"Healing the World through Music, Art, Dance & Culture"
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Letter from the Director "Makeda Dread Cheatom"
Greetings Global Family,
Happy Fall Equinox! We have had a very busy summer and we would like to thank you for supporting culture in our city and globally. WorldBeat Center is definitely your Passport to the World of Music, Art, Dance & Culture!
Saturday we had a Mixtec Village fundraiser with traditional food and dance. This has been a three year ongoing project with WorldBeat Center and the Mixtec Community to bring water and a sewage system into the village of Santa María Natividad. I can't wait to go to this village and check out the project. The local village people already know the WorldBeat Center because of all the fundraisers. Approximately 60,000 Mixtecos reside in California, 15,000 to 20,000 of who currently live in San Diego. So, the WorldBeat Center is the second home to the Mixtec community.
A few weeks ago on Sept 10th we enjoyed the presence of the Ethiopian Community for Ethiopian New Years Eve "Enkutatash." On the next day Sept 11th we celebrated Belizean Independence Day! Belize won its independence on September 21, 1981 after a long struggle. Belizeans are a culturally mixed society; Mayan Indians, Garifuna (descendants of Carib, Arawak and West African people) Spanish and other cultures. Again you have to come to these functions and experience the music, culture, dance and cuisine of these cultures. The Belizean and Mixtec Tamales are great! Instead of using Pinto beans both of them use black beans, which is very nutritious! The Belizeans are very big on their baked foods and have the BOMB potato salad!
The Cubans also have been mashing up the WorldBeat Center with Noche Cubana, a night of Cuban Culture with both traditional folkloric dance and contemporary salsa. Omo Ache with Director Juan Carlos Blanco, has been responsible for such a successful and packed monthly event. If you have never been to Cuba please come to Noche Cubana and you don’t even need to break the embargo!
My Mother and Father would have been very happy to see that WorldBeat Center has the original American Folk music, The Blues. I've seen folks I haven’t seen for years, groovin' to the Blues! Denard Clendenin and The Brothers Blood Blues Band did a par excellent job. These Blues men were dressed sharp for the occasion and rocked the house. Look for them every month at WBC.
The Polynesian Island Community showed their force at the Island Tat Concert with BET, Poly Roots and Fortunate Youth. This was an after-party for the Pacific Islanders Festival at Ski Beach. When you talk about Pacific Islanders it’s so vast! Aug 29th WorldBeat Center presented one of the biggest groups in the Pacific Islands Folk/ Pop Genre, Te Vaka and opening up for them was the greatest Polynesian group that I've seen, Leiisa, from San Diego. They performed songs and dances from the islands of the South Pacific...Samoa, Tahiti, Hawaii & New Zealand. Please join Leiisa at the WorldBeat Cultural Center, Nov 13th for a fundraiser, you will swear your somewhere in Polynesia!
All you Virgin Island music lovers, thanks for the support of roots reggae artists, Bambu Station. It was totally roots and culture over the labor day weekend. Nice to see the community come out in full effect. Also in Mexico at our sister Cultural Center, Culture Beat, it was a packed house to see Bambu Station on a Monday Night!
Marcus Garvey Day was the best ever here at the WorldBeat Center with the Originals of Roots Music, The Twinkle Brothers and Prezident Brown. San Diego Rastafarians representing the father of Pan Africanism, Marcus Mosiah Garvey, who prophesied, look to Africa and a King will be crowned. On Nov 2nd 1930, Haile Selassie was crowned “King of Kings, Lord of Lords and Lion of the Conquering Tribe of Judah” and every July we celebrate the Rastafari King, Haile Selassie. This year we had scheduled Sugar Minott and Sister Carol, the day before we got a phone call Sugar Minott was ill, we went on with the concert with Sister Carol, then the next day we got a call that Sugar Minott had passed. This year our 30th Annual Tribute to the Reggae Legends will be in honor of Lincoln Sugar Minott “ King of Dancehall” by the way WorldBeat Center did a Tribute to Sugar with Lloyd Brown from the UK, which was amazing.
We did an Africa Night with Sene Africa from Senegal, West Africa. It was a night of African Magic and high energy. Amadou Fall (Playing the Kora, the African Harp,) and Ibrahima Ba (Vocals and Guitar) have been with WBC for over 4 years now and have become cultural jewels to San Diego. Also performing was WorldBeat Center's African Drum and Dance troupe headed by Makida Anderson. This past Saturday Oct 1st WorldBeat Center had an African Film night, a monthly film series, that started with the film Sabar, an African dance and drum film produced by Chike C Nwoffiah. This film was about an African American hip-hop girl resisting the ancestral call of the Senegalese dance "Sabar". When she finally gives in, she discovers more than a dance - she finds herself.
So get ready for a packed season of events...Peter Tosh Day, Fela Kuti Day, Day of the Dead Workshops, Women’s Health Seminar with Queen Afua, Thanks Giving with the Reggae Legends The Abyssinians, Kwanzaa in December as well as Alternative New Years Celebration.
Like I said in the beginning, WorldBeat Center is your Passport to the World of Music, Art, Dance & Culture! It’s like traveling to many countries under one roof.
It’s all about “Unity in Diversity.”
