WEDNESDAY FOLK TRADITIONS at the PORTER-PHELPS-HUNTINGTON MUSEUM CONCLUDES WITH SAYREAL & REBELLE JULY 24th, 2019
The Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum concludes the 38th season of the Wednesday Folk Traditions concert series on Wednesday, July 24th with the return of SayReal & ReBelle, the coming-together of a family of musicians. These seasoned international performers plus a collective of young musical revolutionaries ignite a narrative of lyric, rock, and reggae. This and all other performances are held Wednesday evenings at 6:30 pm in the Sunken Garden at the Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum, 130 River Drive, Route 47, Hadley MA 01035. Admission is $12, $2 for children 16 and under. Picnickers are welcome on the museum grounds starting at 5:00 pm. The museum and its grounds are a smoke-free site. For further information please call (413) 584-4699 or view www.pphmuseum.org.
SayReal represents the new generation, a pop-reggae band based out of Los Angeles, CA, whose rhythms and tones have roots here in the Pioneer Valley. Naia Kete leads the group with vocal chops that brought her to a top ten finish on The Voice. She performs with her brother, multi-talented musician Imani Devi-Brown, and with bassist and percussionist Lee John. Naia and Imani are the children of ReBelle performer and founder Kalapana Devi, and went to school and began their musical careers locally, influenced by the powerful musical traditions of their parentage. The band and its members have received accolades including mention in Rolling Stone magazine, People, US Weekly, and more. They have played at major West Coast reggae festivals, sold out the Iron Horse Music Hall, and opened for Ziggy Marley at the Calvin Theater in Northampton. They recently completed a six week tour of the U.S. and Canada with members of David Bowie’s original ensembles. SayReal has distinguished itself by bringing focus on social justice issues into pop culture. They are currently fundraising for their community outreach initiative, Concerts and Conversations. Concerts and Conversations provides special programming at schools where the band members perform, teach, and engage with students in conversation about relationships between creativity and social responsibility.
ReBelle is an intergenerational and intercultural band from Africa and America. Founded by Manou Alkebulan and Kalpana Devi, the ReBelle story has a rich foundation of love and powerful musicianship. ReBelle plays all original music, sung in four different languages: English, Wolof, Creole, and French. Their powerhouse vocalists chant meditations on liberation while the band propels roots reggae soul. The band’s mystical mix of pulsing tribal rhythms, guitar, and tight harmonies is internationally acclaimed. ReBelle is heard on airwaves throughout Africa, Europe, Jamaica, the Americas, and the world. In Senegal and Cape Verde, and in the U.S. from Maine to Florida to California, ReBelle has performed hundreds of concerts at noted festivals, venues, and colleges. ReBelle is committed to love, unity, freedom, and peace throughout the world. According to the Valley Advocate, “ReBelle does some heavy channeling in their live shows… When ReBelle performs, concert halls become churches, and for several hours… people come together.”
The Porter-Phelps Huntington Museum’s Wednesday Folk Traditions is funded, in part, by grants from: the Marion I. And Otto C. Kohler Memorial Fund at the Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts; the Amherst and Hadley Cultural Councils, local agencies, supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency; Massachusetts Cultural Council Festivals Program, Easthampton Savings Bank, Eversource Energy, Gage-Wiley & Co., and with generous support from many local businesses.
The Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum is located at 130 River Drive (Route 47) in Hadley, two miles north of the junction of Routes 9 and 47. The Museum is open for guided tours Saturday through Wednesday from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. The house, which remains unchanged since the family’s occupancy, tells the story of six generations of prominent Hadley residents. The family, prosperous traders turned farmers, fought in both the French and Indian and Revolutionary Wars, rose to prominence in local government, and embodied a consistently progressive social consciousness. Tours highlight both local and regional narratives, from architecture, material culture, and labor to early-American theology, economics, women’s history, and social movements. For further information about tours or other programs, please call the Museum at (413) 584-4699 .