 135 Stone 1988: 13-14

Resources for further exploration Armstrong, Robert Plant. 1971. The

Affecting Presence: An Essay inHumanistic Anthropology. Urbana:University of Illinois Press.

Austen, Ralph A., and Jan Vansina.1996. “History, Oral Transmission andStructure in Ibn Khaldun’sChronology of Mali Rulers.” Historyin Africa 23:17–28.

D’Azevedo, Warren L. 1962. “Uses ofthe Past in Gola Discourse.” Journalof African History 3(1):11–34.

Geysbeek, Tim. 1994. “A TraditionalHistory of the Konyan (15th–16thCentury: Vase Camera’s Epic of

Musadu.” History in Africa 21:49–85.Guyer, Jane, and Samuel M. Eno

Belinga. 1995. “Wealth in People asWealth in Knowledge: Accumulationand Composition in EquatorialAfrica.” Journal of African History36(1):91–120.

Kubik, Gerhard. 1965.“Transcription of MangwiloXylophone Music from Film Strips.”African Music 3(4):35–41.

Scheub, Harold. 1970. “TheTechnique of the Expansible Image inXhosa Ntsomi Performances.”Research in African Literatures1(2):119–46.

Stone, Ruth M. 1988. Dried MilletBreaking. Bloomington: IndianaUniversity Press.

Vansina, Jan. 1990. Paths in theRainforest: Toward a History ofPolitical Tradition in EquatorialAfrica. Madison: University ofWisconsin Press.

The Liberian Collections Project:http://onliberia.org/history.htm

Ruth M. Stone is the Laura BoultonProfessor of Ethnomusicology at IndianaUniversity, where she has served as chair of the Department of Folklore andEthnomusicology, Director of theArchives of Traditional Music, and amember of the African Studies faculty.Professor Stone has written andpublished significant books, articles,and multi-media publications onmusical performance of the Kpelle inLiberia, West Africa. She has editedAfrica, a volume in the GarlandEncyclopedia of World Music, which isthe first comprehensive reference workin ethnomusicology. She has alsopioneered research, publication, andpresentation of ethnomusicologicalanalysis through digital electronicformats. A leader in her discipline’sprofessional organization, she hasserved as president of the Society forEthnomusicology. She has also been thepresident of the Liberian StudiesAssociation. She visited the FolkloreProject this past fall as part of ourAfrican Song / New Contexts project.

fatu gayflor/continued from p. 7

Tim: Did you ever personally meet(Liberian) President William R.Tolbert, who, as head of state, was sort of the patron of the KendejaCultural Center?Fatu: In fact I did! I was part of a select groupof members of the Cultural Troupe whowere invited to dine at the President’s tablein 1979 when Liberia hosted the annualmeeting of the continent-wide Organizationof African Unity at the “OAU Village” [nextto the Hotel Africa in Monrovia]. In fact, Imet President Tolbert a few times. Asmembers of the National Cultural Troupe wewere frequently close to the corridors ofpower but never real “insiders.” I felt thatPresident Tolbert supported the arts, andthat he was basically a good person.

Tim: Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to talk to me! Fatu: You are very welcome!

Timothy Nevin was born and raised inChicago, but recently lived for threeyears in Senegal and Ghana, where hewas a caseworker with Liberian refugees.He is currently a PhD candidate inAfrican History at the University ofFlorida. His dissertation will be aboutcultural production in Liberia duringthe 1970s and early 1980s. His wife,Zakpa Paye, is a Liberian nursingstudent at Santa Fe Community College,in Gainesville, Florida.

African Song / New Contexts was aPhiladelphia Folklore Project musicians-in-residence program, made possible by a grant from the Philadelphia MusicProject, a program of The Pew Center forArts and Heritage, funded by The PewCharitable Trusts and administered bythe University of the Arts; theHumanities-and-the-Arts Initiativeadministered by the Pennsylvania

Humanities Council and funded principally by thePennsylvania Council on the Arts; theNational Endowment for the Arts, whichbelieves that a great nation deservesgreat arts; the Philadelphia CulturalFund; and Folklore Project members.

