Rivers Institute for Contemporary Art & Thought invites you to join us for our second and final “Quill Session” on Saturday, December 9, 2023, at the U.N.O. Gallery on St. Claude Avenue from 6pm-9pm CT. The evening will begin with a lecture and drumming demonstration by New Orleans-based park ranger, musician, and educator Hunter Miles Davis and Jade Perdue Santrell and is designed for family learning. DJ Siphne Aaye will carry us through the evening.
The “Quill Sessions” occur every Second Saturday in coordination with the exhibition Helen Cammock: I Will Keep My Soul—on view in the galleries until December 17, 2023. Each set draws from the history and form of the “Bamboula,” a kind of drum of West African origin and the name of a popular drum beat and dance that arrived in New Orleans with free and enslaved people from Africa, Cuba, and Haiti in the 18th and 19th centuries. This 30-minute family-friendly lecture and drumming demonstration led by Hunter and Jade will explore the significance of this rhythm to Black diasporic communities past and present.
Doors open at 6pm; the lecture-demonstration with Davis and Perdue begins at 6:30pm. This event is free, family-friendly, and open to the public.
Location:
U.N.O. Gallery
2429 St. Claude Avenue
New Orleans, LA
Hunter Miles Davis is a New Orleans-based musician, park ranger, and educator. He is an Interpretive Park Ranger of the New Orleans Jazz Historical Park and oversees lectures, projects, photo and jam sessions for the Arrowhead Jazz Band and the Down on Their Luck Orchestra. He is particularly invested in engaging young people on the history of jazz and is a beloved member of New Orleans’ community of drummers and musicians. Davis is a graduate of Hampton University.
Jade Perdue Santrell is a versatile vocalist and instrumentalist who studies classical, jazz, gospel, and R&B. She has performed at New Orleans Jazz Heritage Festival for seven years under the Gospel Tent and Lagniappe Stage, the French Quarter Fest, the Creole Tomato Festival, the Gentilly Festival, and various venues in New Orleans. Perdue graduated from Xavier University of Louisiana, where she earned a B.A. in Musical Liberal Arts and a minor in Entrepreneurship; she is currently pursuing her M.A. in Jazz Studies at the University of New Orleans. In 2018, Jade traveled to New York City to compose original music for a performance-based project titled Organology under the direction of Ross Louis, Ph.D. She currently works at the New Orleans Jazz National Historical Park (NOJNHP) as an Interpretive Park Ranger and performs with the Arrowhead Jazz Band.
DJ Siphne Aaye is a mobile DJ and musician from New Orleans, Louisiana. Siphne has opened for a range of local, national, and international artists, including Eric Robertson, Bobby Rush, Cocoa Tea, and Dubtonic Cru. Siphne is invested in exploring the work of artists such as Nina Simone, Fred Hampton, Lorraine Hansberry, and James Baldwin through video, sound, and collage.