Friday, June 24, 7 pm
The Great Room (2nd floor) of South Oxford Space
138 South Oxford Street, Fort Greene, Brooklyn (map)

Makandal presents a community brase lide (brah-say lee-day, Haitian Kreyòl for brainstorming session) led by writers, scholars, cultural activists, and artists. What is the current state of documentation of Haitian Vodou drumming? Do you feel this cultural treasure merits more attention? Given Vodou’s status as a historically persecuted spiritual tradition, what, if any, are the limits of documentation? Who should be conducting it? Where and how? What is the role of the community? What is your role?

Presenters (from the left):
Lois Wilcken, Executive Director, La Troupe Makandal
Claude Carré, Co-Founder, Haiti Jazz Club and collaborator in Fondation Culture-Création
Dòwòti Désir, Manbo Asogwe, Founder and President, DDPA Watch Group
Carolle Charles, Associate Professor of Sociology, Baruch College CUNY

Marie Lily Cérat, Moderator
Dominique Cyrille, Translator

FREE and open to the public

Co-sponsored by Haiti Cultural Exchange

Makandal’s 2016 drum festival—an eight-week drumming workshop in May and June, the community forum on June 24, and a concert of Haitian drumming on June 25—is supported, in part, by the National Endowment for the Arts, with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and by a grant from the New York Council for the Humanities.

Featured image by Kesler Pierre: Vèvè (sacred diagram) for Ountò, the drum spirit of Haitian Vodou