26 WIP Winter 2007-2008

seku neblett/continued from p. 23

always reflected what was goingon around us. We would do thathard work and come home in theevening and just play music andsing and do a lot of wonderfulthings as a family. The neighborswould come and join in. It wasglorious!”

Although he was accepted toSouthern Illinois University atCarbondale on a musicscholarship in 1960, Seku wasdrawn to the Civil Rightsmovement and soon dropped outof school to head south, joiningthe effort to register voters andorganize political resistance toracial discrimination and violence.Television reports turned him onto the movement, and alsoexposed him to an inspirationalfigure who would change his lifeforever:

“TV news was one of the thingsthat really put me on that path. Iwas still in high school in 1957,when an event took place on theAfrican continent that actuallychanged my life. I was watching in1957 when Ghana becameindependent. I was watchingtelevision, black and white TV, andI see this African walking into theUnited Nations, dressed intraditional African clothing.[Kwame Nkrumah] stood upbefore the world, and said, ‘I aman African! And I have somethingto say to the world!’ And that justhad a tremendous effect on mylife, because all I’d seen aboutAfrica up to that point, with a fewexceptions, was Tarzan. I wasnever satisfied after that.”

Neblett joined the StudentNonviolent CoordinatingCommittee (SNCC). One of hismany assignments was theSouthwest Georgia Project, wherehe was sent to help registerpeople to vote:

“I was sent to a county namedTerrell County. Its nickname was‘Terrible Terrell.’ I was told thatthere was a fear factor that wasvery strong. There [were]absolutely no Africans registered

to vote in that county. I wasdetermined, the first morning, tobe out and getting somebodyregistered to vote before the restof the people got up. I jump upearly in the morning, I wash up inthe back of the house, and I hitthe streets, little dirt streets inDawson, Georgia. I go to the firsthouse and knock on the door, andthe lady came and moved the littlecurtain behind that window in thedoor. She saw I was a stranger,because they had been warnedabout the Freedom Riders, andshe disappeared. I could not raiseher. I go to the next house—thesame thing happened. That wasrepeated a couple of more times.Then I knocked on one door, andthere was no answer, but I heardsome noise in the back, so Iwalked in the back, and there wasa lady doing her washing on awashboard in a number twowashtub. I said, ‘Ah, I got one!’That lady was so frightened. . .ofme and of the situation. She toldme that she had the pneumonia,and she couldn’t go down thereto register to vote, it would turninto the double pneumonia. Imean, she was just talking crazy! Igo back to the house with my egoin my big toe, said, ‘Oh, my God!What am I going to do?’ So I tookthe attitude: I can’t blame thepeople. I’m doing somethingwrong. I think it was the first timeI seriously criticized myself. I keptgoing out, and coming back, andevaluating what I was doing, andkept getting knocked down, untilI got it right. I knew when I got itright because people started tolisten, and we started to get somework done in that area.”

Back home in Illinois, he waspart of an effort to desegregate alocal swimming pool, anexperience that led him tocompose a song that becamefamous later in a different form:

“We came back and joined thestruggle in Cairo, Illinois. In thedesegregation effort, we weredemonstrating at the local public

swimming pool, where Africanscould not swim. Our people hadto swim in the river. We werearrested, jailed, and put on trial.While the trial was going on, oneof the young men who was ontrial, his brother drowned in theMississippi River. So I wrote myfirst song. It said, ‘If you miss mein the Mississippi River, and youcan’t find me nowhere, come ondown to the swimming pool, we’llbe swimming down there.’ As thatsong became popular across theSouth, the people changed thename of the song to ‘If you missme at the back of the bus…’”

In 1964, Neblett and othermovement leaders were invited byPresident Sekou Touré to visitGuinea in order to learn aboutliberation politics in Africa:

“In 1964, President SekouTouré of Guinea, West Africa, sentus a cable saying, ‘Your movementhas captured our attention,’ andhe invited some of us to come toGuinea. That experience wasoverwhelming. We came throughimmigration, someone gave us acopy of the constitution, a portionof it, that said any person ofAfrican descent, no matter wherethey’re born, as soon as they setfoot in Guinea, is an automaticcitizen with all the privileges andresponsibilities of a citizen. I wasoverwhelmed, and I just fell downand kissed the earth. I had neverhad that kind of feeling before, afeeling that I actually belongedsomewhere. I was actuallycomfortable and could feel safe. Ihad never had that feeling before,and that’s a feeling that I neverwant to let go of. Never.”

