'Mostly Words' in balance with 'Mostly Soul'

Tribe Sankofa looks towards first season

Mel Cooke, Gleaner Writer

Tribe Sankofa, the 15-member (10 spoken-word/ singing artistes and five musicians) performing-arts unit, will balance its words over the two shows which comprise its first season, Word-Soul: the deluxe edition.

On Saturday, November 24, it is Mostly Words, which Tribe Sankofa's founder Fabian Thomas said "is mostly poetry, with some song". On Sunday, November 25, it is Mostly Soul, "mostly singing with some poetry".

This first season comes within three months of Tribe Sankofa having its first official show with that name, but it is not their first performance as a group.

"The first time we performed as Tribe Sankofa, officially, was at the Gungo Walk Festival (in early September).

"We were the first performers at the first Gungo Walk," Thomas said.

That festival was held at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, where the tribe will return for their first season.

Word-Soul: the deluxe edition will be hosted indoors at the Vera Moody Concert Hall. Thomas is also using the season to raise funds for four students, two from Edna Manley and two from the University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona.

multimedia

Tribe Sankofa is the latest project in Thomas' lengthy involvement in the arts, bringing together "persons I have worked with over the years. We do a mix - spoken word and poetry, song, dance and we include visual arts - we can have arts and projections. So it is multimedia."

Thomas said in addition to talent, there is a particular quality required to be a part of Tribe Sankofa.

"It is not only a matter of talent but work ethic and your respect for the space," he said.

In selecting material to perform, the group often looks at more than what is popular.

"When we perform, we sing a song because it has a feeling, not because it has a hype," Thomas said.

"The core thing is about transformation. We will take on a song dedicated to missing children. We will do a piece about the women raped in Montego Bay. We are not afraid of the heavy stuff."

Tribe Sankofa's guests for Mostly Words are Della Manley, Christopher Hutchinson and Jesse Jones of Seaview All-Stars.

Tanya Stephens, Michael Sean Harris, Mijanne Webster and Keanu Daley are the guests on Mostly Soul.

Thomas said in addition to their original poetry, Tribe Sankofa's members incorporate material from other writers.

"Out of respect, I want to send messages to all the writers and say this piece is in our work. As creative artistes we need to support and represent each other," he said.

Before the Gungo Walk Festival, the unit first did Word Soul at Redbones Blues Café, New Kingston, and "due to the response we decided to formalise it". On December 5, they return to Redbones for another staging of Word Soul, where "we will be doing stuff from the season and new stuff".

Thomas pointed out, "our market is global. I see us in Africa, Europe. I seriously see us out there."

'Us' can be the entire Tribe Sankofa, or smaller configurations. "My vision of the group is that it can be all of us or two, five, the women only, violin and so on," Thomas said.

Looking towards Christmas, he is trying a novel approach. Instead of staging a Christmas show, Thomas intends for Tribe Sankofa to rehearse a show which they will invite individuals and organisations to put on in a space they choose, pay the group and the profit is theirs.

"It might be under a tree, in a church, in a studio," Thomas said.