Podcasts about afro venezuelan

This is a live recording from Philly Joe's, an intimate jazz club in Tallinn, in September 2024 on a rainy evening outside.  The Sebastian Tarazona Quintet describe themselves like this: "Drawing inspiration from the electric jazz of the 1970s, and the rich traditions of Afro-Venezuelan folk music, the Sebastian Tarazona Quintet creates a compelling blend of Latin Jazz and Electric-Fusion Jazz. Their sound is a celebration of rhythmic complexity and melodic exploration, offering audiences a fresh yet deeply rooted jazz experience."  Recorded by Cities and Memory. 

In this podcast episode, I discuss an Afro Venezuelan hero.https://youtu.be/wlztEKM1Gg0?s...

In this episode of Travel Notes, we embark on the first leg of a journey through Venezuela's rich musical landscape with award winning Venezuelan born Toronto based musician, Eliana Cuevas. Her most recent album, Seré Libre, blends together classical, jazz, Afro-Venezuelan rhythms and folk music to create a seamless reflection of the multifaceted music of Venezuela.

In this episode, we are joined by Afro-Venezuelan and Afro-Indigenous singer 'GOTOPO,' who tells us about her new song "Sacudete" and delves into the intriguing concept of 'Ancestral Futurism,' an artistic approach that fuses the past, present, and future of pop culture while exploring heritage and identity. GOTOPO highlights the significance of connecting with cultural roots and using art to create conversations around race and identity in a less polarizing manner. Through ancestral futurism, she aims to bring together the past, present, and future in her work while helping others explore their heritage. Ancestral Futurism and Imaginative Storytelling Ancestral futurism means "looking back to repair the future" Integrating knowledge of the past to navigate the future through music Gotopo fuses the complexities of the African diaspora through her art, sharing forgotten truths and envisioning a fresh future Searching for Cultural Identity The discovery of indigenous roots in her last name reveals forgotten history and trauma In the song "Sacúdete" Gotopo represents a blend of her complex identities and seeks imaginative space to process her past and present The Role of Live Performance Movement plays a crucial role in Gotopo's live performances Connection to the music and feeling of being a part of the final piece of art The Power of Language Gotopo's multidimensional lyrical approach reflects all facets of her identity Breaking free from genre norms, she conveys her message through an imaginative blend of words Links and Resources: GOTOPO's Official Website Ancestral Futurism The Latino Renaissance: Overlooked by Mainstream Media The Brown & Black podcast, a 2023 Webby Nominee in the Best DE&I Episode Category, offers insightful examinations of race and pop culture. Hosted by two distinguished film and culture critics - one Latino and one Black - the podcast reimagines the narrative surrounding pop culture news and opinions in America. Jack Rico and Mike Sargent feature interviews with Latino and Black filmmakers, actors, musicians, and artists, unpacking the complex relationship between entertainment and race. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Gotopo is a Venezuelan singer and musician currently based in Berlin. Her music explores her own Afro-Indigenous roots through a mix of ancient folkloric sounds and modern electronic dance music. She is a "digger", and has thrown herself into researching source material, as in an Afro-Venezuelan hymn intended for slaves to give a spiritual farewell to their relatives who died at the hands of the enslaver which informed her song, "Malembe". Her debut release, called Sacudete, comes out on May 19, and Gotopo performs her indigenous and ancestral futurism, in-studio.  Set list: "Piña Pa La Niña", "Cucu", "Sacudete" 

For Emmy-nominated composer, Amanda Jones, the challenge to create a sonic universe to match NatGeo's Super/Natural series filled with the world's most extraordinary animals, was a welcome one. For this score which she describes as “percussive heavy, very organic, guttural and raw, and a little bit weird,” Amanda details how she utilized a vast array of instruments including Afro Venezuelan and Afro Columbian percussion, wooden flutes, acoustic guitar, violin, congas and a ukulele, to bring a spectacular universe of animals to life. The Vassar and Berklee College of Music grad's innovative and experimental approach to creating music, manipulating and stretching the tone and sounds of each instrument, was key to creating a musical narration for everything -- from flying squirrels to elephants. She even made spiders sexy, tune in now to find out how.