In 1966, like many fellowactivists, Neblett was drawn to theBlack Power movement (heworked closely with Kwame Ture[formerly Stokely Carmichael] formany years), and later to Pan-Africanism as articulated byKwame Nkrumah and SekouTouré. Moving from the BlackPanther Party, he eventually joinedthe All African Peoples’

2007-2008 Winter WIP 27

Revolutionary Party (AAPRP), forwhich he still organizes today. Inthe late 1960s, he returned toConakry, Guinea, to study history,culture, and organizing underNkrumah and Touré for 18months. The 1970s and ‘80s foundhim traveling the world, speakingand organizing. He also continuedhis education at Goddard Collegein Vermont, where hesimultaneously taught a course onthe Civil Rights movement.

On this international journey,Neblett found himself in search of“a more traditional musicalexpression of his people and their struggle:”1

“I needed a musical expressionthat would accommodate thestruggle I was involved in. So Ipicked up the traditional Africandrums. I was fortunate enough, in1991, to go to St. Croix, at [the]invitation of the SmithsonianInstitute; they did the first annualVirgin Islands Folklife Festival. Thepopulation of the Virgin Islands,as a result of slavery, mostly camefrom the Gambia–Senegal area.They invited some Gambians andbrought the Senegalese there, too.I was there with the old FreedomSingers. I saw this man comingwith four drums. The name wasthe bougarabou. When he startedto play these drums, I wasmesmerized. I had a cheap taperecorder, and I was taping. I said,‘This is fantastic!’ [It] seemsimpossible that one person couldbe an orchestra unto themselveswith these four drums. I broughtthe tape back. I was living inNebraska at the time. I played thetape in the car, I played it in myhouse, I still couldn’t believe it.Three years later, toward the endof the year, I had been on aspeaking tour, I got back toNebraska. My sister said, ‘There’ssomeone in town I know you’llwant to meet.’ I found this man,another man from Senegal [ManeBadiane] with the same kind ofdrums, which was unbelievable! Isaid, ‘How could this just happen?These drums are following me!’”

Working with Badiane in1994–95 in Nebraska led Neblettto travel to the Casamance,Senegal, to study further withmaster drummer BakaryDhedhiou, and to obtain his owninstruments.

“To collect the bougarabou, Ihad to go from village to village,deep into the interior, to findthese drums. You don’t just goand buy a bougarabou in thatarea, because this is the home ofthe bougarabou. You have to gothrough a series of rituals. Peoplehave to investigate you, knowsomething about you. They haveto be satisfied that you’re going tomaintain the integrity of thesedrums and the traditions. At theend of the ceremony, you gothrough another ceremony called‘the blessing of the hands.’ So ittook me a while to accumulate[the drums], because you couldn’tfind all of them in one place.”

Unlike its famouscousin/neighbor the djembe2 thebougarabou remains relativelyunknown. In its traditional form,the bougarabou is a wooden drumwith a cowskin head attached tothe body with pegs and rope.Many other African drumtraditions have one person perdrum in multi-instrumentensembles. Currently, thebougarabou consists of a three- orfour-drum ensemble played by asingle musician. One sourcesuggests that this innovation wasintroduced in the 1970s, possiblydue to the influence of Cubandance music in West Africa. (Overthe course of the 20th century,Afro-Cuban conga drummersbegan using two, and later three,four, and five drums in their set-ups.)3 The bougarabou has beentranslated into new contexts aswell: it has been played in theSenegalese National Orchestra andthe National Ballet; itscharacteristic bubbling rhythmshave been transferred to thedjembe ensemble; and a modifiedversion of the drum, strung like adjembe, has made it into world

percussion catalogues in theUnited States and Europe.

