What’s more valuable: money or culture? Carnival Arts pondered that question with our performance “Siren Song” on November 27, 2016. The Scavenger Queen led her army of skeletons and carrion birds, with their shopping carts overflowing with the discarded treasures of a throwaway consumer society, into a battle against the cultural wealth of Haitian Kongo dancers and drummers and the fierce ancestral power of Brazilian guerreiros. The battle was close, until the Siren Queen and her court descended from the sky and decided the winner. Singing a Cameroonian pop hit in her native Duala, the Siren Queen commanded the youth: “Oh, child, cherish your light. Know your worth!”
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Bel Kongo: Beauty, Power, Identity Exhibit
The Kongo is beautiful, says a popular Haitian folksong set to the lively kongo rhythm, often danced at Kanaval. But this happy observation takes on a bit of mystery as the song continues: You don’t know me. You don’t know Kongo. When mia galleries invited us to create an exhibit for Haitian Heritage Month 2016 […]
Urban Carnival – Dog on the Neck
In the docks of Havana, a hundred or so years ago, the original rumberos would improvise songs about the news of the day, always keeping with the beat of the drums. So Carnival Arts came up with a song about the news around Miami Bridge and a neighbor, who had an unusual way of getting […]
Maroon Chronicles – The Movie
Mariama and Youssou, two teenagers in love, are abducted from their village in Senegal and sold into slavery at different plantations on a Caribbean island. Each escapes with the help of friends, but the slavers chase after them. Will they find freedom? Will they find each other? Watch and see.
Carnival Arts : Celebration and Transformation Exhibit
Carnival Arts shared five years of workshops, performances, and videos in a restrospective exhibit at the mia galleries in the Miami International Airport.