I had a teacher - he said that we all are percussionists because our biggest instrument - and the most important - the heart, is always beating  - Misset Parata In this episode, we chat with Misset Parata, an Actor and Percussionist, born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela where she was immersed into Afro- Venezuelan dance and Music Traditions. She is also one of the protagonists of Cacao | A Venezuelan Lament, a new live performance work having its opening at the Rutas Festival. Cacao | A Venezuelan Lament is a new live performance works about belonging, land and the preservation of traditions. Drawing on twelve years of community-based fieldwork, this polylingual and multidisciplinary dance and theatre production offers timely insight into the complex lived realities of Venezuela's cacao farmers. Creator, Director and Choreographer Victoria Mata roots her vocabulary and aesthetics in the tensions between remembering and forgetting, and in a dynamic dialogue between Afro-Venezuelan genres and contemporary expressions of dance and music. Our co-host of this episode is a Venezuelan-born, Dora Award-winning performer, writer, facilitator and the very first guest we had in the podcast, Augusto Bitter.  For more information about the RUTAS FESTIVAL. All Radio Aluna Theatre episodes are in Spanglish, English, or Spanish. New episodes are released on Wednesdays. Follow and subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, and wherever else you get your podcasts. Radio Aluna Teatro is produced by Aluna Theatre with support from the Toronto Arts Council, The Ontario Arts Council,  the Canada Council for the Arts, the Department of Canadian Heritage, and TD Bank.   Aluna Theatre is Beatriz Pizano & Trevor Schwellnus; Radio Aluna Theatre is produced by Monica Garrido and Lucia Linares. For more about Aluna Theatre, visit us at alunatheatre.ca, follow @alunatheatre on twitter or instagram, or ‘like' us on facebook. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sabes, tengo un maestro, que dice que todos somos percusionistas porque nuestro instrumento más grande y el más importante, es el corazón, y este siempre está latiendo, siempre está haciendo un sonido, desde que naciste  - Misset Parata En este episodio, conversamos con Misset Parata, una actriz y percusionista, nacida y criada en Caracas, Venezuela, donde se sumergió en la danza y las tradiciones musicales Afro-Venezolanas. Misset es una de las protagonistas de Cacao | Un Lamento Venezolano, una producción multidisciplinaria que tendrá su estreno en el Festival Rutas. Cacao | A Venezuelan Lament es una nueva obra que habla de pertenecer, de la tierra, y la preservación de las tradiciones. Basado en el trabajo de 12 años en el área comunitaria, esta producción polilingüe y multidisciplinaria de danza y teatro, ofrece una perspectiva dentro de las complejas realidades de campesinos de Cacao en Venezuela. La creadora, directora y coreógrafa Victoria Mata, radica su vocabulario y estética en la tensión que causa el recordar y el olvidar; en un diálogo dinámico entre géneros Afro-Venezolanos y expresiones contemporáneas de danza y música. Our co-host of this episode is a Venezuelan-born, Dora Award-winning performer, writer, facilitator and the very first guest we had in the podcast, Augusto Bitter.  Nuestro coanfitrión de este episodio es un actor, escritor, facilitador, ganador del premio Dora, nacido en Venezuela y el primer invitado que tuvimos en el podcast, Augusto Bitter. Para más información sobre el Festival RUTAS. Todos los episodios de Radio Aluna Teatro son en Inglés, Español y Spanglish. Nuevos episodios de Radio Aluna Teatro cada Miércoles. Síguenos y suscríbete a este podcast en iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, y donde sea que escuches tus podcasts. Radio Aluna Teatro es una producción de Aluna Theatre con el apoyo de  Toronto Arts Council, Ontario Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, Department of Canadian Heritage, y TD Bank.   Aluna Theatre es Beatriz Pizano & Trevor Schwellnus. Radio Aluna Theatre es producido por Lucía Linares y Mónica Garrido. Para más información sobre Aluna Theatre, visita nuestra página alunatheatre.ca, síguenos en twitter @alunatheatre o en instagram, o haz click en “me gusta” en facebook.

Damon gets to talk to Daniel about his upbringing, travels to L.A. and NYC, Afro-Venezuelan music, surfing and more! There's other segments like: Happy Birthday, gig alerts, educational spotlight, music news and others.