WorldBeat’s Motto is... “Healing the World through Music, Art, Dance & Culture.”
As Fela would say, “Music is the Weapon.”
http://www.worldbeatcenter.org
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Culture Beat - Performing Arts Center in Ensenada Mexico
Culture Beat African Drum and Dance classes have started with Jazmin, the Artistic Director, teaching dance. People in Ensenada are very excited about their new Center. Culture Beat was featured in La Ventana Magazine and is in the Center of Downtown Ensenada.
The Center is located on Calle Premiera at Calle Miramar and Macheros, across from Starbucks and next to McDonalds.
Visit us online
Facebook, myspace and twitter
http://www.culturebeatmexico.com
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B-Side Players at Ensenada Artwalk After Party-CULTURE BEAT MEXICO
At Culture Beat in Ensenada, Mexico
Thursday, Oct 7th @ 8pm
Free
The B-Side Players make music without borders or boundaries. On Fire In The Youth, their seventh album and first for Concord/Picante, they continue exploring the multifaceted grooves of Latin America and the Caribbean, incorporating the sounds of Cuba, Jamaica, Mexico and Brazil with the funk, rock, jazz and hip-hop rhythms of their homeland. With Latin music currently dominating the charts in most of the world, The B-Side Players are uniquely positioned to bring their uplifting message of unity, brotherhood and dance floor revolution to the people of planet Earth.
http://www.bsideplayers.com
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PETER TOSH DAY Feat: Rootz Underground from Jamaica and Fidel from Argentina
At WorldBeat Cultural Center
Saturday, Oct 9th @ 8:30pm
$15 Adv.
Revolution reggae music - edgy, raw, natural, roots... They are Rootz Underground. That is their sound.
Kick down the walls, burn the paper the rules are written on and mash down the “box” that limits a sound to a single genre! Rootz Underground is here to channel the musical vibration that rings true in the heart and soul of all the conscious Rebel Rockers, Late Night Revelers & Soul Seekers! Many influences have borne their 'rootz', including their homeland Jamaica - birthplace of Rastafari and other radical movements, JAH - creator of all things, family, the earth in all its glory, the revolutionary 70's, Dub and Roots Reggae music.
http://rootzunderground.com/
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FELA KUTI DAY Felabration! Feat: AfroBeat Down
At WorldBeat Cultural Center
Friday, Oct 29th @ 8:30pm
$5 Adv.
Fela Kuti was a gifted multi-instrumentalist, playing, among other things, saxophone, keyboards, trumpet, drums and guitar. He was also a talented singer and a highly energetic live performer. His lengthy songs (most were over 10 minutes long) were backed up by a consistent groove of drums and bass, a style which heavily influenced the genre of hip-hop.
Fela Kuti was a major activist for Pan-Africanism and anti-colonialism, and because of his socialist beliefs, had many run-ins with the authorities of several African countries. His struggles made him an icon of the Black Power movement. Fela Kuti attempted to run for Nigerian President several times, but was never allowed to.
http://www.fela.net/
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MASSIVE ATTACK - With Thievery Corporation
At Rimac UCSD
Thursday, Nov 4th @ 8:00pm
FORMED: 1987, Bristol, England
This Bristol trio has become one of the best trip-hop groups ever, even possibly responsible for the trip-hop genre, featuring the skills of Grant Marshall (aka Daddy Gee), Robert del Naja (3D), and Andrew Vowles (Mushroom). In 1988 they formed the creative core of Massive Attack. Three years later in 1991 their debut album Blue Lines was greeted with much acclaim. While 1994's album Protection was even a greater artistic and commercial success (both albums sold over a million units worldwide).
http://www.nederlanderconcerts.com
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Queen Afua - Womens Health Seminar - Womb Yoga
At WorldBeat Center
Nov 18th and 19th
Queen Afua is a nationally renowned herbalist, holistic health specialist, and dedicated healer of women's bodies and souls, who practices from a uniquely Afrocentric spiritual perspective. Through her work as certified colon therapist, polarity practitioner, Hatha Yoga and Ari Ankh Ka Instructor, lay midwife and fasting specialist, she has guided thousands of women and men, coast to coast, in the art and science of Natural Living.
http://queenafua.moonfruit.com/
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Giving Thanks with The Abyssinians
At WorldBeat Center
Sat, Nov 27th
The roots harmony vocal trio, the Abyssinians was formed in 1968 in Jamaica by founding members Donald Manning, Bernard Collins and Linford Manning. In 1969, they released “Satta Massagana” recorded on Coxson Dodd’s Studio One label—a Rastafarian hymn speaking of Ethiopia. “Satta Massagana was a hit that has become an anthem worldwide and launched The Abyssinians into the ranks of International stardom. “Satta Massagana” has became one of reggae’s most popular songs. It has also been covered by many other top artists such as Third World and Don Carlos. What followed was a string of hits including "Declaration of Rights," "Yi Mas Gan." and “Let My Days Be Long”. The early albums were collections of singles recorded throughout the 1970’s on their own label, Clinch. From the early to mid-70s, the Abyssinians recorded sparingly, but the quality of the group’s work was remarkable.
http://www.theabyssinians.com/
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