The four drums of the modernSenegalese bougarabou are placedon a wooden stand, with thelowest-pitched drum (the“ancestor bass”) on the far right;next to it sits the highest-pitched,then the next highest and thethird highest-pitched (the contra-bass) drums. This is the set-up fora left-handed player (Neblett,although right-handed, learnedfrom a left-handed teacher andplays like a left-hander). Thehighest-pitched drum solos overthe constant texture of the otherthree drums, the jingling of ironpeapod-bell bracelets worn by thedrummer, and, in traditionalsettings, the clacking of palm treesticks and singing. Thebougarabou accompaniesdancing—all life occasions for theJola, whether serious or fun, callfor dancing. Neblett says:

“The bougarabou goes back toabout the 10th century in thesouth of Senegal. The people whoplayed the bougarabou weregriots, oral historians. Thesepeople had such command ofhistory that they werecommissioned to be advisors tothe rulers. In those days, thewomen were not allowed to playdrums, but the relationship, thewoman to the drum, was a crucialone. All the rhythms of the drumscame from the activities ofwomen, in the fields…

The tuning of these drums is aritual unto itself. The solo and theaccompaniment drum are tunedwith fire. In Africa we built a fireon the ground and tuned them.The contra-bass rarely has to betuned. The bass is tuned withwater and the earth. [Put] wateron the cow skin, and turn itupside down on the ground, andit creates a deep bass. Some of thepeople who play the bougarabouin the United States are beginningto cheat a little bit. They’remaking the bougarabou look like a



28 WIP Winter 2007-2008

djembe with strings on it. Andthey’re telling me, ‘Seku, you haveto convert your drums, put thestrings on it. Because if you haveto do a job real quick, you don’thave time to get the fire.’

I’m saying: they’ll have to wait,because I’m not giving up any ofthe elements of these drums.People will be patient and wait tillthey’re tuned properly, becauseeven though an audience may notrealize the difference, I need thatspiritual connection that comesout of that fire and water, and thathistory. I [will not] present to anaudience something that’s notquite right. I want to beresponsible to those who blessedmy hands in Africa, and to theancestors, to present it properly.”

Neblett uses the bougarabou asa solo performer, and the djembe-dundun ensemble to teach, whilehe continues his own drumstudies with Philadelphia djembeplayer Ira Bond. In his beginners’class at the Cecil B. Moore RecCenter, the young players areengaged, respectful, anddisciplined, interpreting Koukouand Lamba (rhythms from Guinea)with enthusiasm. Seku hopes toadd dance to his drum classes andcreate a youth performingensemble in the near future. Ofhis current work in Philadelphiahe says, paraphrasing Ture:4

“I’m a cultural artist, and I tryto be responsible. The artist usesthe people’s culture, the people’screation. The songwriter didn’tinvent words, the poet didn’tinvent rhyme, the musician didn’tinvent the instruments, the peopledid. We’re using the people’sculture, and we have to beresponsible to represent thepeople’s culture in our art form.Those of us from an oppressedpeople, our art must be the art ofresistance. So, the artist has aresponsibility to represent thepeople’s culture with dignity andhonor. This is why we hearthunderous applause at themention of Paul Robeson, MiriamMakeba, Bob Marley, Sory

Kouyate, etc. So, I use theinstruments to encourage unity ofthought. We already have unity ofaction, but what is lacking is unityof thought, and respect, which isparamount in African culture. We have to listen to one another. Ican teach those principles withdjembe. With the djembe, you dothe polyrhythms with a number of people. For communityorganizational reasons, it’s betterto use the djembe [than thebougarabou] because you have more participation.