 Notes and Links—Movie Reviewed: Smith, Paul J, Film Quarterly, “Screenings: San Sebastian International Film Festival,” Vol. 67, No. 1 (Fall 2013), pp 55-57Walsh, Katie, Los Angeles Times; “In ‘Pelo Malo,' boy's hair issues spark tensions with mother,” January 22, 2015—Interlude: “Pelo afro: El cabello que no aceptamos en R.D,” Youtube, August 1, 2016—Links and Resources: Ortiz-Loyola, Brenda. “Straight or Curly? Hair and Race in Carmen Montanez's Pelo Bueno, Pelo Malo,”Hispania Vol 100, No. 3 (September 2017) pp. 421-430. Farrell, Michelle. Remezcla; “The Director of ‘Bad Hair' talks about about Venezuela's Dangerous Obsession with Beauty”. November 19 2014. Garsd, Jasmine, NPR;  ‘Pelo Malo' Is A Rare Look into Latin American Race Relations”, December 10, 2014. Ferrighetto, Marissa. Panoramas; “Pelo Malo: A Look into the Complexities of Identity in Latin America,” September 2, 2016. Foundation, Sasha M. Hey Mi Gente; “Pelo Malo Y Pelo Bueno,” May 27, 2016.  —Find additional episodes, leave a comment, or  support the podcast at negrometraje.com.—Email us, or follow us on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook(Suggestions of movies to watch for future episodes are very welcome.)—Find additional episodes, leave a comment, or  support the podcast at negrometraje.com. 

Sandra Treviño of Enchúfate comes back every week to share us the music of the Latinx world. This week, we travel to Venezuela for a feature of Venezonix!

In our twenty-fourth episode, listeners meet Lisbeth Coiman, an Afro-Venezuelan poet and author of I Asked the Blue Heron: A Memoir (2017), which yours truly reviewed for the new page on PATREON. Coiman shares with listeners about growing up in Venezuela during the “Latin-American boom,” her thoughts on Hugo Chavez, leaving Venezuela for Canada, andContinue reading EPISODE 24 – LISBETH COIMAN →

In our twenty-fourth episode, listeners meet Lisbeth Coiman, an Afro-Venezuelan poet and author of I Asked the Blue Heron: A Memoir (2017), which yours truly reviewed for the new page on PATREON. Coiman shares with listeners about growing up in Venezuela during the “Latin-American boom,” her thoughts on Hugo Chavez, leaving Venezuela for Canada, andContinue reading EPISODE 24 – LISBETH COIMAN →

Part 2 of our wrap up on the constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. We pick up here with discussion on the Afro-Venezuelan and LGBTQ+ struggles, work through housing and land rights, and finish off talking about the revolutionary Article 88, which guarantees equality between men and women and guarantees social security compensation to housewives. We wrap it up with our personal reflections on this series and the Bolivarian Revolution in general before declaring Chris Murphy of CT dickhead of the day. Follow us on twitter @macheteymate

The third installment of our series on the constitution of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. We pick up the story right after the constituent assembly of 1999, highlighting key events of the 2000s including the 2002 coup attempt, the oil lockdown, the recall referendum, Chávez's reelection, and the 2007 constitutional referendum. We then dive deep into the successes and failures of the educational reforms, and begin working through some of the civil rights reforms, leaving it off on freedom of the press. We pick it up again in part 2 of this Episode with the Afro-Venezuelan struggle so make sure to check that out to get the whole chat. Follow us on twitter @macheteymate

Have you ever wondered what life was like for Black people who voluntarily moved to the United States? Did you once hear the term "Afro Latina" and found yourself perplexed at the idea of Africans in South America? On this week's show, Cesar Francia, an Afro-Venezuelan lawyer takes us on his family's journey out of the favelas to the streets of Miami when he was a young boy of 14. The reality of being a dark-skinned queer Black man set him on a path to exceed his own expectations. Yet, while reflecting on his many accomplishments, he offers wisdom on suppressing ourselves in order to succeed in a white world.   If you're someone who's felt like they have had to "turn down" or "turn off" their Blackness in order to survive and live in a white world or if you've ever felt like you've had to sacrifice your passion for more...pragmatic career pursuits, then you won't want to miss the wisdom, encouragement, and refreshing spirit of Cesar Francia. Enjoy!If you enjoyed this episode please drop us a review or let us know what's on your mind at theteam@thebuddypass.net. 

