Mark Anthony Neal

Critical Noir

Live Arts and Fresh Cut Chips

Posted 09/06/2007 at 11:14 AM | Comment?

I’ve been in the UK the past few days, specifically Birmingham, where I’ve been attending the opening days of the 3rd Decibel Performing Arts Showcase and Symposium. Sponsored by The Arts Council of England, the event brings together Afro-Caribbean, Asian, and African artists and programmers from across England. I had the privilege of delivering the opening keynote address—yet another incarnation of my ongoing meditation on Jay Z as cosmopolitan—which was quite an honor considering the fact that folk like Carl Hancock Rux, Hip-Hop Theater pioneer Benji Reid and longtime Harlem Stage/Aaron Davis Hall Inc. Executive Director Patricia Cruz were all in the audience and could have provided a brilliant keynote address in their own right. The same goes for my brilliant interlocutor Robert Beckford.

The real beauty of the event though, is that it afforded me a wonderful opportunity to break bread with a range of artists and thinkers from across the diaspora such as Sydney Bartley (Director for Jamaica's Ministry of Tourism, Entertainment and Culture), Dr. Vena Ramphal (who specializes in South Asian Dance), Myung-Joo Chung (who consults Korean Theater companies) and David Tse, who directs the Yellow Earth Theater in London. Like progressive artists in the US, they are all struggling to convince State institutions and various other potential benefactors that their art is worthy of support, while also struggling to provide progressive art that doesn’t cater to lowered expectations.

The highlight of my trip was Courtney Pine’s performance on the opening night, with a band which featured violinist Omar Puente (who played with a wah-wah for a bit) and guitarist Cameron Pierre. Because he’s in the UK, Pine doesn’t get enough recognition for his genius, but his was simply one of the best live jazz performances that I’ve seen in some tine. Of course there were less than 200 people in the audience and I could only think of seeing Grover Washington, Jr. wannabe Boney James perform in an outdoor venue a few weeks ago with an audience of thousands, while possessing a small fraction of Pine’s virtuosity.

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