The artist must represent thepeople’s culture, and we mustresist attempts to commercializeor to compromise the people’sstruggle. We are struggling for ourvery liberation, and our art formmust encourage that struggle, andit must tell the story of thatstruggle, it must enhance thatstruggle and keep it alive, andmake that struggle grow. Thepinnacle or the highest form ofculture is liberation. And this iswhat I use my instruments and myart to try to help accomplish.”5

—Elizabeth Sayre

Notes1 From Neblett’s biography,available for download atwww.seku.com.2 The djembe drum, originallyfrom Maninka areas in present-dayMali and Guinea, is the mostglobalized of West African drums.See Tang 2007 and Charry 2000,pp. 193-241, for detailedinformation on neighboring WestAfrican drum traditions.3 Badjie recording, liner notes.4 See Kwame Ture, “OnRevolutionary Culture and theRole of the Artist,”http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/showthread.php?t=24748,http://members.aol.com/aaprp/interview.html5 Ibid.

Resources for furtherexplorationBooks:

Castaldi, Francesca. 2006.

Choreographies of AfricanIdentities: Negritude, Dance, andthe National Ballet of Senegal.Urbana & Chicago: University ofIllinois Press.

Countryman, Matthew. 2007.Up South: Civil Rights and BlackPower in Philadelphia.Philadelphia: University ofPennsylvania Press.

Charry, Eric. 2000. MandeMusic: Traditional and ModernMusic of the Maninka andMandinka of Western Africa.Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Reagon, Bernice Johnson.2001. If You Go, Don’t Hinder Me:The African American Sacred SongTradition. Lincoln: University ofNebraska Press.

Tang, Patricia. 2007. Masters of the Sabar: Wolof Griot Percussionists of Senegal.Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

Recordings:Badjie, Saikouba. 1996.

Bougarabou: Solo Drumming ofCasamance. Village Pulse: VPU-1005.

Various Artists. 1990. Sing forFreedom: The Story of the CivilRights Movement Through ItsSongs. Smithsonian Folkways:SFW 40032.

Online:Seku Neblett’s website:

http://www.seku.com/Seku Neblett speaks

out in 1969:http://main.wgbh.org/saybrother/programs/sb_0411.html

Philadelphia Weekly article onthe revitalization of the Cecil B.Moore Recreation Center:http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/view.php?id=14776

Article on Seku’s brother,Charles Neblett, and the Freedom Singers:

http://www.bgdailynews.com/articles/2007/07/09/the_amplifier/feature/cover-charlesneblett.txt


Taqasim is division, how you divide whatyou’re doing. Taqasim is representing themaqam, and the beauty of the maqam. Thereare some notes that are stronger thanothers that you reveal by playing. It dependson your own point of view. So everybody isdifferent from [each] other [in] representingthis. The factors are your experience, youremotional state of mind—you might bedifferent from yourself in a different state ofmind, representing the same maqam.Taqasim means division. You divide thepronunciation of the music [according to]the way you feel at the time. Sometimes it’sprepared; sometimes it’s not. Sometimesyou prepare those divisions beforehand. Me,I don’t prepare. Wherever I perform, there’svibes from the audience. They might like this,or not like that. It’s not that I’m intelligent. Itjust comes automatically. By the energy ofthe audience, I feel it should be this way, orthat way, or some other way. So I’m aspecialist in this, performing differently allthe time. It’s interaction between the people and the performer.”

Spontaneity, flexibility, and an openlyexpressed, reciprocal, emotionalconnection between audience andperformer are all part of Arab music.Ultimately, for Refela, the importance anduniqueness of music lies in its emotionalimpact and the diversity of responses it permits:

“Music in general is something to helpyou cheer up or to express [yourself]. Itmight not always be [for] cheering up, butyou need it. Sometimes you feel mellow,or you want to be crazy? Music helps inthis. That’s why music is a beautiful art.

