As “Black Music Month” draws to a close in the United States, the Gullah/Geechee Nation keeps the celebration of the roots of “Black music” going not only through the broadcast on “Gullah/Geechee Riddim Radio” (www.blogtalkradio.com/gullahgeechee) which chronicle the historic musical connections in the Gullah/Geechee Nation from the spirituals to the National Black Anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing” to the Funk Brothers of Motown via the life of Edisto Island’s James Jamerson to Arthur Conley to the climb to the top of American Idol by St. Helena Island’s own, Candice Glover, but also through broadcast on “Gullah/Geechee TV Nayshun Nyews” with Queen Quet” (www.gullahgeechee.tv).   Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation (www.QueenQuet.com) is not only a native of St. Helena Island who became the first Gullah/Geechee to take the culture of her community to a global arena by going to the United Nations, she is also the co-founder of the Gullah/Geechee Nation International Music & Movement Festival™(www.gullahgeechee.info) which will be held on St. Helena Island, SC again this year August 2-4.

The inaugural Gullah/Geechee Nation International Music & Movement Festival™was held on St. Helena Island, SC in honor of this island being the place where the first spirituals were written down.  The event has since traveled to Charleston, the Bahamas, Georgia, Florida, and Louisiana to reconnect the Gullah/Geechee Diaspora.  As the festival returns to St. Helena Island, the theme is “Emancipation een de Gullah/Geechee Nation.”  The event will commemorate 150 years since the Emancipation Proclamation was read and since the Combahee River Raid was led by Harriet Tubman in Beaufort County, SC.  Just as with the culmination of these two historic events, there was a great deal of celebration that involved the songs from the souls of Gullah/Geechees, so shall the festival be a celebration of songs and dance.

The Gullah/Geechee Nation International Music & Movement Festival™ will begin on Friday, August 2, 2013 at Noon at the Hunting Island Nature Center and an ancestral tribute.  The community is asked to bring their drums and tamborines.   An interactive Gullah/Geechee living history tour of Hunting and St. Helena Island will be led by Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation will follow the opening ceremony and luncheon and will conclude with a gathering at the Atlantic Ocean at Hunting Island.   Saturday, August 3, 2013 from Noon to 5 pm, a series of musical artists including “SoulPower,” “Peck Ensemble,” “Queen Quet & De Gullah Cunneckshun,” and Anthony McKnight (who will do a tribute to his cousin, James Jamerson of Motown) will present at the new state-of-the art St. Helena Branch Library Performance Arts Arena.

Sunday will conclude with worship services at the local churches where people will get to appreciate the origins of the shout and the spirituals as well as the evolution of gospel music before traveling on the “Dayclean Journey” from St. Helena Island, SC to Savannah, GA which was one of the ports of sale of the ancestors of Gullah/Geechees.

The Gullah/Geechee Nation International Music & Movement Festival™ is an authentic celebration of Gullah/Geechee songs, history, language, and culture.  The entire event is hosted and presented by native Gullah/Geechees who ain gwine stop shoutin fa sho!  Cum jayn we fa yeddi who we be an sing we songs wha cum frum de islandts een de sea!

For more information on attending or to purchase advance tickets go to www.gullahgeechee.info.

Also, tune into the Gullah/Geechee Riddim Radio interview entitled “Gulllah/Geechee Soul Power!”  http://www.blogtalkradio.com/gullahgeechee/2013/07/08/gullahgeechee-soul-power

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• Tagged: Anthony McKnight, Beaufort, Black Music, Black Music Month, Candice Glover, celebration, cultural heritage, culture, dance, De Gullah Cunneckshun, festival, Geechee, Gullah, Gullah/Geechee Nation, Gullah/Geechee Nation International Music & Movement Festival, Gullah/Geechee Riddim Radio, history, James Jamerson Arthur Conley, Queen Quet, SC, Sea Islands, shout, songs, SoulPower, spirituals, St. Helena Island