CTMD’s Ayiti Fasafas (Haitian Community Cultural Initiative) and City Lore present One Island: Two Houses, a symposium and concert exploring the music of Haitian rara and Dominican gaga and their socio-political context. For hundreds of years Haiti and the Dominican Republic have shared the island of Hispaniola and a challenging post-colonial history that has strained relations between the two neighbors. While the cataclysmic earthquake of 2010 created a window of goodwill (the Dominican government was one of the first to send aid to Haiti), the relationship has since cooled. This one-day symposium will explore the related processional music/dance forms of Haitian rara and Dominican gaga.
Program includes:
Keynote address by Robert Farris Thompson (Yale University, 11:00AM)
Panel discussions by NY-based Haitian and Dominican scholars, artists and activists (12:15PM and 3:00PM)
Lunch, followed by a screening of Miriam Neptune’s documentary Birthright Crisis on the experience of Dominican-born Haitians (1:30PM-3:00PM)
Performances by NY-based Haitian rara artists Nadia Dieudonne and Feet of Rhythm and Dominican gaga ensemble Gaga Pa’l Pueblo (5:00PM-7:00PM).
DATE / TIME: Saturday, October 12, 2013 / 11am-7pm LOCATION: St. Francis College, 180 Remsen Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201 ADMISSION: Free. University faculty wishing to get their students involved should contact Professor Deinya Phenix at dphenix@sfc.edu.
For more information, please contact Eileen Condon at 212-571-1555, x35 or econdon@ctmd.org.
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