The 29th Annual Concert of Colors
ROY AYERS
Legendary American funk, soul, and jazz composer, vibraphone player and producer. The Godfather of Neo Soul, known for “Everybody loves the Sunshine,” “Searchin” and “Running Away”. He’s been sampled by Tupac, Mary J. Blige, Erykah Badu, Ice Cube, Tribe Called Quest, and 50 Cent. One of the most respected, well-known jazz and R&B artists alive today.
RAM (HAITI)
RAM is Haiti’s preeminent band, founded by band leader, Richard Morse. With over 25 years of creating popular music, RAM recently released its 7th album, August 1791. Ancient folkloric drums intertwine harmoniously with Punk guitar riffs and swinging Caribbean melodies. Led by the entrancing singer, Lunise, this is a truly magical experience. The band has consistently gigged at the famed Hotel Oloffson in Port-au-Prince, Haiti since 1990, where the performances are known to take on another dimension. People frequently describe a spiritual sensation when describing a RAM concert. You don’t simply go to a RAM concert, you experience one.
Don Was Detroit All Star Revue - Tribute to George Clinton
Dames Brown
Their show is a delicious buffet of non-stop, pulse-pounding, House Music that drives concert fans into a frenzy. The beat, the melody, the energy, the dancing, the vocals - it’s all there. Just sit back and enjoy the ride. From the United States to England, from Spain to Croatia, the ladies have performed at clubs and concerts where fans expect a spectacle and Dames Brown delivers big time.
With extensive backgrounds in Jazz, R&B, Funk, Soul, and Gospel singing, they bring a wide range of musical stylings to their performances. They’ve performed as guest acts for the likes of Michael Franks, Parliament-Funkadelic, Soul Clap, and RZA of The Wu-Tang Clan with audiences in the thousands and headline their own.
Mollywop Singers
Mollywop! is a Detroit-based, genre-defying band led by Malik Yakini that plays hard-hitting original and classic funk, reggae, rock, hip-hop and more! The band features Aisha Ellis on drums, Ufuoma Akili on bass, Yakini on guitar and vocalists Ayodele Bakari, Simone Winter and Solar Liquid. Multi-instrumentalist/vocalist King Mellow Man, vocalists Isis Damil and Venus Sky and emcees GMAC, Money Wellz and S.I.R.I.U.S. often complete the band's line-up. Mollywop! will release an EP titled "Rebel Music" in June, 2017.
The singers are:
Simone Winter, Vocalist, model, dancer/choreographer
Born and raised in Detroit, Simone displayed passion for music and performing from the age of 5. She executed her skills in the Detroit Public School system in marching bands, dance, vocal recitals and more. She is a Wayne State University grad, earning her B.A. in music/vocal performance. Presently working on her solo project; Simone balances being an integral part of Mollywop and also a vocalist/choreographer with the Nadir Omowale Band. Her performances are high-driven!
Isis Damil, Producer, singer, songwriter, entrepreneur, actress and Communications Professional. Isis is a new breed of musical artist who is comfortable in all musical genres while creatively making any style completely her own. She loves mixing styles of Jazz, R&B, Soul and Funk to create musical experiences for her audiences. Isis has performed in various venues and festivals in Detroit, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and Africa for the King of Ghana! She has graced stages with Brian McKnight, J Moss, Dave McMurray, Zion Yisrael and Mono Neon and more. She’s currently a member of Black Light Collective and Mollywop and recently released a solo single "Cry 4 Me" on all streaming platforms. She has two projects, Civil Love and Higher Standards which has airplay and internet radio worldwide.
Ayodele Bakari, Ayodele Anyabwile Bakari/Craig Stephen Jones entertainer extraordinaire, with legendary talent in both the lyrical and vocal realms. His musical career can only be described as the sultriness of Luther Vandross meets the consciousness of Bob Marley meets the depth of Sonya Sanchez. Being the musical voice for the grassroots movement for over 30 yrs his legacy began as lead singer and writer for the Detroit group; The Quickest Way Out, followed by The Dramatics. He would later make his own musical stamp as a music producer with the Pan-Afrikan group AFRIKA i.s.o.M. This group encourages critical thinking and activism. Today he serves as executive producer and lead singer/writer with the cross generational breakthrough group Mollywop.
Apropos
Apropos is a celebrated international recording artist whose innovative Modern Motown sound was best encapsulated by Grammy-winning, Hall of Fame songwriter Allee Willis: “If I could take Otis Redding and blend him with Marvin Gaye, throw in a whole lot of contemporary R&B, Hip Hop, and Funk that would be Apropos.”
