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<\/a>The\u00a0Percussionist and The Poet performing at Temple University (2011)<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n P<\/strong>erforming together for two decades, Thomas Lowery and Melodye Mic\u00ebre Van Putten began working together while teaching African American children in Van Putten\u2019s character education program, Black History Workshops for Children<\/em> (known in Bermuda as Ashay: Rites of Passage<\/em>). What began as a captivating way to introduce the best of global African culture and history has grown into extraordinary poetic and rhythmic performance artistry that raises consciousness, educates, inspires, motivates and entertains.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Percussionist and The Poet performing at Chewstick Neo-Grio Lounge, Bermuda (2012)<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n A<\/strong>ccording to The Royal Gazette\u2019s<\/em> performance reviewer Vejay Steede, \u201c\u2026Mrs. Van Putten delighted a packed house at Chewstick\u2026 delivering a splendidly paced performance of her original poetry with style, flair, and attitude to spare\u2026 The poetry on offer was thought-provoking, entertaining, emotional, powerful, and inspiring all at once\u2026 Childhood friend, Thomas Lowery, dazzled with his beats, employing a wide array of percussive tools, including the billabong, djembe, Congo drum, and traditional bass, snare, and cymbal drum set.”<\/em><\/p>\n Chewstick Poetry Performance Poster<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n Filming for Healing History: The Documentary, Studio Session (Kristin Alexander, Thomas Lowery)<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n THE ROYAL GAZETTE NEWSPAPER<\/strong> By Vejay Steede Mrs. Van Putten delighted a packed house at Chewstick\u2019s headquarters on the corner of Court and Elliot Streets, delivering a splendidly paced performance of her original poetry with style, flair, and attitude to spare.<\/p>\n The ambiance inside the Neo Griot Lounge on Friday night was cool, laid-back, and sensual. The popular artists\u2019 haven had its usual speakeasy feel enhanced with African print mud cloth, Congo drums, and a healthy dose of conscious vibes. The audience was comprised of mostly mature patrons; the kind of folks who really know and really appreciate good poetry.<\/p>\n The evening\u2019s entertainment started sometime after 8.30pm with American storyteller David O\u2019Shea. He regaled the attentive audience with two of his popular stories from his years as a New York City taxi driver. There was comedy, drama, emotion, and heartache in Mr. O\u2019Shea\u2019s performance; as well as within the fabric of his wonderful stories. . .\u00a0 Mr. O\u2019Shea was thoroughly entertaining during his set, keeping the audience hanging on his every word like the griots of yore; in the days before stories were told by talking heads inside electronic boxes. A very nice opening act indeed.<\/p>\n Of course, the headliner was no less impressive. Mrs. Van Putten immediately made the space her own. It was like she was returning to her natural habitat a proud lioness holding court on the bountiful Serengeti. She absorbed the positive vibes the crowd was exuding and reflected them back in abundance.<\/p>\n Childhood friend Thomas Lowery accompanied her on percussion. Mr. Lowery is a master drummer from Philadelphia, and he added considerable weight to the performance, delivering stellar rhythms to accentuate her powerful words.\u00a0 He dazzled with his beats, employing a wide array of percussive tools, including the billabong, djembe, Congo drum, and traditional bass, snare, and cymbal drum set. He even played a Bermuda Gombey rhythm at the end, to the delight of the receptive crowd.<\/p>\n The poetry on offer was thought-provoking, entertaining, emotional, powerful, and inspiring all at once. Mrs. Van Putten\u2019s performance was well-rehearsed, polished, and brilliant. She sang, scatted, hit all the perfect inflections, added attitude exactly where it was needed, and thoroughly convinced the crowd that her words indeed were words to live by.<\/p>\n There was a healthy dose on African Diaspora history in her work. Pieces like \u2018I Can Feel Your Spirit\u2019, \u2018Lest We Forget\u2019 and \u2018Ashay (Bermuda Libation)\u2019 paid homage to the ancestors, while \u2018History\u2019s Challenge\u2019, \u2018This Headwrap Ain\u2019t No Bandana\u2019, \u2018When Did We Stop Being African?\u2019 and \u2018What Are You Watching?\u2019 issued challenges to the new generation of multi-media obsessed African progeny.<\/p>\n After a brief intermission, the material became noticeably more sensual. Apart from the tributes to President Obama and Michelle Obama, the poems in this portion of the show focused on women\u2019s issues (\u2018Inspired\u2019, \u2018Hair\u2019), mature love (\u2018Love Now\u2019), and other sensual matters (\u2018Feeling Poetry\u2019). Perhaps the most modern style piece of the evening was the wonderful \u2018I Got A Poem Stuck In My Head\u2019, a story about a poem that would not rest until it was out of her head and into the universe.<\/p>\n Mrs. Van Putten closed the set with a tribute to the purpose behind her life\u2019s work; a simple piece which can be summed up by just stating the title, \u2018I Love Black People\u2019. The veteran educator appeared entirely absorbed in this piece, singing the words with closed eyes and a soft smile on her face like merely uttering the phrase was actively soothing her soul. Indeed, the piece was intoxicating and quite soothing for the audience, which fell under her spell quite early, and remained captivated throughout. This was another excellent evening in the fantastic Griot Session series at Chewstick. If you\u2019ve never been to a Griot Session and you love poetry, you might want to look out for upcoming sessions; you won\u2019t be disappointed. FOR PERFORMANCE ENGAGEMENTS & INFORMATION CONTACT: The Percussionist and The Poet – Thomas Lowery and Melodye Mic\u00ebre Van Putten<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Performing together for two decades, Thomas Lowery and Melodye Mic\u00ebre Van Putten began working together while teaching African American children in Van Putten\u2019s character education program, Black History Workshops for Children (known in Bermuda as Ashay: Rites of Passage). What began as a captivating way to introduce the best of global African culture and Continue reading <\/i><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-476","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/educatorpoet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/educatorpoet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/educatorpoet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/educatorpoet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/educatorpoet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=476"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"http:\/\/educatorpoet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/476\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":479,"href":"http:\/\/educatorpoet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/476\/revisions\/479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/educatorpoet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/a>Their performance credits include:<\/h5>\n
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CD credits:<\/h5>\n
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Film credits:<\/h5>\n
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<\/a>
\nBermuda<\/strong>
\nThought-Provoking And Powerful Poetry\u00a0<\/strong>That Gets Stuck In Your Head<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nHamilton, Bermuda. The latest in Chewstick\u2019s excellent Griot Session series featured renowned Africalogist, activist, teacher, author, speaker and poet, Melodye Mic\u00ebre Van Putten.<\/p>\n
\nShe read selected pieces from her four poetry volumes during the session. \u2018Sacred Thoughts: God Is The Light… and The Light Is All There Is\u2019, \u2018Soul Poems: Life as Fertile Ground\u2019, \u2018Obamatyme: Election Poetry\u2019<\/em> (winner of the 2009 Best Books Award, Urban Poetry, USA), and \u2018Ashay: Poetry for Empowerment\u2019<\/em> are all available at bookstores throughout the Island, or by contacting Mrs. Van Putten directly.<\/p>\n
\n\u00a9 Copyright 2012 royalgazette.com. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n
\nMelodye Mic\u00ebre Van Putten
\nmelodyevanputten@aol.com<\/p>\n<\/a>