This May, three Chatham County schools experienced an interactive performance of West African kora (a West African jumbo spike-lute with 22 strings made from fishing line), singing, and drumming with Diali Cissokho, as part of the Chatham Arts Council’s Artists-in-Schools Initiative. Bennett K-8 School, Virginia Cross, and Perry Harrison Elementary students and teachers were called… Read More →
GO SEE THIS: PICKIN’: A MUSIC CELEBRATION on November 11! Featuring The Bluegrass Experience. Sponsored by Opus Financial Advisors.
We’re trying something new with our Go See This series—a more intimate look at the behind-the-scenes of creating arts events in Chatham County. We hope you enjoy this, the second offering in this experiment, by Luis Melodelgado. Catching a moment While driving the back-county roads on route to my appointment with Catherine Hobbs and Robena… Read More →
Meet This Artist: Megan Clark Helps Kids Find Common Ground Through Singing
Megan Clark is sharing her love for music and inspiring many at Chatham Central High School in Bear Creek. You can feel it as soon as you walk into her class. She breathes soul into a quote in her chorus room: “Be Somebody Who Makes Everybody Feel Like Somebody”. Hearing her talking and joking with students,… Read More →
Meet This Artist: Antonio Lynn is Drumming to the Sound of Success
Antonio Lynn, it seems, was born with a drumbeat in his soul. He remembers playing drums at the early age of two. When he was three, his grandparents, Albert and Susan Alston, gave him a full junior-sized drum set for Christmas. By age five, he was playing in his church’s Junior Petite Choir. Now, as… Read More →
Meet This Artist: Joey Howell Creates in Paints & Notes
In the deep woods of Chatham County, Joey Howell has found synchronicity between his two art forms. He plays music to create “visual imagery that transports the listener” and he paints visual images that “convey the rhythm, harmony and emotion of music.” There is a bold yen and yang flow between them – rather like… Read More →
Meet This Artist: Diali Cissokho Blazes a New Chapter
Musician and songwriter Diali Cissokho was born into a long line of West African griots, who have been passing down history through song for seven centuries. From a small fishing town in Senegal, he followed his heart across the sea and landed in Pittsboro, N.C. where he lives on a small farm with his wife… Read More →