Sharing Grandmothers Playbill

SHARING GRANDMOTHERS featuring LORNOAR (Cameroon) and Inez Barlatier (Miami)

FEB 11 & 12

Historic Asolo Theater 65 minutes, no intermission

2021/22 SEASON

THE ART OF

PERFORMANCE

Sharing Grandmothers is a multidisciplinary song cycle celebrating the profound contributions of Black women to humanity. This full evening concert focuses on women’s oral traditions, lullabies, and folk tales, as well as the combined musical traditions of Africa and the Caribbean, replete with percussive rhythms, rituals, and vocal expressions. The project brings together two multidisciplinary musicians who each embrace a rich cultural heritage and mastery of traditional songs, stories, rhythms, and dances from their respective cultures.

The two principal artists are LORNOAR, a Cameroonian artist whose work encompasses traditional and original songs, music, and dance, and Inez Barlatier, a Miami-based Haitian-American singer/songwriter, percussionist and dancer. Under the direction of Miami-based director Carlos Caballero, the work explores the legacy of shared ancestry and traditions between Cameroon and Haiti, celebrating the influence of Africa on the Caribbean and its diaspora, and the empowerment of the 21st Century Black Woman.

DIRECTOR’S NOTE Welcome to Sharing Grandmothers, a musical journey. As a narrative, it begins with the seed of traditional burial music, then moves backwards towards maturity, through adolescence, and culminates in a birth where traditional lullabies from both countries handed down from generation to generation conclude the work with the hope of new beginnings. A better present.

There are many languages used throughout this production and you may not understand everything that is being spoken or sung, but we invite you to be open to experience the work in the same way that the cast and crew of Sharing Grandmothers communicated in Cameroon, Spain and Miami over the course of this collaboration.

Without knowing exactly what was being said, they communicated through the perfect language of the eyes, gestures and artistic communion.

More than a comprehension of language, this production is intended to be felt. The work is dedicated to all women, to all grandmothers, and especially dedicated to my grandmother. ­—Carlos Miguel Caballero

PROGRAM MOYUGBA

MY BABY

Traditional Yoruban prayer

Composed by LORNOAR

STRANGE FRUIT

WULU MINAM

Composed by Abel Meeropol Arranged by Pavel Urkiza

Composed by LORNOAR

VOLE

Composed by LORNOAR

Composed by Inez Barlatier Arranged by Pavel Urkiza

WHERE IS MY HOME

100%

Composed by Inez Barlatier

Composed by LORNOAR

D’ASSI D’AYOP

KHAWULEZA

Composed by LORNOAR

Traditional South African song Arranged by Pavel Urkiza

CLAIM YOUR FAME

Composed by Inez Barlatier NMIL

Composed by LORNOAR MAMA IS A ROCK

Composed by Inez Barlatier

LOVE LIGHT

AYBOBO

Composed by Inez Barlatier LUCCIA

Composed by LORNOAR DODO TITI

Traditional Haitian traditional lullaby CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM SINGER-SONGWRITERS & MULTI-INSTRUMENTALISTS

Inez Barlatier and LORNOAR GUITAR, BALAFON, MVETT

Michel Mbarga PERCUSSION

Bobby Badjang BASS

Jefferson Joseph MUSICAL DIRECTOR & MUSICAL ARRANGEMENTS

Pavel Urkiza VISUAL ARTS DIRECTOR

Randy Valdes

POST-SHOW TALK BACK

ORIGINAL CONCEPT AND DIRECTION

Carlos Miguel Caballero ASSISTANT DIRECTOR

Celia Ledon ASSISTANT PRODUCER

Williams Ruiz PRODUCTION COORDINATOR

Gerardo Alvarez ASSOCIATE PRODUCER

Benjamin Eche Cazelles, Conexión AfriCana GENERAL PRODUCER

Ever Chavez, FUNDarte

Join the artists of Sharing Grandmothers immediately after the performance on Friday, February 11.

BIOGRAPHIES

INEZ BARLATIER is an Ayisyen (Haitian)-American multidisciplinary artist and youth educator. At the age of 12 years old, she joined her father’s band, Jan Sebon & Kazak International and Inez led her own band, Kazoots, for six years. The music she produces is inspired by her upbringing Miami, Florida with multicultural polyrhythms and ancestral singing. Inez’s songs are about culture, justice, freedom and love.

She received a Knight Arts Champion grant recommended by Miami Light Project producing her debut EP entitled MOUNIMOON. Inez’s children’s show, Ayiti: Stories & Songs from Haiti, was featured at the 2020 International Performance Art for Youth Conference. Inez is also a music mentor with the Guitars Over Guns Organization.

Upcoming works include an F/Punk Junkies written and directed by award winning playwright Teo Castellanos. www.inezbarlatier.com LORNOAR is a singer, songwriter and dancer from Cameroon. Born and raised in Yaoundé, she began her career at an early age. She made her debut as a professional singer in 2007, being featured in a prominent local night-club and was hired by a famous band that offered her the opportunity to tour extensively throughout the country and to back vocally most of Cameroon’s greatest singers. In 2010 she won First Prize in the nationwide competition of female voices “MASSAO” in Douala, and in July 2011 released her first solo album. From 2012 to 2014 she toured through Paris and New York. There, she recorded her second album “100%”. That same year she performed before the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York at the Official Launch of the International Decade for People of African Descent. Lornoar’s work builds on the legacy of African oral heritage. Her music is made of various rhythms: from bikutsi to bossa nova, through makossa, batanga, ekank, ekomot, mbalax and reggae. www.lornoar.com MICHEL MBARGA is an accomplished guitarist born and raised in Cameroon.

At the age of six, he began his musical journey to eventually master the electroacoustic guitar and the balafon. He has participated in more than 200 national and international concerts in solo or accompanying the greatest musicians in Africa such as Patou Bass, Ondoa Akono, Alima Pelagie, Guy Mwogang, Mbale Mbale, Richard Amongou, Tsimi Toro, Cécile Éke and Ktino. He has been collaborating with LORNOAR for over 15 years.

BOBBY BADJANG is a gifted drummer born and raised in Cameroon. Since the age of 14, he has been playing with passion and confidence both drums and minor percussions, bongo, cajon, and the African tam tam. Throughout the years, he has accompanied national and international artists such as André Manga, Olivier Chewa, Hervé Lobongo, Sanzy Vianny, Nkodo Sitony, Da’ak Janvier, Isnebo, Sam Fan Thomas, Govinal, and Esso Essomba. He has been collaborating with LORNOAR for 10 years.

JEFFERSON JOSEPH is a multi-genre bassist from Miami, Florida. Working as either a session musician with existing groups or formulating small ensembles as a bandleader, he has tackled a wide variety of live performances and recording projects.

He begins to take an interest in bass after graduating from high school. Later, while studying at Florida International University (FIU), he met his guitarist M.A.D Man (MAD) and created bands such as Crimson Reservoir, The Sunday Crew, and The

UnCanny Reservoir, which he performed at college events and festivals, recording two albums.

PAVEL URKIZA is a musician, composer, producer, arranger, guitar player, and singer.

Urkiza has published more than 40 compositions on over a dozen of his own CD projects. He has also recorded, written, and produced for internationally renowned artists including Ana Torroja, Miguel Bose, Albita Rodriguez, Ketama, Cristina del Valle, Echegaray, Claudia Gomez, Yusa, and the Nicaraguan musician, Luis Enrique. Pavel produced more than 20 discographic works, including with his duo, Gema y Pavel and his solo albums, and with other acclaimed artists like Omara Portuondo, Virtudes Moreno, Giselle Solis, Habana Abierta, Yuniel Jimenez, as well as the poet F. Javier Rahim. His most recent production, “La Ruta de las Almas “ (The Road of the Souls), is a film performance project about ancestral connections among music from the IberoAmerican region.

RANDY VALDES has developed his career in different aspects of filmmaking including as an editor, writer, cinematographer, and director with an early emphasis on documentary filmmaking and video art. His work has premiered at The Sheffield International Documentary Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, and SXSW FilmFest, participated in Hot Docs – Film and Music Series, ScreenDance Miami Festival, and won the best documentary in XicanIndie Film Fest. Most recently, his short film was acquired by HBO for national distribution. As a film Director, Randy has also developed a multi-disciplinary approach, and uses photography, collages, and animation, which often focus on spiritual elements with psychoanalytic approach.

CARLOS MIGUEL CABALLERO is an actor and theater director with an extensive history in international theater, film, television, and multimedia performance. Caballero studied Art History at the University of Havana and graduated from the Institute of Fine Arts of Havana (ISA) with a degree in Theater and Acting. Caballero has worked as an actor since 1985, most notably as a company member with Teatro El Público and La Ventana in Cuba performing in over 20 plays, and touring to leading festivals in Spain and Latin America. Caballero received the Best New Actor award from the Miami New Times and the Nuevo Herald for his work with Grupo de Teatro La Mateodora, and he directed the widely acclaimed play “Sueño Americano” by José Eduardo Pardo, which received a Best New Work award from the Miami Herald. His commissioned work includes “If you’re going to pull a knife, USAlo” an experimental bilingual work based on texts by Becket, “Writing in sand” and “Between two waters”. He work has received support from Miami Dade County Cultural Affairs. Miami Light Project, FUNDarte and the Knight Foundation. In 2012 he appeared as a protagonist in the film “Verde Verde” by Enrique Pineda Barnet, receiving the best actor awards at two international film festivals.

Produced by FUNDarte, support for Sharing Grandmothers comes in part from The Knight Foundation’s Knight Arts Challenge 2020 and the Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs - International Cultural Partnership Grant Program.

A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO OUR ART OF PERFORMANCE SPONSORS

This program is supported in part by the Shank Family Curator of Performance Endowment, the Ringling Art of Performance Endowment Fund at the Florida State University Foundation, Frank Brunkhurst III Endowment, Ira and Joan Mendell Ringling Museum Endowment, the John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art Endowment, Publix Supermarket Charities Endowment, and the Ringling Museum General Endowment.