WMI PLUS At Home – McIntosh County Shouters

WMI Plus At Home - Brenton Jordan (McIntosh County Shouters) and Historian Joseph Opala

WMI Plus At Home experiences bring music from around the world into the comfort of your home. Renowned artists share their lives, instruments, and stories from their personal environments, bringing an intimacy and uniqueness to each event. These talks are led by fellow musicians, journalists, and ethnomusicologists. Live captioning will be provided during the event.

We are thrilled to provide these events for FREE. If you are able to make a donation of any amount while registering for this event, it will help us to keep the music playing. Thank you!

Monday, February 13, 2023 – 6 PM EST

WMI PLUS At Home Experiences are free of charge, but you must register to reserve your space. You will receive an order confirmation once your registration is complete that includes the link to the event. Only registered participants will receive email instructions on how to join the event via Zoom online. Live captioning provided.

The McIntosh County Shouters are one of the only remaining keepers of “the ring shout” – the oldest African American music and movement tradition with its roots in West Africa that persisted among enslaved people and lived on in African American communities after emancipation. In 1993, the group was awarded an NEA National Heritage Fellowship for their critical work in carrying on this cultural treasure for future generations to cherish.

For this special WMI Plus At Home recognizing the Black History Month theme of Resistance, we will be joined by “stickman” and storyteller Brenton Jordan, a recently announed 2023 USA Artists Fellow, who will be in conversation with Joseph Opala, an American historian who specializes in the historical links between the indigenous people of the West African nation of the Republic of Sierra Leone and the Gullah people of the Low Country region of South Carolina and Georgia. The conversation will be followed by a Q&A with attendees.

Professor Opala is best known for linking one particular Gullah Geechee family from coastal Georgia to its distant relatives in Sierra Leone based on a song in the Mende language they have preserved for almost 250 years. The family came on a state visit to Sierra Leone in 1997, where they visited the village where their song is still sung today. A documentary, called The Language You Cry In chronicles this deeply moving story.

WMI PLUS and WMI PLUS At Home experiences are supported by a grant from Con Edison and world music lovers like you. We thank you!