[Marxism] FW: African Voices Honors Sonia Sanchez & remembers Rich Bartee:With Autum Ashante

[Bro Ashante' <pray2overstand@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

 AFRICAN VOICES PRESENTS ELLIE CHARLES AWARD TO LEGENDARY POET SONIA
 SANCHEZ & REMEMBERS POET RICHARD BARTEE

On Saturday, January 22, 2005 at 5 pm, African Voices magazine will
 host
 an exciting evening of poetry, music and dance to honor
 award-winning poet/activist Sonia Sanchez for her contributions as
 mentor, activist and artist. The awards ceremony begins at 5pm at
Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway at 95th Street and a private reception
 will be held at 8pm at 270 W. 96th Street (bet. Broadway & West End
 Ave.). Tickets are $36 or $51 for awards ceremony and private
reception.
 For tickets call Symphony Space at 212 864-5400 or visit
 www.africanvoices.com. For program information call 212
 865-2982.

African Voices Ellie Charles Artists Award will be presented to Ms
 Sanchez and a special dedication will be given to belated poet Richard
Bartee. Ms. Sanchez will perform selections from her new CD Full Moon
 of
 Sonia and the celebration will include featured performances by the
Wayne Cobham Quartet, Pun Jab Romain & Co. with guest vocalist Atiba
 Wilson, the Restoration Dance Theater, six-year-old poetry genius
 Autum Ashante '
and blues guitarist Ladell McLin. Howard Dodson, chief of the
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and Voza Rivers,
 founder
of the Harlem Arts Alliance, will help fete the honorees. Amiri and
 Amina Baraka will join other surprise guests in celebrating the
 honorees. Singer Shannone Holt will open the program with Lift Every
 Voice. The program is a benefit for African Voices, a quarterly
 magazine
that sponsors literary readings, conferences and other cultural
 events.
Affectionately known as the Poet Laureate of the Planet,
 Sanchez's work spans over 40 years. Her contribution to
 poetry is unparalleled and this latest project serves as a reminder
 of her impact on the oral tradition in African-American literature. A
glimpse of Sanchez's full career reveals that she is the author of
over 16 books including Shake Loose My Skin, Homecoming, We
 a BaddDDD People, Homegirls and Handgrenades, Under a
Soprano Sky, and others. She is the recipient ofcountless awards
and honors from institutions such as the National Endowment for
the Arts and the Women International League for Peace and
Freedom. Her poetry has also appeared in the movie Love Jones.
 Sanchez has lectured at over 500 universities and colleges in the
United States and has traveled the world reading her poetry in
Africa, Cuba, the Caribbean, Australia, Nicaragua, and many other
 countries. She was also the first Presidential Fellow at Temple
 University where she held the Laura Carnell Chair in English until
 she retired in 1999.
 Full Moon of Sonia, which features some of the finest composers,
 musicians, and vocalists working in music today, is a celebration
 of the life and work of Sonia Sanchez. The CD is a comprehensive
 music recording of her poetry, laced with smooth vocals, jazz, R&B,
 gospel, blues, Afro-Cuban, and hip hop.

Richard Bartee is being remembered for his innovative legacy of
bringing poetry and art into many uncommon places throughout
 the city. He was a tireless advocate of the written and Spoken
 Word and he was fondly known as Brooklynâ?Ts poet laureate.
 Bartee, the author of poems, songs and slogans, among them the
 book, America On Our Minds in Harlem (co-authored with Jamel
 Carma), and the song, "Harlem Heartbeat," would ride the
â?oDâ?? train from the Bronx to Brooklyn, taking his poetry directly
 to the people. He'd recite anywhere, convincing folks that poetry
indeed belonged to all of us -- selling pamphlets and chapbooks
while rewarding us with stickers that read: MORE HUGGING,
 LESS MUGGING!, his most famous slogan, or those little cards
 with mirrors in them.

A stalwart constant with the Harlem Chamber of Commerce, the
 Harlem Arts Alliance, and Brooklyn's Billie Holiday Theater, Bartee
 was ever encouraging the inclusion of poets and musicians as
 regular features in such annual community events as Harlem
 Week, Marcus Garvey Day, and the African American Day Parade,
 culminating in several poetry performances at the famed Apollo
 Theatre long before Hip Hop and Spoken Word Jams took to the
 stage. He was a member of SPIN, the African Heritage Caucus
 inside of the National Writers Union, and a member of the NWU's
 New York Local Steering Committee, working with many of the
aforementioned activist writers in an attempt to form a Cultural
 Workers Union, a project that remains unfinished. Bartee died on
 April 7, 2003 but his work lives on in the hearts and minds of many
 people he touched through his poetry and ministry.

Sonia Sanchez and Rich Bartee have played special roles in
African Voices history. Sanchez guest edited one of the magazine's
 10th Anniversary issue and Bartee influenced African Voices to
 develop a literary style that showcases poetry as its centerpiece.
 African Voices Ellie Charles Artists Awards is named after the
 organization's first chairperson Eleanor "Ellie" Charles who
dedicated her life to supporting the arts, education and young
 people. In 1998, legendary photographer Gordon Parks became
 the first artist to receive African Voices prestigious artist award.
 Past Ellie Award recipients are actress/activist Ruby Dee and
 award-winning authors Walter Mosley and Wole Soyinka, poet
Amiri Baraka and actress Phyllis Yvonne Stickney.



_______________________________________________
Marxism mailing list
Marxism@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism