Hugh Masekela, Jazz Warrior - July 1st Broadcast on WOWD 94.3

Part 1A, (First Hour) Originally broadcast on Sunday August 5th, 3:00 - 4:00 pm on WOWD 94.3 FM. A fascinating exploration of the music and messages of 1960s powerhouse couples of the African American Civil Rights Movement and the South African Anti-Apartheid Movement . Part one explores the work and music of Jazz Drummer Max Roach & Jazz Vocalist Abbey Lincoln, as well as African American Cultural Figure/Writer Maya Angelou & South African Freedom Fighter Vusumzi Make.
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Music, Marriages And The Transnational Conversation Between Black America And South Africa - Part 1A

Originally broadcast on Sunday September 2, 2018 from 3:00 - 5:00 pm on WOWD 94.3 FM Takoma radio. Through a fascinating exploration of the music and messages of two activist couples we learn the inside scoop on the political lives of Miriam Makeba and Hugh Masekela. The program then explores the exciting marriage of Black Power leader Stokely Carmichael and Miriam Makeba, who were forced out of the US and into exile in Guinea, West Africa.  

This broadcast includes the music of Miriam Makeba, fiery speech excepts from Stokely Carmichael, poignant interviews with Miriam Makeba, songs from Gil Scott Heron from the Black Power Era and the protest messages and music that defined their relationship as joint Freedom Fighters.

Hold on for the ride and stay tuned for more from Music In Culture: Sounds of the Black Experience! More information at www.EthnomusicologyInAction.org

Music, Marriages And The Transnational Conversation - Part 2 - Makeba, Masekela, Makeba, Carmichael

Part 2 of our show about Letta Mbulu, Caiphus Semyana and the Black Power Epitome. More music from Letta Mbulu and Caiphas Semyana, plus songs from the Black Power Movement by the Voices of East Harlem, Gil Scott Heron and Stevie Wonder!  Yes!
This is the third and final in our series entitled Music, Marriages and the Transnational Conversation Between Black America and South Africa. For more information visit www.EthnomusicologyInAction.org

Caiphus Semyana, Letta Mbulu And The Black Power Epitome - Part 2

"Roy Hargrove and the Young Lions" is part two of our Roy Hargrove Tribute.  We explore more of the creative music of this fallen cultural warrior and the young trumpet players on the New York City Jazz Scene who he mentored: the Young Lions...Keyon Harrold, Jeremy Pelt, Leron Thomas and others.

African American Poet and Black Music Scholar Reuben Jackson is our special guest offering his metaphorical reflections on brother Roy and his meaning to African America.  Reuben Jackson's poems have appeared in over 40 anthologies, and in a volume of poetry entitled " fingering the keys". He has a forthcoming volume of new and selected poems entitled " Scattered Clouds"  will be published this Fall by Alan Squire Press.  

www.EthnomusicologyInAction.org

Roy Hargrove And The Young Lions w/ Reuben Jackson - Part One

Roy Hargrove And The Young Lions w/Reuben Jackson - Part Two

New from Music and Culture: Sounds of the Black Experience. "Grandmother: Jazz Vocals and the Artistic Genius of Black Women." A tribute to the Black women who were the architects of Black American song. The show includes commentary on the African origins of the Black American jazz (and blues) singer, black jazz vocals and black femininity, cultural appropriation and the contemporary whitening of jazz, Beyonce' fever, documentary interviews and tributes to the true geniuses of Black American Music - Billie Holiday, Etta Jones, Ella Fitzgerald, Carmen Mcrae, Sarah Vaughan, Lorez Alexandria, Dinah Washington, Nancy Wilson and Betty Carter. I also share my personal memories of each jazz singer and from my travels in...Africa! More information at www.EthnomusicologyInAction.org.

Grandmother: Jazz Vocals And The Artistic Genius Of Black Women - Part 1

This installment of Music In Culture: Sounds of the Black Experience begins a series of the musical roots of African Americans! Did you know that 24% of Africans who were forced into the US came from the Senegambia region? (Gomez, 1998). This region includes West African countries like the Gambia, Senegal, Mali and others. This show explores our shared musical heritage with our cousins in Mali and other countries that has informed rich African American musical legacies like the blues, jazz and other forms. Enjoy the music of Fatoumata Diaware, Oumou Sangare, Ali Farka Toure, Jali Bassekou Kouyate, Salif Keita, Dee Dee Bridgewater (A Black American Malian descendant) and many others. 

We also join our sister Fatoumata Diaware on her journey back to her home village in Mali and the emotional rendition of her song "Mama" that addresses female circumcision that is still practiced in the area.

Roots Of African America: Senegambia/Mali (Part 2)

This installment of Music In Culture: Sounds of the Black Experience begins a series of the musical roots of African Americans! Did you know that 24% of Africans who were forced into the US came from the Senegambia region? (Gomez, 1998) (This figure has been recently revealed to be 25 percent). This region includes West African countries like the Gambia, Senegal, Mali and others. This show explores our shared musical heritage with our cousins in Mali and other countries that has informed rich African American musical legacies like the blues, jazz and other forms. Enjoy the music of Fatoumata Diaware, Oumou Sangare, Ali Farka Toure, Jali Bassekou Kouyate, Salif Keita, Dee Dee Bridgewater (A Black American of Malian descent) and many others.

We also join our sister Fatoumata Diaware on her journey back to her home village in Mali and the emotional rendition of her song "Mama" that addresses female circumcision that is still practiced in the area.

Roots Of African America: Senegambia/Mali (Part 1)

This installment of Music In Culture: Sounds of the Black Experience continues a series of the musical roots of African Americans! This episode features a dramatization of Maya Cunningham's ancestor who came into the US on the Potomac River in the 1800s, the roots of the Blues in the Senegambia region and an exciting interview with a special guest - Amadou Kouyate, a 150th generation Jali (Griot) who lives right in the Washington DC area.

Roots of African America: Senegambia/Mali - Part 3

Come one, come all to the dance party! The Revolutionary music of Fela, Ghanaian Highlife, Igbo Highlife, Semba from Angola and more!  + Commentary on the latest political concerns of Black America. You are invited to listen to "Roots of African America: Ghana, Nigeria, Angola and the Congo" - The October 2019 broadcast of Music In Culture: Sounds of the Black Experience from Sunday October 6th WOWD 94.3 FM.

Did you know that 24% of Africans who were forced into the US came from the Bight of Biafra in Nigeria? 15% came from Ghana and 24% from West Central Africa from countries like Angolo and the Congo (Gomez, 1998). This episode explores the African musical roots that have influenced the development of Black American Music.

Roots Of African America - Music Of Ghana, Nigeria, Angola And The Congo: Part 1

" The Ethnomusicology of Jazz" originally aired on WOWD 94.3 FM Sunday November 3, 2019 @ 3pm. The music known as jazz has come to be  widely represented in the US by non-African Americans.  However, jazz is a Black music created by African Americans, and should be recognized as such by anyone involved with it.

Throughout its history, this music has been marked by issues of cultural appropriation, contested origins and its coopting into a nationalist narrative with descriptors like “America’s most original art form,” that separates it from its Black creators. This broadcast of Music In Culture: Sounds of the Black Experience explores the Africanity of jazz through early recordings and Africanist ethnomusicology. The Black aesthetic principles that structure the music prove, beyond a doubt, that jazz is the sole creation and cultural property of African Americans. This show features recordings by Louis Armstrong (photo-left) and King Oliver (photo-right),  West Africans Djalis, Daniel Jatta (Akonting), Cedric Watson (New world Akonting or Gourd Banjo),  Robert Pete Williams,  Fletcher Henderson, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Oscar Peterson, Art Tatum, Ella Fitzgerald and a few more surprises!

The Ethnomusicology Of Jazz: Part 2

"The Ethnomusicology of Jazz" originally aired on WOWD 94.3 FM Sunday November 3, 2019 @ 3pm. The music known as jazz has come to be  widely represented in the US by non-African Americans.  However, jazz is a Black music created by African Americans, and should be recognized as such by anyone involved with it.

