(Nkeiru Okoye)
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) will honor celebrated pianist André Watts and longtime orchestra supporter and cultural leader Chacona W. Baugh at the annual Arthur L. Johnson-Honorable Damon Jerome Keith Classical Roots Celebration.
For 42 years, the DSO’s Classical Roots concerts have presented African-American composers and musicians, and since 2001, the Celebration has honored composers, musicians, educators, and leaders for lifetime achievement as well as raised funds to support the DSO’s African-American music and musician development programs.
In the absence of Charity Preview, the Classical Roots Celebration has stepped up as the anticipated Winter Gala of the year.
The Detroit community will come together for a pre-concert dinner in the Peter and Julie F. Cummings Cube (The Cube) and a post-concert dessert and dancing afterglow. The Celebration raises funds to support the Classical Roots mission and is organized by a dedicated steering committee, co-chaired this year by H. Keith Mobley and Jasmin DeForrest.
One of the many highlights of this year’s celebration is the world premiere of composer Nkeiru Okoye’s Black Bottom, a new work inspired by the historic African-American Detroit neighborhood of the same name.
When commissioned by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra to compose an original work for the upcoming annual Classical Roots celebration, famed African-American composer, Nkeiru Okoye liken it to a musical journey through Black Bottom.
The Process
It’s a presentation on people and music that influenced Black Bottom in a twenty-minute symphonic medium.
When speaking on the process, Okoye express that coming to Detroit to do a residency was a must and she dived deep into Black Bottom during her week stay.
“This varies according to the composition. When a work is commissioned, I begin by researching my subject. For historical pieces, to captivate a musical time period, I saturate myself with writings written about and during an era before writing a note. The actual composition process begins as musical ideas form in my mind. When writing them down, I use pencil and paper, as well as my computer. “ Okoye continued. “For Black Bottom, I spoke with a lot of people because I wanted to get different sounds.”
The Sounds Of Hasting Street
“Hastings was the main thoroughfare in Black Bottom. People would visit Joe’s Record Shop and any of the Barthwell’s Drugstore. It was technically not in Black Bottom, though in an adjacent neighborhood.”
A section centers on Joe’s record shop. The perpetual movement is sound of busy thoroughfare, using motives that are derived from speech. No vocalists, so the instrumentalists are doing the “talking.” Ultimately I wanted to give a comprehensive view of what Black Bottom was through the historians, the church folk, the regular people.
To further celebrate the history and legacy of the Black Bottom neighborhood that inspired Okoye’s new work, the DSO is excited to announce a partnership with the Detroit Public Library (DPL) and Black Bottom Archives that brings a portion of the Black Bottom Street View project to the Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Music Center. The exhibit features a series of photos owned by The Burton Historical Collection at DPL that were taken by Detroit’s “Corporate Council” between 1949-1950 – just before the neighborhood was completely razed by the City of Detroit. The photos are displayed in a block-by-block grid that allows patrons to imagine walking through the neighborhood.
The black-tie Classical Roots Celebration – held since 2001 in conjunction with the concerts – will take place on Saturday, March 7. For more information visit dso.org/classicalroots