Coko Buttafli
Coko Buttafli is a dynamic, eclectic vocalist who specializes in "Heavy Funk. Coko hails from Pontiac, MI. After getting a boost in her career singing with popular funk band Will Sessionas, Coko works with different bands nationally and abroad recording funk, R&B and rock along with live performances. Coko has worked with Elzhi, Dennis Coffey, Funk Night Records, McKinley Jackson, Thornetta Davis, Gabe Gonzales, Amp Fiddler, King Rooster, Misha Panilov, King Gordy, and The Soul Surfers and many others. She headlined the St. Paul Trois Chateau Soul Jazz Festival in France.
Don Was
Don Was All Star Revue Curator/Leader, Blue Note Records President, Multi-Grammy winner, Producer, Bass Player, Radio Personality of The Don Was Motor City Playlist on WDET 101.9 FM. One of Detroit’s most beloved, celebrated leading musicians /personalities.
Jennifer Westwood
At the heart of the band is Jennifer Westwood and guitarist Dylan Dunbar, who share an affection for gospel, Texas blues, Stax, and Muscle Shoals era artists. Jennifer cut her teeth on gospel in Detroit before hitting the gritty local bars that set her career in motion; along the way performing back up for acts including Motown’s Carl Carlton, adding several Detroit Music Awards to her credit, including one for work with Sponge (Sony) frontman Vin Dombroski on a traditional country recording (Lalar V).
Dylan Dunbar spent his teen years refining his chops in local blues joints, moving on to perform with W.C. Handy award winners such as Chef Chris and Johnny "Yard Dog" Jones, as well as country artist Whitey Morgan. His dynamic playing style is a compliment to Jennifer's broad vocal range and unique sound that invokes influences ranging from Linda Ronstadt to Big Mama Thorton.
The last couple years have seen them performing across the country rather than at home in the rustbelt, growing a family of fans from New York to Texas. They’ve been on bills with acts such as Hayes Carll, Paul Thorn, Dale Watson, Delbert McClinton, and have performed alongside Patti Smith (with her bandmates backing Smith as well); grateful for every opportunity the road has afforded them.
Fully embracing the character and spirit of Detroit, they consider it an honor to represent a talent filled city of rugged determination, faith and hard working people.
Souad Massi
Often cited as one of North Africa’s greatest female singers, Souad Massi’s reputation is forged on a solo career that stretches back 15 years. It is driven by a fierce, politically-inspired determination and upholds the values of freedom in its constant fight against injustice. Her songs are imbued with love, bravery and protest against intolerance. Following her last album, El Mutakallimûn, where she had brought back to life a selection of texts from great Arabic poets, Massi is back with a very personal project : Oumniya (“My Wish). In this new project, Souad sings about what touches her: women and their conditions through time and in the world. She raises her voice hoping to fight, on her level, against the violence so many women experience, but also to be part of those seeking to find a new path: the path to independence and dignity.
Her musical choices are pure, universal, thus creating a bridge between chaâbi and folk music. Souad invites us to experience with her the source of her musical grounding, tinted by her genuine inclination for diversity.
Dr. Nativo
Doctor Nativo is an artist from Guatemaya. At just 13 years old, he embarked on a musical journey that has spanned continents and cultures. His music draws on many influences including hip-hop and reggae flavor with a Latin vibe to create his unique Latin Reggae Cumbia sound. Doctor Nativo delivers a powerful message to his audience backed by an irresistible beat. His message is one of consciousness and spirituality transmitted to listeners through good vibes, explosive rhythms, and exhilarating sounds.
Through his creative use of Mayan language and traditional instruments, Doctor Nativo hopes to bring the ancient Mayan world into modern day culture making it relevant for the new generation with his electrifying performance. Mayan culture has long been suppressed and unknown to mainstream society. However in recent years, many Mayan elders are making an effort to share their sacred traditions with indigenous and non-indigenous peoples. He is committed to further developing La Escuela M.A.I.Z. and to expand the work of the ILAN Foundation, two projects focused on consciousness-based education for the indigenous children living in Lake Atitlan communities. With his thought-provoking message, Doctor Nativo hopes to foster curiosity in the younger generation, through workshops and Mayan ceremonies to learn more about their own culture and cultures from around the world.
