Philadelphia celebrates Black Music Month with The Roots Picnic, Schoolly D’s Live From Philly, and World Café Live’s Juneteeth Event.
Now that it’s June, and The Roots Picnic is minutes away, I’ve been considering Philly’s take on Black music beyond the official month that follows. For various media in the last several days, I’ve spoken to Philadelphia-native keyboardist and TSOP/PIR arranger Dexter Wansel and vocalist Jean Carne about their role in heightening the artistry and individualism of Black music, their visions of what melody and rhythm could be when you color beyond the borders of classicism. I spoke with local bassist David Jamison about what it means to explore jazz and its various genres in a live fashion in different band settings.
So along with the fact that Philly’s own Jazmine Sullivan, Tierra Whack, Bilal and DJ Jazzy Jeff will be part of the weekend’s Roots Picnic, two large scale June events will show the full flower of this city’s Black musical expression.
dosage MAGAZINE will have more to say about this particular event closer to date, but the first live iteration of Live from Philly, June 11, at the Oval on the Parkway should prove to be historic when you consider its celebration of Parkside Avenue’s Schoolly D’s 60th birthday with sales of the limited edition Schoolly D and G Love “Love From Philly” vinyl and the dedication of the Schoolly D Skate Rink (?!) to go with performances by Kuf Knotz (with harpist Christine Elise), poetess Ursula Rucker, DJ Rich Medina and more.
World Café Live’s long-discussed Juneteenth event and its 2022 Black Music City grant recipients will display all of its fresh artistic creations across the spectrum – and portray “Philadelphia’s rich Black music history” – for free, on Sunday, June 19 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Film, fashion, music, spoken word, photography, video, painting, sculpture, and more from 46 Philly-area Black creatives who received Black Music City grants of between $1,000 and $3,500 will be on display throughout World Café Live with host The Bul Bey acting as tour guide.
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