Returning to our area, Philip Hamilton, vocalist, engaged students in call and response singing. Playing his African drum and accompanied by guitarist Paul Bourgelais, Philip demonstrated the rhythmic and instrumental quality the voice can achieve in Friends of the Arts Regional Arts Council’s Art Encounters Education Program October 12-14. The assembly lecture/demonstration inspired students with this amazing vocalist! Philip’s mesmerizing music draws its rhythms from Caribbean, reggae themes, and Philip’s African American heritage. His vocal tones are incomparable. Students felt good about singing and were comfortable with the improvisational aspect of creating vocal music after this experience! They were able to draw on sounds and situations from everyday life for material.
Born in West Medford, MA, Philip Hamilton has known since childhood that music was his passion. After attending Middlebury College, from which he graduated with a BA in Political Science and Performance Studies, he studied at Berklee College of Music and Longy School of Music. He now teaches workshops at various art programs, including Bates Dance Festival, The Kitchen, Dance Theater Workshop and Columbia University/Barnard College Department of Dance. His collaborations with other musicians cover a vast array of styles and artists. He is widely known for his extensive work as part of the Pat Metheny Group, to which he was termed “vital” and “a perfect addition.” The full list of projects and appearances, however, reaches beyond his recent collaboration, and beyond jazz.
In November, Friends of the Arts Regional Arts Council’s Art Encounters Education Program is bringing Won-Ldy Paye: Liberian Storyteller, Musician, and Visual artist into the schools. Won-Ldy Paye is an experienced artist and teacher who will bring the culture of Liberia to area students. His storytelling presentation is interactive and engaging, incorporating songs, drumming and audience participation. One lucky school group will be hosting Won-Ldy for an exciting after school program incorporating mask making, storytelling and drumming. The masks made during this residency will be part of the Educational Theatre Collaborative (ETC) art exhibit in the lobby of Silver Cultural Arts Center in January.
Won-Ldy Paye is a multi-talented artist from Tapita, in the northeastern region of Liberia, West Africa. He is a member of the Tlo Ker Mehn, the class of professional Dan entertainers who are keepers of the Dan people. He was also trained in drumming, instrument making, dancing, woodcarving, mask making, fabric dyeing and mural painting. Won-Ldy Paye is an Award-Winning Author of traditional stories from Liberia published by the MacMillan/McGraw-Hill School Division series of textbooks, SRA/McGraw-Hill, Fulcrum Publishing and Henry Holt & Company. He is also a Teaching and Performing Artist for Connecticut Commission on the Arts, an Artist in Residence for the Washington State Arts Commission, the Seattle Arts Commission, the Anchorage School District and the Montana Art Council; and an Artist, consultant & restorer for Liberian visual art as well as the Founder, Director & Performer with Village Drum & Masquerade (Traditional Mask Dancers from Liberia).
For more information on these or any other Friends of the Arts Regional Arts Council’s programs please call the office at (603) 536-1182 or visit our website at www.friends-of-the-arts.org