In this episode of our joint podcast series with Millennial Politics on Venezuela, Brand New Congress Chief Policy Director Jordan Valerie Allen speaks with Akinyele Umoja, Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of African-American Studies at Georgia State University and founding member of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement and the New Afrikan People's Organization, to discuss the history of Blackness in Venezuela, Afro-Venezuelan support for the Bolivarian Revolution, the racialization of Hugo Chávez, and more. (Professor Umoja is not affiliated with Brand New Congress and speaks only for himself as a guest on this podcast episode.)

Akinyele Umoja, Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of African-American Studies at Georgia State University and founding member of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement and the New Afrikan People's Organization, joins us for the Brand New Congress-Millennial Politics joint podcast series on Venezuela to discuss the history of Blackness in Venezuela, Afro-Venezuelan support for the Bolivarian Revolution, the racialization of Hugo Chávez, and more.

They are invisible to western Media.  They are silent to the Western Audience, however, 60% of Venezuela identifies themselves as Afro-Venezuelan.  Venezuela is one of the few majority black countries in the hemisphere.  Today, Jeanette Charles from Venezuela Analysis joins us to trace the history of the Afro-Venezuelans from the 1700s. We learn about the shared culture and heritage with Haiti, we talk about 19 and 20th-century imperialism and finally their empowerment after the Bolivarian revolution in 1998.  In the end, we also look at their world and see what the Americans can learn and implement!     Get full access to Historic.ly at historicly.substack.com/subscribe

Hailing from Venezuela, Betsayda Machado & Parranda El Clavo made their New York debut at GlobalFest  last year. The group’s electrifying live set, complete with pitch perfect harmonies, dazzling dancers, and irresistible rhythms earned them legions of new fans and a feature in the next days’s New York Times. We sat down with Betsayda with her manager Juan Souki and learned more about the Afro-Venezuelan tradition. She talks us through a few tracks on their first album,  Rural Recordings Under the Mango Tree, which is available through the Indiegogo campaign that brought them here. Betsayda Machado and Parranda EL Clavo

The Afro-Venezuelan collective brings the boisterous parranda sound to the Tiny Desk.

The Afro-Venezuelan collective brings the boisterous parranda sound to the Tiny Desk.

The songs of Betsayda Machado, the leading voice of Afro-Venezuelan music, address many of the most painful topics of daily life of her country: hunger, poverty, shortages of basic medicine, and deadly street riots – stemming from the current economic and political crisis in Venezuela. They talk about its consequences on a gut level: empty store shelves, and the devastation of parents unable to feed their children. Some in Venezuela who have spoken out have faced retribution, but that hasn’t deterred Betsayda Machado. Produced by Dan Rosenberg. About the producer: Dan Rosenberg is a journalist and music producer based in Toronto, Canada. He reports and music and culture for The Huffington Post, The Times (UK), The Rough Guides and various public radio programs including “Afropop Worldwide” and “Café International”. He also has produced over 60 albums including Yiddish Glory and dozens of releases for the Rough Guide to World Music series. Follow Afropop Worldwide on Facebook at www.facebook.com/afropop, on Instagram @afropopworldwide and on Twitter @afropopww. Subscribe to the Afropop Worldwide newsletter at www.afropop.org/newsletter/ S2:E11 Afropop Closeup Distributed 1/23/2018

Another Movimientos edition with plenty of fresh latin beats from across the board Afro-Venezuelan sounds to Peruvian psych, Salsa Dura, Latin House, future Mexican Norteño, Digital Cumbia and Brazilian Bass. With new music from Mexico's Nortec Collective and LA's Jungle Fire from Nacional Records, plus a great track from the new Chancha Via Circuito album, Ruben Blades goes Tango and new Aurelio Martinez on Real World Records. TRACKLISTING: Monsalve y Los Forajidos - La Carcajá Jeriko - Hey Joe Jungle Fire - Tropicoso Herman Olivera - El Venecedor Captain Planet - Un Poquito Mas ft Chico Mann Don Pascal - Tributo Ruben Blades - Pedro Navaja Chancha Via Circuito - Sueno En Paraguay Afroelectro - Omin Coco De Tebei - Peixe Piaba (Chico Correa remix) Jackson Do Pandeiro - Buraca Velho Stereo (Tahira edit) Nortec Collective - El Coyote Aurelio Martinez - Sañanaru

OMAR SOSAOmar Sosa (born April 10, 1965, in Camagüey, Cuba) is a composer, bandleader, and jazz pianist. Sosa began studying marimba at age eight, then switched to piano at the Escuela Nacional de Musica in Havana, where he studied jazz. Sosa moved to Quito, Ecuador, in 1993, then San Francisco, California, in 1995. In San Francisco he became deeply involved in the local Latin jazz scene and began a long collaboration with percussionist John Santos. He also made a series of recordings with producer Greg Landau, including the ground-breaking Oaktown Irawo, featuring Tower of Power drummer Dave Garibaldi, Cuban saxophonist Yosvany Terry and Cuban percussionist Jesus Diaz. Sosa and Landau recorded with Carlos “Patato” Valdes and Pancho Quinto and worked on several film scores. Around 1999 Sosa moved to Barcelona, Spain.Omar Sosa is one of the most versatile jazz artists on the scene today: composer, arranger, producer, pianist, percussionist, and bandleader. He fuses a wide range of world music and electronic elements with his native Afro-Cuban roots to create a fresh and original urban sound – all with a Latin jazz heart. On stage, Mr. Sosa is a charismatic figure, inspiring his fellow musicians with his dynamic playing and improvisational approach to the music – an approach full of raw emotional power and humor. Mr. Sosa invariably inspires audiences to their feet and to join him in chorus vocals, heightening the sense of spontaneity and connection.Mr. Sosa’s latest CD on Otá Records, Mulatos , features Latin jazz master Paquito D’Rivera on clarinet. The recording is an adventurous, finely wrought, and wholly delightful mélange of Cuban jazz, Latin dance grooves, French chanson, North African trance music, and European folk. It dances with rhythmic inspirations of Indian tabla, jazz drums, and studio mixing. Also featured is the delicate voice of the Arabic lute, the oud, and the composer himself on marimba. “Mulatos” was recently nominated for Latin Jazz Album of the Year by the NYC-based Jazz Journalists Association.Mr. Sosa’s music is a unique style of Afro-Cuban jazz, and while it is rooted in the folkloric traditions of the African Diaspora, he always takes an exploratory approach – never one to let orthodoxy stand in the way of his pursuit of freedom. Sosa offers a joyful mix of jazz and Afro-Caribbean rhythms, combining percussive forays inside the piano and a series of electronic effects with his inspired, passionate playing at the keyboard. His tempos are fluid, and his moods change freely. Sosa revels in the irresistible clave grooves of Latin jazz, while adding experimental touches to keep his listeners on their toes.Omar Sosa has released 15 recordings on the Oakland-based Otá Records label since 1997, including 2002’s GRAMMY-nominated Sentir . He performed recently with his Octet at the opening of Carnegie Hall’s new Zankel Hall, about which Alex Ross of The New Yorker remarked that Sosa has “a ferocious flair for rhythm and a keen musical wit”. Composer John Adams, who curated the opening of Carnegie Hall’s new venue, commented that “Sosa is a deeply creative musician with an extraordinary harmonic sense. His piano playing is sui generis : It has obvious roots in Cuban music, but he’s taken his approach to the keyboard into completely new regions”. And Don Heckman of The Los Angeles Times recently wrote “Sosa’s vision of contemporary jazz reaches across every imaginable boundary”. For more information, please visit www.melodia.com.Omar Sosa was nominated in 2003 for a BBC Radio 3 Award for World Music in the ‘Americas’ category, along with Ibrahim Ferrer, Caetano Veloso, and Os Tribalistas. He began 2004 with the debut of his first work for symphony orchestra, entitled From Our Mother , performed at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland by the Oakland East Bay Symphony under the direction of Michael Morgan. The 45-minute work in three movements, which combines folkloric elements from Cuba, Venezuela, and Ecuador with modern jazz harmonies, was co-commissioned by Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco and the Oakland East Bay Symphony, with partial funding from the Rockefeller FoundationEGGUN released 2013 (OTA1024)EGGUN: The Afri-Lectric Experience began as an Omar Sosa commission from the