I Once Was Lost
But Now Am found
Spoken Word Performance and Virtual Choir Concerts
Spoken word performances and 128 singers streamed on multiple websites, Facebook and Instagram LIVE
- Program 1 Commitment
Monday, August 24, 2020 - Program 2 Inclusion
Tuesday, August 25, 2020 - Program 3 Resolute
Wednesday, August 26, 2020 - Program 4 Transformation
Thursday, August 27, 2020
In response to the multiple crises affecting us, The School will lift Charlotte in spoken word poetry and song every night for one week this August – uniting the choruses and voices of Charlotte in virtual choirs that will take place over the internet every evening while the Republican Convention is in session.
In collaboration with spoken word poets Bluz, Deem Malik, Herrison Chicas, Jaki Shelton Green, Shane Manier and choral directors David Tang, Kevin Mayes, and Eric Banks, these concerts of songs of uplift and redemption will bring in an a different chorus every night building up to the final concert.
The concerts will be streamed on multiple websites and platforms.
Program includes:
Bluz, Master of Ceremonies
Monday, August 24
Commitment
Deem Malik, Poet
I Believe by John P Kee
performed by The Charlotte Community Virtual Choir
Tuesday, August 25
Inclusion
Herrison Chicas, Poet
To be a stranger by Eric Banks
performed by Ensemble Diaspora
Wednesday, August 26
Resolute
Jaki Shelton Green, Poet
Will I See? by Kevin Mayes
performed by The Virtual Choir of Good Citizenship
Thursday, August 27
Transformation
Shane Manier, Poet
Concluding words Jaki Shelton Green
Amazing Grace Sing-along with David Tang
Doodle Talks
Streaming Team
Ashley Tata, Program Director
Eamonn Farrell, Video Designer
Andy Carluccio, Video Engineer
Madison Lane, Stage Manager
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I Believe by John P. Kee with 52 singers from:
The Charlotte Community Virtual Choir
Winston-Salem State University Singing Rams (D’Walla Simmons-Burke - director)
Alegría Hispana (Carmen Calvar - director)
Charlotte Community Virtual Choir
Music performed by:
Jonny Fung - electric guitar
Jim Brock- drums
Herbert Johnson - vocal soloist
Jose “Peppie” Calvar - vocal soloist
Audio Mix: David Tang and Jim Brock
Video Editing: Mary Patierno
To be a stranger - World Premiere
Composed by Eric Banks
Texts by Dorothy West, James Baldwin, John Lewis, and Frederick Douglass
Performed by Ensemble Diaspora a new vocal ensemble created for this performance of 32 singers drawn from the BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ communities from across the United States.
Audio Mix: Eric Banks
Video Editing: Eric Banks
Will I See?
Will I? words and music by Jonathan D. Larson.
Copyright © Universal Music Publishing Group. Used by permission
Amazing Grace - words by John Newton, melody unknown
Arranged by Kevin Mayes
Virtual Choir of Good Citizenship - 42 singers from around the United States ask questions posed by Jonathan Larson in his Broadway musical RENT:
Will I lose my dignity?
Will someone care?
Will I wake tomorrow from this nightmare?
Audio Mix: Kevin Mayes
Video Editing: LigoranoReese
I Once Was Lost Now Am Found Collaborators
Bluz is the I Once Was Lost But Now Am Found Master of Ceremonies. He a four-time Emmy Award winner and the slam master and coach of SlamCharlotte that won back to back National Poetry Slam victories in 2007 and 2008 and a historic 3rd win in 2018. Bluz has shared the stage with poets and speakers Nikki Giovanni, Dr. Cornell West, Sonia Sanchez, and Gil Scott Heron and recording artists Outkast, John Legend, The Last Poets, Del La Sol, and KRS ONE. He is the author of 3 books of poetry, released 3 cds and has performed at FLY POETS LA, Nuyorican poets Café, and Bowery Poetry Club.
Deem Malik is a practicing Sunni Muslim of West Indian decent who loves his faith, his heritage, and his family. Deem specializes in love poems and political poems, he is known for his use of imagery, symbolism, personification, and the freckles on his face. In 2018 Deem won the annual writing challenge at the close of the International Hip Hop Festival and was titled the Iron Poet of that year. He has been a feature poet online internationally via Instagram, Zoom, Podbean, and Blogtalk Radio. He has performed in India, Ghana, Nigeria, Canada, the US, the UAE, the UK, and The Republic of Ireland.
Jaki Shelton Green is the first African American and third woman to be appointed as the North Carolina Poet Laureate. When he appointed her in 2018, Governor Cooper stated that "Jaki Shelton Green brings a deep appreciation of our state's diverse communities to her role as an ambassador of North Carolina literature. Jaki's appointment is a wonderful new chapter in North Carolina's rich literary history." Jaki Shelton Green is the author of eight collections of poetry including Dead on Arrival, Masks, Feeding the Light, I Want to Undie You among others. Her poetry has been published in over eighty national and international anthologies and featured in magazines such as Essence and Ms. Magazine.
Herrison Chicas is a renown spoken word artist whose work centers around the Latinx identity. Chicas' poetry has been featured on major platforms such as Public Radio International, Univision, BET, and various TED talks. He has been invited to perform across the country in institutions such as the Smithsonian Anacostia Museum, Dartmouth College, Duke University, and others. Currently, Chicas is a PhD student at UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School studying the Latinx experience in the workplace and the broader society.
Shane Manier is a Creative Coach, Poetry Mentor, Artist, Live Painter and National Spoken Word Poet based in NC and founder of the nonprofit Guerilla Poets. She is currently the Spoken Word and Arts Teaching Instructor for Behailu Arts Academy, Harvey B. Gantt Center, Henderson High School and Playing for Others. In 2011 she was the youngest poet to ever be inducted in the Poetry Council of North Carolina and has been recognized as a National Poet performing with Respect Da Mic Slam Team 2017-2019.
David Tang is the founding director of the Firebird Arts Alliance and its chorus - VOX. He is also the Director of Music at Sharon Presbyterian Church. The Firebird Arts Alliance is dedicated to building community by fostering new and innovative artistic collaborations throughout the Charlotte-Mecklenburg region.
Kevin Mayes is a musician, composer, and arranger currently living in Austin. He’s been a music director for various theater productions as well as vocal ensembles of various sizes and configurations. He was the Artistic Director of Bailiwick Chicago, a theater company in Chicago, and worked as a professional actor in both NYC and Chicago for many years.
Composer, conductor, and translator, Eric Banks has harnessed his passions for foreign languages, poetry, social justice, and natural science to create works that reach far beyond the scope of the established a cappella canon. He has been awarded three composition grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, as well as the Dale Warland Singers Award from Chorus America and the American Composers Forum, and his works have been commissioned by and performed in 30 countries worldwide. Eric is a member of ASCAP.