32.1 F
Indianapolis
Monday, March 18, 2024

Take a musical stroll down memory lane

More by this author

As another Black History Month winds down, an Indianapolis group dedicated to preserving and sharing African-American history has a big bash planned.

Freetown Village, the living history museum that uses music, theater and more to teach about life in Indianaā€™s Black settlements after the Civil War, will take a slightly different approach for its upcoming event ā€œFreetown Village Presents: A Musical Journey.ā€

For this performance, the group will step out of the 19th century to showcase Indiana Avenueā€™s rich jazz history.

Ophelia Wellington, Freetown Villageā€™s founding director, said many of the planned performers have direct ties to the vibrant jazz of the past.

ā€œWeā€™re focusing on jazz artists, many of whom played on Indiana Avenue, and many of the descendants of those jazz artists are also performers, and they will be providing tribute performances,ā€ Wellington said.

It wasnā€™t difficult to track down those jazz-great descendants for this event ā€” Wellington said they have already been involved with Freetown Village in various capacities.

Kevin Johnson, who has acted and directed with Freetown Village and worked at the organizationā€™s summer camp, will perform a tribute to his father, Pookie Johnson. Freetown Village singer Ellen Lane has been involved with the summer camp and has directed the childrenā€™s ensemble; at A Musical Journey, she will perform a tribute to her father, Lancaster Price. Nanette Anderson, who has also performed in the past with the Freetown Village singers, will honor her father Al Richardson.

Editor’s Note: A previous version of this article identified jazz artist Lancaster Price as “the late” Lancaster Price. Mr. Price is still living. We regret the error.

Special guest artists Bashiri Asad, Sandy Lomax, Stanley Daniels and June Rochelle will also perform at A Musical Journey, in addition to the Freetown Village Singers.

Wellington said she is excited to allow the talented group to perform a show different from the usual repertoire.

ā€œThis event allows them to showcase some of their talents, because with the Freetown Village singers, they perform in a specific genre of music, they focus on the Negro spirituals and early folk songs,ā€ she said. ā€œBut with the Musical Journey, it allows them to perform things they typically donā€™t do.ā€

In addition to the show, A Musical Journey includes a dinner buffet by Grantā€™s Catering, and the entire will event take place at the historic Madame Walker Theatre Center, at the heart of Indiana Avenue and the cityā€™s once-thriving jazz scene.

Wellington said the event sold out last year and she had to turn people away who expected to buy tickets at the door. This year, the event is on track to be a sellout once again, so Wellington urges anyone interested to reserve their tickets sooner rather than later.

Wellington said the successful ticket sales to A Musical Journey let her know Freetown Village is doing something right.

ā€œThat tells us people are interested and they enjoy the show, and we are providing something that people enjoy,ā€ she said. ā€œEspecially this year, focusing on Indiana jazz artists, many of the people remember the heyday of Indiana Avenue, and perhaps they went to some of the clubs that played the music, so this will be a nice nostalgic moment for them.ā€

For more information on Freetown Village, visit FreetownVillage.org.

Freetown Village Presents: A Musical Journey

  • A celebration of African-Americansā€™ rich jazz history
  • Madame Walker Theatre Center
  • Feb. 27, 6ā€“8 p.m.
  • $45; search ā€œFreetown Villageā€ on Eventbrite.com for tickets
- Advertisement -

Upcoming Online Townhalls

- Advertisement -

Subscribe to our newsletter

To be updated with all the latest local news.

Stay connected

1FansLike
1FollowersFollow
1FollowersFollow
1SubscribersSubscribe

Related articles

Popular articles

EspaƱol + Translate Ā»
Skip to content