Gullah/Geechee Nation International Music & Movement Festival Comes to Louisiana

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
New Orleans, Louisiana, United States of America (Free-Press-Release.com) July 7, 2011 --  ***PRESS RELEASE***

CONTACT: Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition (843) 838-1171GullGeeCo@aol.com
or Kwame Sha (917) 449-6046 (Photos provided upon request.)

Gullah/Geechee Nation International Music & Movement Festival™
Comes to Donaldsonville

(6 July 2011, St. Helena Island, SC/Donaldsonville, LA) The Gullah/Geechee Nation International Music & Movement Festival™ will be held at the River Road African American Museum at 406 Charles Street and in Louisiana Square at 300 Railroad Avenue in Donaldsonville, LA on Saturday, August 6, 2011. The theme this year is “Gullah/Geechee-De Drum da We: De Drum Gwine Congo Square” due to the fact that Gullah/Geechees will be traveling the same trail that many of their ancestors took to bring them to Louisiana generations ago. The first stop on Friday, August 5 will be Congo Square in New Orleans for a spiritual tribute to honor the Geechee ancestors of that city and then the group will proceed to Donaldsonville for the main event on Saturday. The River Road African American Museum is the host site welcoming the Gullah/Geechees to Louisiana.

Queen Quet, Chieftess and Head-of-State for the Gullah/Geechee Nation is the co-founder of this annual three day event along with Kwame Sha of All Mobile Productions™ (AMP™). The event was founded in order to “edu-tain.” The unique cultural heritage of Gullah/Geechees was created by amalgamating the traditions of African people that were enslaved on the Sea Islands in the Altantic Ocean in what is now the Gullah/Geechee Nation from Jacksonville, NC to Jacksonville, FL. The Gullah/Geechees have their own language, polyrhythmic music traditions and unique foodways and crafts that are the living link back to the Motherland. The festival is a celebration of this culture and its connections to other people of the African Diaspora.

The event will begin at Noon on Saturday at the Mississippi River with a special opening ceremony honoring the African and Seminole ancestors. A procession will then bring the participants to Louisiana Square where the festivities will continue until 6 pm. A special history panel which will include Dr. Joyce M. Jackson and Jessica Richardson of Louisiana State University will open the day with a focus on “Louisiana Geechee Connections-Where Have Our Traditions Gone?” A Gullah/Geechee histo-musical presentation will be done by Queen Quet who has presented around the world and at the United Nations, Ricky Wright and Mark Smith will demonstrate some of the traditional fishing methods that continue to be used amongst Gullah/Geechees and Carolee Brown will show traditional Gullah/Geechee quilting. The African American River Road Sign Language and Living History Ensembles will bring history to life.

Food, crafts items, books, and CDs will all be on sale at Louisiana Square and tours of the museum will go on all day. For more info on Gullah/Geechee Nation International Music & Movement Festival™, go to www.gullahgeechee.info, email GullGeeCo@aol.com or call (225)473-5553. E gwine be a time een Louisiana Square! Hunnuh chillun gwine hafa dey dey!

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