Piano & A Poet
EVERY TUESDAY IN APRIL
@ NOON
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Celebrating National Poetry & Jazz Appreciation Month!
Piano – Chuckey Robinson
Born with the gift to instinctively hear and create unique sounds, Chuckey polished this masterful gift while attending North Carolina Central University, where he studied music and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Music Industry and Jazz Studies. Chuckey has produced music for several artists and can be heard sharing his musical genius on countless records. His music has also been featured on networks such as The Word Network and ESPN, to name a few.
Poet – Main Man
Besides being a dope poet, a vicious emcee and an iLL human being, mainMAN is also the 2020 NC Poetry Society Gilbert-Chappell Adult Fellowship recipient, 2019 Bloc Awards Spoken Word Artist of the Year, a MADE Mentoring Activist and the host of the #1 Undisputed HipHop Talk Show “Radio Unfriendly” on WHUP 104.7 FM. His purpose is the preservation of dopeness in Black culture as well as the creation of intelligent leaders. https://mainman.link/
Piano – Joel Holloway
Poet – Dasan Ahanu
About Dasan Ahanu, Poet
Christopher Massenburg, better known as Dasan Ahanu, is a public speaker, organizer, curator, educator, poet, spoken word artist, educator, songwriter, and emcee, and loyal Hip Hop head born and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina. He is co-founder and managing director of Black Poetry Theatre, a Durham based theatre company that creates and produces original poetry and spoken word based productions. As an active participant in poetry slam, Dasan has competed regionally and nationally as a founding member and coach of Durham, NC’s own Bull City Slam Team. In addition to advocating for further support of poetry and spoken word, he has spoken on topics such as the impact of cultural arts programming, the arts and social justice, Hip Hop culture, Hip Hop pedagogy, and the arts as a tool for literacy. As a resident artist with the St, Joseph’s Historic Foundation/Hayti Heritage Center in Durham, NC he has developed poetry and spoken word programming for youth and adults and worked to grow the Triangle’s arts community. Dasan is also an alumni Nasir Jones Fellowship with the Hip Hop Archive at Harvard University’s Hutchins Center for African & African American Research. His scholarly work is focused on art interventions, creative expression, Hip Hop and popular culture. Currently, Dasan is a visiting professor at UNC-Chapel Hill in Chapel Hill and a consultant working with organizations on art-based strategies.
Piano – Graeme Slonaker
I grew up on a small farm in Pennsylvania and started playing piano when I was 10. After discovering jazz around age 13, I have been chasing the music ever since. I attended undergraduate school at ECU and moved to Durham after to pursue my master’s degree at North Carolina Central University. I’ve had a great time exploring the scene here and meeting all the great musicians here, and I am excited to share this live concert with you all!
Poet – Ayanna
Ayanna Albertson is a writer, creative advocate and spoken word poet from Durham, NC. Ayanna is a part of the Bull City Slam team and has participated in various national poetry competitions using her gift of words in order to impact, empower and inspire others. She’s a 2x Bull City Grand Slam Champion, won first place in game 14 of Poetry Battles (an online poetry slam), and was recently crowned the 2nd best woman poet in the world. Ayanna is very passionate about advocacy and desires to be a voice for women and communities of color. Ayanna’s motto for her work is “I don’t wish to be famous, I just want to be heard”.