Throughout its history, this music has been marked by issues of cultural appropriation, contested origins and its coopting into a nationalist narrative with descriptors like “America’s most original art form,” that separates it from its Black creators. This broadcast of Music In Culture: Sounds of the Black Experience explores the Africanity of jazz through early recordings and Africanist ethnomusicology. The Black aesthetic principles that structure the music prove, beyond a doubt, that jazz is the sole creation and cultural property of African Americans. This show features recordings by Louis Armstrong (photo-right) and King Oliver (photo-left),  West Africans Djalis, Daniel Jatta (Akonting), Cedric Watson (New world Akonting or Gourd Banjo),  Robert Pete Williams,  Fletcher Henderson, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Oscar Peterson, Art Tatum, Ella Fitzgerald and a few more surprises!

The Ethnomusicology Of Jazz: Part 1

"The Ethnomusicology of Jazz: Be Bop is Black" originally aired on WOWD 94.3 FM Sunday December 1, 2019 @ 3pm. The Black American music known as jazz is one of the most contested music forms - everybody wants a piece! Despite wild origination claims by some that jazz is a Euro-American, Italian or even a Caribbean invention, or that it is a hybridized African-American/Euro American music, an examination of the music’s aesthetics prove that it is solely a Black American creation. This broadcast explores the sophisticated African American cultural music known as "Be Bop" from the insiders view of the musicians who innovated the form. I also use Portia Maultsby’s theory of “disengaged engagement” (Maultsby, 2016: 8) and Miles Davis' perspective as a cultural insider on the creation of the music in Harlem, a Black community, in order to refute long standing untruths that have been echoed by certain jazz critics, music historians and others: that Charlie Parker and others Black musicians drew from European classical composers to create the music. Be Bop comes from the blues. You are cordially invited to tune in to enjoy some of the most exciting music of the 20th century from artists like Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Fats Navarro, Clifford Brown, Miles Davis, Sarah Vaughan and others.

The Ethnomusicology of Jazz: Be Bop Is Black (Part 2)

"The Ethnomusicology of Jazz: Be Bop is Black" originally aired on WOWD 94.3 FM in the Washington DC area on Sunday December 1, 2019 @ 3pm. The Black American music known as jazz is one of the most contested music forms - everybody wants a piece! Despite wild origination claims by some that jazz is a Euro-American, Italian or even a Caribbean invention, or that it is a hybridized African-American/Euro American music, an examination of the music’s aesthetics prove that it is solely a Black American creation. This broadcast explores the sophisticated African American cultural music known as "Be Bop" from the insiders view of the musicians who innovated the form. I also use Portia Maultsby’s theory of “disengaged engagement” (Maultsby, 2016: 8) and Miles Davis' perspective as a cultural insider on the creation of the music in Harlem, a Black community, in order to refute long standing untruths that have been echoed by certain jazz critics, music historians and others: that Charlie Parker and others Black musicians drew from European classical composers to create the music. Be Bop comes from the blues. You are cordially invited to tune in to enjoy some of the most exciting music of the 20th century from artists like Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Fats Navarro, Clifford Brown, Miles Davis, Sarah Vaughan and others.

The Ethnomusicology of Jazz: Be Bop Is Black (Part 1)

This episode of Music In Culture: Sounds of the Black Experience explores the way the Black American music known as jazz reflected the African American Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. I explore the rise of Black American preacher-leaders to national prominence and how John Coltrane also fulfilled that role. We also delve into how musicians use Black music to communicate liberationist and pan-African political ideologies that reflect the philosophies of Marcus Garvey and Malcolm X. Finally, I explore the way freedom singers like Abbey Lincoln and Nina Simone expressed collective African American anger towards racial injustices.

The Ethnomusicology Of Jazz: Freedom Sounds

This broadcast of Music In Culture: Sounds of the Black Experience explores how jazz was impacted by, and reflected, the Black Power Movement – a Golden Era of African America. The 1972 National Black Political Convention, the bold speeches of leaders like Stokely Carmichael, and the outspoken characteristic of Black American music from the late 1960s into the 1970s all hallmark the epoch that is the Black Power, Black is Beautiful and Black Arts Movement. This era was a time when Black America was boldly speaking out against White supremacy, and for Black liberation – and it shows in African American’s jazz. This show features work that was created by musicians Doug and Jean Carn, Gil Scott Heron, Pharaoh Sanders, poets Amiri Baraka and Nikki Giovanni and many others. This broadcast originally aired on February 2, 2020 on WOWD 94.3 FM.

