Kahlil Kwame Bell performs a Father's Day Jazz Concert on Saturday, June 18
I heard my ancestors calling my name when I first heard Kahlil Kwame Bell play the slappaphone. The transcendent moment reminded me of the infinite possibilities of music. The sound united my soul to parts missing due to the splintering of cultures during the transatlantic slave trade.
“The slappaphone called me when I first heard it and it has become my voice … offering rhythm and melody to the listener,” Bell said.
Bell plays over 1,000 percussion
instruments while blending wood and clay flutes in musical outputs varying from
jazz, rock, hip-hop, classical, world music, spiritual and spoken word
accompaniments.
Bell performs a Father’s Day Jazz
Concert on Saturday, June 18 at Muna on Main Street, 2409 Crabtree Blvd, suite
107 in Raleigh, NC. Dasan Anahu, co-founder and managing director of Black
Poetry Theatre, a Durham based theatre company that creates and produces spoken
word-based productions, also performs.
Bell’s mastery of percussion led
to recording with jazz greats Ron Carter, Baba Olatunji, Dee Dee Bridgewater,
Roy Hargrove, Stefon Harris and two-time Grammy nominated group Ethnomusicology.
His range as a world class percussionist is reflected in work with Roberta Flack,
Peabo Bryson, Ashford and Simpson, Luther Vandross, James Ingram, Bilal,
Prince, Erykah Badu and Common.
Bell appears on over 100 recordings.
“Homeland”, a tribute to the music of Africa, his most recent recording, follows
“Gift of Forgiveness”, “Joyous Moments”, “Act of Faith”, “Inner Thoughts” and “Live
at Sweet Rhythm in New York” in showcasing his skills as a composer and producer.
If you’re a fan of music aimed at
healing brokenness stirred by divisions. Come. If you consider music a gift uniting
culture. Come. If you seek art affirming and celebrating the contributions of
Black ancestors. Come. If you’re a fan of good music and miss gathering after a
long season of distance from like-minded people. Please, join us in a
celebration of good music.
Roberta Flack sings a song about
being killed softly with his song. It’s a song about a piano player gradually
breaking down emotional barriers – one by one - with his music.
Isn’t that the purpose of music?
In celebration of father’s and Juneteenth
– Kahlil Kwame Bell present a gift of spiritual renewal. We all need that. I know I do.
Purchase his music and get those
tickets to Saturdays concert. Bring your daddy. Bring your son. Bring your
partner. Prepare for a reminder – we are all created in the image of love.
I find love in music. Sweet music,
heal my weary soul.
To purchase tickets, go to:
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