Melvin Davis & United Sound
Melvin Lincoln Davis was born on Aug. 29, 1942. Few artists on Detroit's soul music scene have a more impressive résumé. His family moved northward to Detroit when he was 3, often returning to his grandparents’ 300-acre farm in Milledgeville, Ga. It was in Georgia where he first heard Little Richard. On the other side of the farm, out in the woods, was a juke joint called Shady Rest, Little Richard used to come and perform and Davis used to sit on his back porch and listen to him scream and listen to the Upsetters play. At the age of 17, Davis joined the Navy and in his spare time began teaching himself to play the piano and guitar and started writing songs. When he returned home to Detroit, it was music that moved him and so he pursued it. Drawing upon this well of creativity, Davis set out to write a song a day following his discharge. He waxed the soulfully punk-edged single “I Don’t Want You”/”About Love” for the local Jack Pot label.. Uniquely Detroit, it sounded like a garage band coming face-to-face with an R&B singer. A Singer, songwriter, drummer, and bandleader who worked with everyone from Smokey Robinson and David Ruffin to Wayne Kramer, Lyman Woodard and Dennis Coffey.
jessica Care moore
jessica Care moore explores themes of survival, love, isolation, loss and resiliency during an ongoing pandemic. A libretto, A prayer, a poem, a romance. The grounded poet explores love and possibility and leans into imagination, faith, and art to travel outside her physical realm to find peace. The title, Wild Beauty, is a nod to the great poet Ntozake Shange's last book, published before her death. For registration and more information visit www.thewright.org.
jessica Care moore is the founder and CEO of Moore Black Press and Executive Producer and Host of Black WOMEN Rock! An internationally renowned poet, playwright, performance artist, and live arts producer, she is the 2019 and 2017 Knight Arts Award Winner, 2019 Joyce Award Winner, 2016 Kresge Arts Fellow, NAACP Great Expectations Awardee, and an Alain Locke Award recipient from the Detroit Institute of Arts. Moore is the author of The Words Don’t Fit in My Mouth, The Alphabet Verses the Ghetto, Sunlight Through Bullet Holes, and her current title, We Want Our Bodies Back was released by Harper Collins. She is the author of several plays, including thecritically acclaimed Techno Choreopoem, Salt City. She has recorded with Talib Kweli, Jeff Mills, Karriem Riggins, Nas, Roy Ayers, Jose James, Young Jeezy, and more. She has performed all over the world, including stages in South Africa and Ghana, NYC's Apollo Theater, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and the London Institute for Contemporary Arts.
Organic Orchestra & Brooklyn Raga Massive
with special guest Hassan Hakmoun
For the past four decades composer and percussionist Adam Rudolph has performed extensively throughout North & South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. He has released over 30 recordings under his own name, featuring his compositions and percussion work. Rudolph composes for his ensembles Moving Pictures Octet, Hu Vibrational, and Go: Organic Orchestra, a 30-piece group for which he has developed an original music notation and conducting system. He has taught and conducted hundreds of musicians worldwide in his Go: Organic Orchestra concept.
Rudolph has performed with Don Cherry, Sam Rivers, Pharaoh Sanders, Muhal Richard Abrams, Shankar, Wadada Leo Smith, Philip Glass, Jon Hassel Omar Sosa and Fred Anderson. He toured extensively and recorded 15 albums with Yusef Lateef including duets and their large ensemble compositional collaborations. His compositions have been performed by the Momenta String Quartet, The Oberlin Percussion Group, Figura new music group, and the Odense Percussion ensemble, among others.
Rudolph is known as one the early innovators of what is now called “World Music”. In 1978 he co-founded Mandingo Griot Society, one of the first groups to combine African and American music and in 1988 he recorded the first fusion of American and Moroccan Gnawa music with Sintir player Hassan Hakmoun.
Will Calhoun
The legendary Will Calhoun is a musical shaman and a graduate of the Berklee College of Music where he received his degree in Recording and Engineering and received the in 2019 received the Alumni Lifetime Achievement Award. Will is also a 2-time Grammy winner (plus four additional nominations) with the genre bending iconic Rock band LIVING COLOUR, and produced Herb Alpert ‘s Colors CD, and Mos Def ‘s Black Jack Johnson Project. Will toured and recorded with Stevie Wonder, Harry Belafonte, Caiphus Semenya, Letta M’bulu, Mic Jagger, B.B. King, McCoy Tyner, Marcus Miller, Pharoah Sanders, Wayne Shorter (Highlife CD), Oumou Sangare, Ron Carter, Phillip Glass, Lauryn Hill, Stanley Jordan, Ritchie Sambora, Yasiin Bey aka Mos Def, Public Enemy, Mike Stern, Jaco Pastorius, Steve Via, Paul Simon, Lou Reed, The Moroccan Gnawan Masters, and many others.