The Black Power Classroom - Jazz Sounds From The Golden Age Of African America

Enjoy some uplifting encouragement from the Jazz tradition. Songs inspired by the Spring season, featuring Freddie Hubbard, Abbey Lincoln, Clifford Brown and Max Roach, Winston Ngozi, Duke Ellington, Lorez Alexandria, Betty Carter, Carmen Lundy, Elis Regina, Cassandra Wilson, Greg Osby and many others. We also give a special tribute to our beloved musicians who have died in the Corona Virus Pandemic - Wallace Roney, Ellis Marsalis, and others. Let's meditate on the beauty of creation and the spring season as we go through this time of sorrow. Photo credit: Reuben Jackson.

Up Jumped Spring:  Springtime Meditations from the African American Jazz Tradition

Samba, Soul and Civil Rights: A Treatise in Revolution is the latest episode from Music In Culture: Sounds of the Black Experience, broadcast on WOWD 94.3 FM on Sunday June 7, 2020. We are in the middle of a revolution! The tenets of white supremacy are coming down, triggered by the heinous murder of George Floyd by four police officers. Our Black Lives Matter Movement has reached its pinnacle. Protests for Black Lives, and against police brutality, have spread like wildfire around the globe – from the US, to Ghana, Niger, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Germany, France, Australia, and the UK.
But...Sankofa. Sanfoka is an Akan (twi) concept from Ghana that means return to your past in order to guide your future. What can we learn from our successful Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s? How can the prior revolution direct our goals in this moment? What is our agenda and what specific goals do we want our protest to serve in our communities? Samba, Soul and Civil Rights explores through music the history of the African American Civil Rights Movement and the parallel Black Movement in Brazil, as a manual, a treatise, on how to move forward in our contemporary struggle towards criminal justice reform, and against police brutality and extrajudicial killings of unarmed Black people. This first episode in the series features the soul music and freedom songs that drove the African American Civil Rights Movement, and highlights the strategies behind key Civil Rights victories from which can derive important lessons for today.

Samba Soul And Civil Rights - A Treatise In Revolution - Part 1

Part 2 of Samba, Soul and Civil Rights: A Treatise in Revolution explores how the soul music that drove the African American Civil Rights and Black Power Movements triggered a revolution in Black Brazil. 
Did you know that many Afro-descendant groups throughout the Diaspora had parallel Freedom Movements? Black Brazil’s Movimento Negro is a primary example. The liberation images and ideology of the African American Black Power Movement, and the Movement’s soul music soundtrack, traveled down to Brazil and catalyzed the Black Rio Movement. Freedom fire spread throughout Brazil and in 1973 a group of Black Brazilian teenagers in Salvador Bahia took up the torch and launched a new Black revolution using Afro-Brazilian Samba. Tune in!

This broadcast of Music In Culture: Sounds of the Black Experience originally aired on Sunday August 2, 2020 at 3pm EST on WOWD 94.3 FM Takoma Radio.

Samba, Soul And Civil Rights: A Treatise in Revolution - Part 2

Ethnomusicology In Action uses educational programs, professional development for teachers, music, media and learning products to advance heritage education about the people of Africa, African America and the Diaspora.

Maya Cunningham initiated Ethnomusicology In Action because she is an ethnomusicologist, cultural activist, educator and Black music practitioner. She is completing a PhD in African American studies with a concentration in ethnomusicology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She also received an MA in ethnomusicology from the University of Maryland, College Park, an MA in jazz performance from the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College and a Bachelor of Music in jazz studies from Howard University. Her research focus is on culturally responsive music education for African American students, African American cultural identity and intersections between African/African American identities and traditional African and African American musics. She is an expert in African American expressive culture, African American history and jazz history.

Music In Culture: Sounds of the Black Experience

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