SAY IT LOUD! PLAY IT LOUD! A Celebration Of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is Coming to BlackRock Center for the Arts

​As Martin Luther King Day approaches, BlackRock Center for the Arts will present their 2nd annual SAY IT LOUD MLK Event. This year they have broadened the scope of the original SAY IT LOUD Film Festival concept to incorporate the musical soul of the movement—SAY IT LOUD! PLAY IT LOUD! The event will feature a full day of FREE programming: films, two art exhibitions, DJ's and a record fair, as well as an evening ticketed concert by The Jogo Project featuring Desiree Jordan with a very special tribute to the Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin. This Concert will feature an opening performance by Nag Champa Art Ensemble!

Visit 
https://www.blackrockcenter.org/say-it-loud for more information! 

SAY IT LOUD! Lift the voices and stories of the silenced, whose vision, passion, beliefs, and contributions are forever etched into American History. The films amplify the voices of three groundbreaking icons of the Civil Rights Era & Movement—Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X, and Aretha Franklin—as well as a couple of local music heroes—James “Plunky” Branch and Jimmy Gray of Black Fire Records. 

SCHEDULE

FILM LINEUP

All movies are free!

10:30 AM

King in the Wilderness (2018)

Directed by Peter Kunhardt

A look at the troubled final 2 years in the life of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., from his taking a stand against the Vietnam War to preparation for the Poor People's Campaign, being harassed by the FBI, and his assassination on April 4, 1968.

12:40 PM

Malcolm X (1992)

Directed by Spike Lee

Starring Denzel Washington

The classic 1992 biopic directed by Spike Lee.

4:15 PM

Amazing Grace: Aretha Franklin (2018)

Realized & produced by Alan Elliot and Sydney Pollack

Al's Records & Tapes and Spike Lee's 40 Acre & A Mule Filmworks

Starring Aretha Franklin

Aretha Franklin performs with the Southern California Community Choir at New Bethel Baptist Church in Watts, Los Angeles, January 1972, for the recording of her legendary Amazing Grace album.

5:45 PM

Black Fire (2022)

Directed by Kia Hicks-Freeman & Patrick Mamou

Black Fire uncovers Washington, DC's music and cultural heritage by shining a light on Black Fire Records, a Black-owned independent jazz record label established in 1970s Chocolate City by DJ/record producer Jimmy Gray and saxophonist/Oneness of Juju bandleader, James “Plunky” Branch. 

Panel discussion with Jimmy Gray's son, Jamal, and Plunky Branch follows. Moderated by 2024 NEA Jazz Master Fellow, Willard Jenkins.

PLAY IT LOUD! From work songs to spirituals, protest anthems to the blues, rock n' roll, and the free improvisation of jazz and hip hop, American popular music grows from the roots of the Black experience. Black music has always been a means to unify and fortify the community, and to liberate the mind, the body, and the spirit.

SCHEDULE

ART & MUSIC

Our galleries and record fair are free! Performances after 8:00 pm require tickets, to purchase please visit www.blackrockcenter.org

ALL DAY

Zion: Let My Children Hear Music

Consider the record cover as a vehicle to transport your mind to utopia. Exhibition guest curated by artist Murat Cem Mengüç w/ BlackRock Gallery Director Joshua Gamma. Featuring selections from Black Fire Records and the archives of collectors across the DMV. @mcmenguc

Gallery II

Exhibition EXTENDED until 28 JAN

Noon–8:00 PM

The UpCounty Record Fair

Featuring record vendors from across the DMV.

DJ sets by Leon City Sounds, DJ Mikie Love, DJ Gamma, and more! 

Artist Reception 5:00–8:00 PM

Taj Poscé Between Sunbeams 

A solo exhibition of paintings. Poscé composes with archival research ephemera, construction materials, studio-based materials, and fire. Using iconographic motifs, he loads his paintings with emotion, spirit and imagination that reconstruct and reclaim Black histories, culture, and experiences. Taj is moved by the beauty and plight of Black life, by what it means to carry weight of the past spiritually while in the chaos of imagining of the future. @tajposce

Kay Gallery

Exhibition on view until 21 JAN

8:00 PM

A performance by

Nag Champa Art Ensemble
Primarily based out of Washington, DC, Nag Champa Art Ensemble is about organic sounds and textures. Since the band's founding in 2014, performances at local venues such as The John F. Kennedy Center, The Smithsonian American Art Museum & Black Cat quickly cemented the group amongst critics and fans alike. The band creates an otherworldly sound that can best be described as futuristic funk—blending house music with jazz, hip-hop, go-go and elements that sound like something from another universe. Nag Champa improvises close to half of their performances. Their sound developed over consistent jam sessions, a practice originating from their experience in the worlds of avant garde jazz and experimental hip hop.

9:30 PM

A Tribute to Aretha Franklin featuring

The JoGo Project, feat. Desiree Jordan

The JoGo Project is a WAMMIE Award-winning Jazz and Go-Go fusion band from Washington, DC founded in 2014 by DC Native Elijah Jamal Balbed, who performed with the late, great Godfather of Go-Go Chuck Brown. JoGo has become a mainstay in the DC music community and is dedicated to keeping DC's Go-Go music alive while also exploring new sounds and repertoire. JoGo has performed at many notable DC area venues such as The Kennedy Center, Lincoln Theatre, Strathmore, Fort Dupont and DC Jazz Festival. The band has also branched outside of the DMV with performances at Club Bonafide (NYC), Silvana (NYC), Beyu Caffe (Durham, NC), and The Vagabond (Richmond, VA). In 2018 the band went on a cultural diplomacy tour to 3 cities in Russia (Moscow, Orenburg, and Yekaterinburg) on behalf of the U.S. State Department, where the musicians conducted educational masterclasses, participated in radio interviews, and did performances ranging from intimate Jazz clubs to massive concert halls.

         

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