Chan Centre to Open Season with Duet by Poet and Composer

The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts at the University of British Columbia (UBC) presents the Vancouver premiere of Blackbird, Fly, an uplifting performance interweaving movement, narrative, Haitian folklore, and hip hop, September 25 at 7:30pm in the Telus Studio Theatre. The provocative duet, featuring charismatic spoken-word poet Marc Bamuthi Joseph and cutting-edge violinist and composer Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR), unveils the artists' life-stories as they discover their mutual Haitian cultural identities, while also inviting audiences to examine themes of immigration, tolerance and inclusion.

"Joseph and Roumain are extraordinarily talented artists that defy the boundaries of their respective disciplines, invoking both self-reflection and social change," says Chan Centre Programming Manager Wendy Atkinson. "This is really what the Beyond Words series is all about-dynamic collaborations that demonstrate the potency of the written-word in the context of compelling live performance."

A visionary performer and activist, Joseph's roots lie in Haiti, but also in New York on Broadway where he began his prolific career as an actor at the young age of 10. He later became immersed in literary performance, which earned him the inaugural US Artists Rockefeller Fellowship in 2007. That same year, the magnetic lyricist was named one of "America's Top Young Innovators in the Arts and Science" by Smithsonian magazine, also gracing the journal's cover. Among his many socially engaging, acclaimed poetry-based works, Joseph has toured Words Become Flesh, Scourge and the break/s: amixtape to international stages. In 2013, his evening length work red, black & GREEN, bridging pertinent ideas of race, class, culture and the environment, was nominated for a Bessie award.

The imaginative and electrifying musician/composer Roumain (DBR), described as "about as omnivorous as a contemporary artist gets" (The New York Times) has partnered creatively with artists as diverse as Philip Glass, Bill T. Jones and Lady Gaga. In 2000, DBR made his Carnegie Hall debut performing his own Harlem Essay for Orchestra alongside the American Composers Orchestra, and has since been commissioned to compose works for such prestigious ensembles as the Boston Pops Orchestra, the Library of Congress and the Stuttgart Symphony. While a classically trained violinist, DBR forges exciting connections between styles, incorporating a multitude of electronic and urban music influences into his compositions.

Steeped in a hip-hop aesthetic, Blackbird, Fly offers an introspective glimpse into the vibrant past of the synergistic pair, frequent collaborators who have worked on several compelling projects, including the praised 2011 multidisciplinary Home in 7 for the Atlanta Ballet. The multi-sensory evening, richly-layered with dance, poetry and melody, aims to heighten the collective consciousness, tackling some of the most critical questions of our era, while also inspiring faith in the potential of art to affect change.

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