The highest level of art is the abstract.You reduce everything to some point. Youreduce it so it means more. If you have tenpeople performing the same music in thesame moment, you’re going to havetwenty different opinions about the music.That’s what’s good about music, in general.It’s abstract. It gives you the freedom tofeel whatever you feel. You play the samemusic for ten people, you get differentopinions. Maybe even the same person isgoing to tell you something else aboutwhat they heard. That’s what’s good about

music, that’s how I look at it.”—Elizabeth Sayre

Notes1 Marcus, p. 45. “The ‘ud is the directancestor of the European lute both in nameand shape.”2 As in India, where it became a virtuosoinstrument in local art music styles, the violinfit easily into Arab musical schemes due toits ability to play melodic slides andreproduce shades and degrees of pitchbeyond the twelve fixed pitches used in mostEuropean music. One of the most wellknown characteristics of Arab music is itsuse of “quarter tones,” also sometimescalled half-sharps or half-flats – pitches thatfall in between the notes, so to speak, ofWestern scales.3 Danielson, p. 1.4 Ibid, p. 172.5 Ethnomusicologist Stephen Blum suggeststhat Middle Eastern music was, in fact, toorhythmically complex to make notation aneffective tool for transmission: “A majorreason why most Middle Eastern practicesnever came to rely on musical notation isthe complexity of the rhythms to whichverse and prose are appropriately sung orrecited.” (Blum, p. 9).6 A typical small-ensemble texture in Arabmusic is heterophony, in which each ofseveral instruments interprets the samemelody somewhat differently, according tothe particular techniques of each (seeMarcus, p. 16). In contrast to muchEuropean music, traditional Arab music, likeIndian music, does not stress or use muchharmony—different instruments playingdifferent musical lines, which simultaneouslycreates note-against-note, “vertical”relationships (chords). Rather, both Araband Indian music involve the art of“horizontal” development of melodies.7 “Tabla” in this context is not the NorthIndian pair of hand drums, but rather thesingle goblet-shaped drum also calleddumbek or darabuka in other areas.8 Musicians from the Eastern Mediterraneanfind collaboration easy due to regionalcommonalities. Musical similarities acrossnational, linguistic, and religious differencesare characteristic of the Middle East. “Themodel of national music histories is moremisleading than helpful when applied to theMiddle East, where the norm has beencultural interaction among speakers of twoor more languages and among practitioners

of several religions.” (Blum, p. 12)9 Marcus, p. 114. The maqamat (pl.) are themelodic modes used in all types of Arabmusic. They are not only sets of pitches (likeWestern scales), but also have characteristicturns of phrase, specific orders for theintroduction of notes, and, if renderedproperly by skilled musicians, should putaudience and performers alike in states of ecstasy.

Resources for further explorationBooks:

Blum, Stephen. 2002. “Hearing the Musicof the Middle East” in The GarlandEncyclopedia of World Music, v. 6, The MiddleEast, ed. Virginia Danielson, Scott Marcus,and Dwight Reynolds. New York & London:Routledge.

Danielson, Virginia. 1997. The Voice ofEgypt: Umm Kulthum, Arabic Song, andEgyptian Society in the Twentieth Century.Chicago & London: University of ChicagoPress.

Marcus, Scott. 2007. Music in Egypt:Experiencing Music, Expressing Culture. NewYork: Oxford University Press.

Racy, A. J. 2003. Making Music in the ArabWorld: The Culture and Artistry of Tarab. NewYork & Cambridge: University of

Cambridge Press.

Online:Educational site on Arabic melodic modes,

the maqam: http://www.maqamworld.com/National Arab Music Ensemble at the

Cairo Opera House:http://www.cairooperahouse.org/english/ab

out_cairo_opera_house/about_music_ensemble.asp

Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture website:http://www.albustanseeds.org

The Spice Route Ensemble:http://www.animusmusic.com/spiceroute/

Intercultural Journeys:http://www.interculturaljourneys.org >>

Adeeb Refela’s website:http://www.adibsaaman.tk/

2007-2008 Winter WIP 29


definitions of “bad” and “good” hairbased on European standards, andreclaiming African traditions of beauty.Her mother always told her, “Beauty isas beauty does,” and the sayinginoculated Yvette against some of thenegative self-image she saw in others(from ages nine to ninety, she says) andset her on a journey of self-discovery.She went on to school herself inintricate and varied hair braiding,wrapping, coiling and weaving traditionsused in her own extended family acrossthe American South, and across theAfrican Diaspora, from Egypt to SouthAfrica, Senegal to Kenya as animportant form of creative expressionrepresenting both the individuality andsocial status or role of the wearer. Inher own work, she draws on a widerange of styles and techniques,approaching each person’s hair as theultimate wearable art. In 1998, shecompleted a documentary “HairStories”, recently broadcast on WYBE-TV. She has been a featured artist atODUNDE and appears at hundreds ofschools and community events annually,and in 2006, was part of the FolkloreProject’s salon series on local folk arts.