Barcelona Jazz Festival in 2009. The assignment: to compose and produce a tribute performance to Miles Davis’ classic recording, Kind Of Blue, on the occasion of its 50th anniversary. Inspired by various musical elements and motifs from Kind Of Blue, Omar wrote a suite of music honoring the spirit of freedom in Davis’ seminal work.Featuring trumpet and two saxophones, Eggun provides a medium for musical elements from Africa to shape and develop the music. The resulting jazz textures are further enhanced by the subtle and expressive use of electronic elements. At the heart of the recording is the spirit of Mother Africa.The featured horn players are Joo Kraus on trumpet (Germany),Leandro Saint-Hill on alto saxophone and flute (Cuba), and Peter Apfelbaum on tenor saxophone (U.S.A.). Omar’s longtime rhythm section of Marque Gilmore on drums (U.S.A.) and Childo Tomas on electric bass (Mozambique) create the foundation.Special guests on the project include Lionel Loueke on guitars (Benin),Marvin Sewell on guitars (U.S.A.), Pedro Martinez on Afro-Cuban percussion (Cuba), John Santos on percussion (U.S.A.), and Gustavo Ovalles on Afro-Venezuelan percussion (Venezuela). The CD was recorded primarily in Brooklyn, NY. Of particular interest is a set of sixInterludios interspersed among the primary tracks of the recording, inspired by melodic elements from the solos of Bill Evans.Eggun, in the West African spiritual practice of Ifá and its variousexpressions throughout the African Diaspora, are the spirits of those whohave gone before us, both in our immediate families and those who serve as our Spirit guides.From the liner notes, by Joan Cararach, artistic director of theBarcelona Jazz Festival:Harmony, peace, respect, freedom. That has been Omar Sosa’sresponse to our proposal: to revisit Kind of Blue, by Miles Davis, from his own (quite exceptional) aesthetic assumptions. The year was 2009. The 41st Voll-Damm Barcelona International Jazz Festival had hired drummer Jimmy Cobb – the only surviving member of the group’s original line-up who created that record – and a tribute band committed to revive, in concert, the memory of that iconic jazz piece. But Kind of Blue, rather than a museum piece, is a mysterious record with an intimacy to be disclosed very slowly, generation after generation, beyond the commonplaces of history books.That’s why we asked two artists who are familiar with our festival to revisit Kind of Blue from another perspective, following the artistic principles evoked by Bill Evans in his notes to the record signed by Davis: be yourself, be spontaneous, give all you have to give, everything you learned from those who came before and those you are sharing the road with. We selected Chano Domínguez, from Andalucía, who contributed Flamenco Sketches (Blue Note, 2012), and Cuban Omar Sosa, who did a powerful research of Miles Davis’ record.Eggun (ancestors) is not a typical record, just as Sosa is not a typical pianist. The artist, at first reluctant, became obsessed probing into Kind of Blue to find nothing else but the paradoxes of a never-ending search: love and indifference; exile and emigration; being here and now with the lessons of those who illuminated us; restless energy and deliberate contemplation; the uncanny twists and turns of our souls and the shades of our lives; the constant strain between grief and joy, contradictory and supplementary at the same time.Eggun essentially derives from the melodic cells of Kind of Blue’s solos and has the aim of honoring that record, which, let’s say it once more, is hardly known in spite of having been used and abused. Eggun is like all of Sosa’s works, an invitation to a journey plentiful with luxury, peace and sensuality (thanks, Baudelaire!). We have a welcome withAlejet – whitein Arabic – and El Alba. All the sounds of the African diaspora – where Moroccan bendir meets Dominican merengue and Puerto Rican plena: So All Freddie. The interludes, almost sacred invocations to the genius of Bill Evans. And a passionate desperation in the finale, as in records conceived the old way, like a narrative, followed by the final rest, grace in a religious sense, like an overflowing energy which at the end of the journey becomes pure togetherness. Kindness, in short.To visit Omar Sosa's website CLICK HERE

