Enjoy 'Songs and Stories of African People' Feb. 2
Celebrate Black History Month with "Songs and Stories of African People" from 3 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 2, at the St. Charles Public Library, 1 S. Sixth Ave.
Join Shanta Nurullah, a Chicago-based multi-instrumentalist and storyteller, for a family event celebrating the songs and stories of people of the African diaspora.
Melding the work of her own creative spirit with African folk tales and contemporary African-American perspectives, Shanta's stories are about empowerment, peace, healing and self-discovery.
Register at www.scpld.org.
Nurullah's career spans over four decades of promoting African and African-American folklore, spoken word performance, children's and improvisational music. She has performed across the U.S. and abroad and has received numerous awards, fellowships, and grants.
As a storyteller, Nurullah presents programs of stories with music for youth and adults in schools, arts and community centers, libraries, museums, parks, colleges, churches, prisons, and festivals. Her repertoire includes traditional folk tales, personal stories, historical lore and inspirational material. She has told stories at the National Storytelling Festival, the National Festival of Black Storytelling, National Geographic, and the Illinois, Michigan, Nebraska, Las Vegas, and Yukon Storytelling Festivals. In 2014, she received the Zora Neale Hurston Award - the highest honor given by the National Association of Black Storytellers.
As a musician, Nurullah has distinguished herself as an improviser on sitar, bass, and mbira. A member of the legendary Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, she co-founded the all women's bands Sojourner and Samana. In addition, she has played with Nicole Mitchell, Dee Alexander, Junius Paul, David Boykin, Tomeka Reid, Saalik Ziyad, and the AACM Great Black Music Ensemble.
Nurullah owns the independent label, Storywiz Records, which released "Sitar Black" (2017), the debut album by Sitarsys, her current band. This music, categorized as Spiritual Jazz, is available on this website, and on iTunes, amazon, Apple Music, and Spotify.