The Wandering Photographer

Scenes from the 2011 Concert of Colors Nights 1 & 2

 

Below are a few pictures from the first two nights of the 2011 Concert of Colors. Thursday night was a celebration of the African Diaspora at the Charles Wright Museum of African American History. Friday night at the DIA highlighted honkytonk piano and Latin rhythms.

Make sure you come on down and catch the rest of the weekend at the Max Fisher Music Center Saturday and Sunday.

Details at the Concert of Colors website.

Images from Thursday

 

Images from Friday

Saturday and Sunday promise to be even better. Come-on down and experience Detroit at its best.

© 2011 Tim Marks

Detroit's Best Festival: The 2011 Concert of Colors

The Indigo Girls with Alison Brown at the 2006 Concert of Colors

My favorite festival of the Summer is back with more acts and more days. The 19th Annual World Music and Diversity festival, the Concert of Colors, is set to go, starting Thursday July 14th and finishing up on Sunday night July17th. First held in 1994 as a celebration of metro Detroit, its diversity, its music and the music of its people, the Festival's goal is ". . . bringing together metro Detroit’s diverse communities and ethnic groups by presenting musical acts from around the world." (from the COC website).

This year the Concert expands to four days.

Thursday, with doors opening at 6pm, the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History hosts a number of acts including African/Hip Hop, Soul, and traditional dance. Over at the Scarab Club the "Woodward Line Poetry" series will present the spoken word and music.

Friday night things move to the Detroit Institute of Arts with Latin Jazz and Blues performances. A screening of the movie "From Britain with Love: Africa United" will be presented. Doors open at 4pm.

 Jazz at the 2006 Festival

Saturday it all begins at 2pm at the Max M. Fisher Music Center. Three stages will be filled with a veriety of music and dance. Acts include; Japanese Drum, Reggae, Irish Folk, Arab Dance, Classical and much more. The evening ends with, what is for me, the highlight of the weekend. Each year Oak Park native Don Was (Was not Was) pulls together a diverse group of Detroit based musicians and puts on the Don Was Detroit All-Star Revue. The performances are truly a tour de force of Detroit culture. This year's ensemble includes Mitch Ryder, Melvin Davis, the Muggs and a whole lot of others.

 Former Funk Brother Dennis Coffey rocks the 2010 COC with Don Was playing bass in the background

 The Final day of the Festival opens at 2pm on Sunday at "The Max". The line-up on Sunday is as eclectic as Saturday's. It includes such local standouts as The Layabouts, and the Hamtramck World Music Ensemble. The highlight of the day should be the great Bettye LaVette. Born in Muskegon and raised in Detroit, Bettye has been belting out R&B hits since 1962. Ms. LaVette has lost none of her charisma, she retains her soul.

 Bettye LaVette performing at the Detroit Festival of the Arts in 2006

 This is a festival not-to-be-missed. The music is great and the ultimate goal of bringing us together, a mish-mash of cultures, city and suburbs, black and white, men and women is important and worthy. We may be different, but WE ARE ALL DETROIT.

The entire festival schedule can be found at the Concert of Colors web site.

See you at the Festival.

© Tim Marks 2011

2010 Detroit Concert of Colors Recap

Well this year's Concert of Colors is over and a great time was had by all. The Concert of Colors is the annual Detroit diversity festival that brings together music and people from all over the metro area and the world. This year's show included the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, an All-Star Latin band from Southwest Detroit, The Detroit All-Star revue put together by producer and Oak Park native Don Was, and Kenge Kenge presenting music and Dance from Kenya.

Chelsea Tipton II conducting the Detroit Symphony Orchestra at the Detroit Institute of Ats on the first night of the Concert

 

The DSO also performed on Sunday afternoon on the Main Stage in Orchestra Hall. Orchestra hall is the DSO's home.

 

Tien-Huicani from Veracruz Mexico performed traditional Mexican folk music Friday night.

 

Kenyan Performers Kenge Kenge brought a piece of Africa to the show.

 

Local native son Don Was put together a show highlighting Music and performers from Detroit's musical past and present.

 

House band for the Detroit Pistons, the Sun Messengers have been entertaining Detroiters with home grown R&B for 30 years.

 

The dapper Andre Williams knocked the crowd out with a rendition of his 1957 hit "Bacon Fat".

 

One of the greatest guitarist to come out of Detroit, former member of the famous Funk Brothers, Dennis Coffey wowed the crowd with his magic fingers. (Notice Don Was in the background on bass)

 

The Southwest Detroit Latin Super Session brought music and dance from south of the border to the concert.

 

Sunday night ended with an inspiring and inspirational 90 minutes by gospel legend Mavis Staples.

Every year the Concert of Colors outdoes itself bringing the world to Detroit for three short days. There is no better way to celebrate the wonderful diversity of the Detroit area. And no better way to see a wide variety of music and dance.

Later on this year you can check out video of the performances of the Don Was Detroit All-Star Revue (including earlier year's shows) on his web site, The Wasmapolitan Cavalcade of Recorded Music.

Looking forward to next year.

© 2010 Tim Marks all rights reserved

Celebrate the Diversity of Detroit: The Concert of Colors July 16 -18

The Concert of Colors

Celebrate the diversity of the metro Detroit area this weekend. Head on down to the FREE Concert of Colors. As far as I'm concerned this is the music festival of the year. Celebrating the diversity of our great city, is a worthy activity. And did I remember to say it's FREE

FREE Music dance and fun with:

• Detroit Symphony Orchestra
• The Don Was Detroit All Star Review
• The Southwest Detroit Latin Super Session
• Kenga Kenga
• R&B and Gospel sensation Mavis Staples
• Simon Shaheen with the DSO

And much more!