Will has invested over 25 years of personal research in Mali, Morocco, Senegal, the Outback of Australia, Belize, and Northern Brazil to document and study the true History of the drums, rhythm, sonic vibrations and their impact on modern music. Will is an inventor and avid user of technology and its unique role in creating music. Three well known colleagues continue to brain storm with are: Jaron Lanier (Virtual Reality Inventor), Roger Linn, and Mario DeCurtiis. “Simultaneously studying the past and future of music/rhythm is essential in today’s musical environment”.
Education plays a key role in Will’s career. Giving back to his own community and broadening the horizons of many students around the World is compulsory. He’s spoken at: Head-Royce School in Oakland, CA, Brown University’s Watson Institute, Columbia Teachers College, Berklee College of Music, Havarford College, NYU, The Museum of Mathematics, The Brooklyn Academy of Music, The New School, Sup’Imax Institute in Dakar, Senegal, The Montreal Drum Festival in Canada, The Beijing Drum Festival in China,
The IBVF - Instituto de Bateria in São Paulo, Brazil, and BMHC cultural events in the Bronx
Jonas Byaruhanga
World renown dancer, choreographer, and inspirational instructor, Jonas Byaruhanga was born in Mbarara located in Western Uganda. He started dancing at the age of six when he learned different Ugandan traditional dances. As a teenager, Jonas was involved in Namasagali Center productions and later joined Footsteps Dance Company in Kampala. He furthered his dance training at the Ecole des Sables (Senegal) under the direction of Germain Acogny.
Having gained a wealth of experience through workshops and collaborations with numerous internationally acclaimed dancers and choreographers, Jonas was encouraged to establish Keiga Dance Company. Since its inception, the company has evolved through the philanthropy of Dr. Chris Traidl, into one of East Africa's leading dance companies and serves as the resident Company at the Uganda National Cultural Centre in Kampala.
Jonas' love for dance and willingness to share led to the establishment of the Keiga School of Dance which has rapidly become one of the premier dance studios in Uganda. Jonas has an infectious personality and continues to motivate and inspire young artists throughout the world by his dynamic performances and impressive troupe of highly talented dancers.
DakhaBrakha
DakhaBrakha is world music quartet from Kiev, Ukraine. Reflecting fundamental elements of sound and soul, Ukrainian “ethno-chaos” band DakhaBrakha, create a world of unexpected new music.
The name DakhaBrakha means “give/take” in the old Ukrainian language. Accompanied by Indian, Arabic, African, Russian and Australian traditional instrumentation, the quartet’s astonishingly powerful and uncompromising vocal range creates a trans-national sound rooted in Ukrainian culture. Live Soundtrack for “Earth”: In addition to their own performances, DakhaBrakha also performs live soundtrack alongside a screening of the classic 1930 film, “Earth”, by Aleksandr Dovzhenko (considered to be one of the most important films of the Soviet era). Dovzhenko is a master of composition, and the film is a passionate tribute to the countryside and the people that work on it.
Minyo Crusaders
Japanese musical group that reworks traditional Japanese folk songs (min'yō) with arrangements inspired by various international music genres, including Caribbean, Latin and African music. The group was co-founded by Katsumi Tanaka and Freddie Tsukamoto, with the goal of reviving min'yō as a "music for the people"
Aegean Roots
Playing traditional Greek music styles before the bouzouki and rebetika, back to the roots. Inspiration from the Greek Islands and include songs from the mainland and Asia Minor. The Hellenic Museum is a proud partner with Concert of Colors, and welcomes you to enjoy a concert of traditional Greek music, food and hospitality as it celebrates in its newly renovated Courtyard. Also on view will be the Inaugural Hellenic Art Exhibition, a Byzantine Iconography, in addition to its permanent collection. Hellenic Museum of Michigan, 67 E. Kirby, Detroit (across from the DIA).
DJ ETTA
A wonderful mix of Detroit techno and Detroit cuisine outdoors! The Detroit Historical Society is excited to kick off its annual Lunchtime Techno series with Concert of Colors. Move to the beat of your own drum machine! Come hang out on Legend’s Plaza at the Detroit Historical Museum, grab a bite from the featured food truck, the Twisted Mitten, and vibe with DJ ETTA as she curates a mix that’ll satisfy your auditory appetite. Join the DHS team and our Midtown neighbors for food and fun!