PLEASE SUPPORT OUR EFFORTS--- www.cafepress.com/kamau301 To usher in our THIRD year of existence this month, all month we will have interviews, with powerful people in the Global Afrikan Community. We have titled it THE SEPTEMBER TO REMEMBER We continue this great month w/ a 2 hour discussion with DR. QUITO SWAN, scholar-activist & author of the book BLACK POWER IN BERMUDA: The Struggle for Decolonization. Dr. Swan is Associate Professor of African Diaspora History at Howard University. He works with a student group at Howard called SAMI (Students Against Mass Incarceration) that addresses issues around mass incarceration and political prisoners. His Research focuses on Black Power as an International Phenomenon, African resistance to slavery (such as maroonage), African populations in Americas. He works with Afro-Venezuelan activist group called the Afro-Venezuelan Network. He has taken students to Ghana, Cuba, Venezuela and Bermuda. Lastly, Dr. Swan has Chess Academy (FIve Elements Chess Academy) and teaches chess to DC youth.

Please note that this is the spanish version of the interview. Luisito Quintero was born in Caracas, Venezuela, where he was surrounded by Afro-Venezuelan and Afro-Cuban rhythm and music. His father, a respected percussionist in his native country, tutored and encouraged Luisito on timbales through his adolescent years. Luisito comes from a long line of outstanding musicians which includes his Uncle, Carlos Nene Quintero and cousin Robert Quintero. Luisito studied at the respected Orquesta Simfonica de Venezuela (The Symphonic Orchestra of Venezuela), and his percussion technique soon garnered attention from his colleagues. He joined the popular music ensembles Grupo Guaco and Oscar D'Leon, where he enjoyed widespread worldwide exposure. Besides being known for his skillful timbale work, Luisito also plays congas, bongos, drum set, djembe, dundun and a wide variety of assorted percussion instruments. His technique on all of these instruments is masterful and unparalleled. Luisito has worked with , Jack De Johnette, David Sanborn, George Benson ,Joe Sampler, Bill Cosby, the late Celia Cruz and Tito Puente, Eddie Palmieri, Marc Anthony, Gloria Estefan, Richard Bona, Ravi Coltrane, Claudia Acuna, Giovanni Hidalgo, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Willie Colon and countless other high-profile music acts. Quintero is comfortable working in any genre of music from Symphonic to Jazz and from Latin to House. One of his most recent projects finds him as musical director for Louie Vega and the Elements of Life Band as well as extensive work with Jack DeJohnettes Latin Project. He is also co-musical director and percussionist for Kevin Jones and Tenth World. He is one of the most sought after percussionist in the country at this time and will continue to build his legend as time goes on. Luisito is also a skilled clinician who shares his limitless knowledge of music to younger percussionists around the world. Today, he is an established and respected musician, teacher, band director, and master. www.myspace.com/luisitoquintero

Maria de los Angeles is from Venezuela. She is a journalist who came to Minnesota, USA three years ago on a scholarship to study. In this interview she talks about her home country and the exciting things happening there as well as a few of her impressions of the United States. De los Angeles says that a lot of things in Venezuela have changed for the better since Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela won in the elections of 2000. Although the alternative media started before Chavez it exploded when the coup happened. In 2000 there were 25 independent media outlets. Now there are 323 independent media outlets. Now there are hundreds of newspapers, television channels and radio stations. She says it's so important for people to explore their own way of saying things and fight against the monopoly of how to think. The diverse people of Venezuela need to explore their own culture, laws and language. The diversity of over 36 indigenous groups and the Afro-Venezuelan people want to reflect this diversity in their media.During the coup of 2002 when the US tried to overthrow President Hugo Chavez it was painful to see how the corporate media said nothing about what was going on and that it was obviously part of plan. Another president was in power for 3 days. The alternative media was ONLY media that went out in streets to find out what happened during that time. The Associacion de Medios. de Medios Communitarios is a collective of collectives of independent media organizations. This is being organized to have an umbrella to better react to covering something like another coup. In December of 2002 the second coup attack failed. So media now is organizing to be strategic when, in the future, it could be threatened with more attempted coups by the United States.But Chavez is not the revolution, people are the revolution. Elections will happen again on Dec. 24, 2006. Chavez encourages people to read the Constitution, which is a best seller and sold on street corners, and know the law. People are very educated about both global and local issues. They read a lot. They will have to stay alert with the coming election. Maria plans to go back to Buenas Aires, live in community and work with media.

Marta Rodriquez, a Venezuelan film maker has been making documentary films of the lives of Afro-Venezuelan people for many years, both with her husband, now deceased, and on her own. She has been committed to bringing this reality to educate others of the plight of these people's struggle to survive and to support them in their lives.