Michele Tayoun was exposed tonumerous forms of Middle Easterndance and music growing up as part ofan extended Lebanese American familythat ran the famous “Middle East”nightclub and restaurant in Philadelphia.Michele had formal training in ballet,modern dance and jazz, and learnedMiddle Eastern dances from performersat the family’s restaurant. Her dancevocabulary combines both Lebanese andEgyptian styles. She has been singingArabic music at community festivals aswell as professionally for the pastseveral years, and continues to enhanceher knowledge of Arabic music andsong by performing with accomplishedregional performers, and participating inworkshops with the internationallyrenowned composer Simon Shaheen.She performs as a dancer and singerwith the Spice Route Ensemble and withthe Herencia Arabe Project. She was apart of the Folklore Project’s DanceHappens Here program in 2005.

Elaine Hoffman Watts is a third-generation klezmer musician. Hergrandfather, Joseph Hoffman, a cornet

player, came to Philadelphia at thedawn of the 20th century. Hoffmantaught other family members theklezmer music he learned as a child inEastern Europe. Played by theHoffman family and other musicians atcertain times in Jewish weddings, andin the parties that followed, this musicbecame part of a distinctlyPhiladelphia klezmer repertoire. Ms.Watts’ father was Jacob Hoffman, agreat klezmer drummer andxylophonist, and a versatile musicianwho knew many styles of music; healso played with the PhiladelphiaOrchestra. He had come toPhiladelphia with his father andfollowed in the family tradition,making influential recordings in thefirst half of last century with theKandel Orchestra, a well-knownPhiladelphia klezmer group. ElaineWatts was the first womanpercussionist to be accepted at CurtisInstitute, from which she graduated in1954. She has performed and taughtfor more than forty years, working insymphonies, theaters, and schools.Now performing with an ensemblecalled the Fabulous Shpielkehs, she isfeatured on a CD, “I RememberKlezmer,” which draws on anddocuments her amazing family musicaltradition. As well, she is on theklezmer CD, “Fidl,” with Alicia Svigalsof the Klezmatics, teaches andperforms annually at KlezKamp andhas been accepting invitations to playnationally. In June 2000, she wasawarded a Pew Fellowship in the Arts.In 2007, she received a prestigiousNational Endowment for the ArtsHeritage Fellowship—one of the tophonors for traditional artists in thiscountry. She will be performing in aFolklore Project “Musicians inResidence” concert in the spring of 2008.

Susan Watts, trumpeter,represents a younger generation ofthe important Hoffman Watts klezmerdynasty. Susan currently plays klezmerwith her mother in the FabulousShpielkehs. Susan has recorded andperformed with noted klezmer artistsfrom around the world, includingHankus Netsky, Mikveh, London’sKlezmer All-Star Brass Band, and

others. She has taught at klezmerfestivals and privately, and performs ina diverse range of trumpet styles. Shewas a featured artist in thePhiladelphia Folklore Project’sWomen’s Music Project for 2001-2003. She tours Europe regularly, andperformed in China in 2006. Also in2006, she received an award from theAmerican Composers’ Forum. Shewill be performing in a FolkloreProject “Musicians in Residence”concert in the spring of 2008.

All that we do: contemporarywomen, traditional arts wascurated by Toni Shapiro-Phim andDebora Kodish, with AntoniaArias, Fatu Gayflor, VeraNakonechny, Ayesha Rahim, AnnaRubio, Yvette Smalls, MicheleTayoun, Elaine Hoffman Wattsand Susan Watts. Installed by KimTieger.

This project is funded by thePennsylvania Humanities Council,The National Endowment for the Humanities, The NationalEndowment for the Arts, and PFP members.

30 WIP Winter 2007-2008


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