• July 16th at The Detroit Institute of arts starting at 4:00pm
• July 17th at the Max Fisher Music Center starting at 4:00pm
• July 18th at the Max starting at 2:30pm

The festival is completely FREE and a great time for all!

For more information and a full schedule, visit the festival web site at http://concertofcolors.com

Photos are from previous years.

© 2010 Tim Marks all rights reserved

18th Annual Detroit Concert of Colors July 16-18 2010

The exciting and fun Detroit diversity festival, The Concert of Colors, returns to for its eighteenth year. Presented by the Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services (ACCESS), the Arab American National Museum, New Detroit, The Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) and, new this year, the Detroit institute of Arts (DIA), the concert is intended to bring all of the cultures in metro Detroit together for a weekend of music, dance and fun.

 The festivities will start at 4:00pm on Friday, July 16^th at the DIA with a performance by the Detroit Symphony (a second DSO Performance will happen at 5:30) followed by the Mexican folk group Tien-Huicani at 7:00. Events Friday evening at the DIA will also include Free admission to the exhibit Through African Eyes: The European in African Art 1500-Present and a screening of a 1931 Spanish language version of the film Dracula.

 On Saturday the music continues down the street at the Max Fisher Music Center (The Max), home to the acoustically and architecturally exquisite Orchestra Hall. Performances on Saturday include traditional Irish folk, Reggae, and African and Jazz/Funk, all leading up to the Don Was Detroit All-Star Review.

 For the third consecutive year Don Was has put together an eclectic group of Detroit based musicians to entertain the festival goers. Each artist or group performs a piece and at the end, the ensemble comes out for a rousing finale. In past years the review has included funk, soul, country hip hop classic rock and punk. This year the line-up presents fifteen acts including Jimmy Ruffin, Gary Quackenbush, Kim Weston and Marshall Crenshaw. The Review is the highlight of the weekend for me. You can see video of the 2008 and 2009 review performers at the Don’s Wasmapolitan Cavalcade of Recorded Music.  

 On Sunday the festival continues with the DSO, conducted by Tito Munoz, highlighting soloist Simon Shaheen performing Shaheen’s composition Concerto #1 for Oud and Orchestra. Known for his expertise at Arabic and Western classical music, Shaheen will be a special treat for the Detroit audiences.

 Following a day of diverse music and talent (Asian, Electronic, Steel Guitar and storytelling included), the festival ends with two shows in Orchestra Hall. At 6:15 the Southwest Detroit Latin Super Session will entertain with a varied repertoire from south of the border, followed by the incomparable R&B and Gospel sound of Mavis Staples at 8:30.

 The Concert of Colors is a chance to meet new folk, listen to great music and have a fabulous time. For more information you can check out the festival web site or Dominique's informative article at the Midwest Guest Blog.

© 2010 Tim Marks All Rights Reserved

Singing the Beale Street Blues

One of the required stops while on a visit to Memphis, TN is the famous Beale Street, home of the Memphis Blues.  In the early 1900s Beale Street, then Beale Ave, was home to many African American clubs, Restaurants and other businesses.  From the 1920s through the 1940s the greats of Jazz and the Blues made Beale Street a regular stop on their national tours. 

By the 1960s, Beale Street had become rundown and many of the stores and clubs began to close.  After the declaration of Beale Street as a National Historic Landmark and a congressional resolution naming Beale Street the “Home of the Blues,” the street began to take on new life as a center for entertainment and dining.

One afternoon and evening in 2003, while on vacation in Memphis, we decided to take in some of the sights and sounds of the famous blues corridor.  As always, I had my trusty point & shoot camera with me (at that time a Canon Powershot G2). 

A multiband concert was going on in the park late in the afternoon.

Buskers were kickin’ out mean blues along the street.

The clubs were crowded.  I managed to get some shots inside the clubs but the high ISO settings caused some serious digital noise.

Of course, in some cases the noise added to the ambiance rather than detracted from it.

Here the noise makes the blues seem to come to life.

If you like the blues, you must make it to the “Home of the Blues,” Beale Street in Memphis Tennessee.

© Tim Marks 2009 all rights reserved

Photo Friday: Celebrating Diversity – Concert of Colors 2009 Pictured

This past weekend we had the pleasure of attending the 17^th annual edition of The Concert of Colors.  The weekend festival is a celebration of cultural diversity through the enjoyment of music, dance and unity.  The festival brings together musical acts from across cultures and across the world.  I thought I would present a few of the photos that I got on the first day of the festival.

Detroit heroes Ishmael Ahmed and Don Was greet each other on stage at the start of the Detroit Super Session.  Ish is the founding father of the festival and has shepherded it through its 17 years of music and love.  Don, a great producer and bassist, brought together an extremely talented group of Detroit artists to make up the Detroit Super Session II (as well as version one last year).  Each of the artists/groups performed a song during the two hour review.  Don contributes a lot of unheralded good to his hometown and we appreciate it.

Detroit blues star Thornetta Davis belts out a tune for the gathered thousands.

Guitarist Amy Gore of Gorvette presents an enthusiastic dose of Detroit Punk.

The Upscale recreate some Motown love with their performance.

Detroit alt-country band Blanche gives the audience their unique take on country music.


Detroiter and Stax recording great Sir Mack Rice contributes Memphis Soul to the effort with his compositions “Mustang Sally” and “Respect Yourself”

The entire cast of the Super Session joined legendary Michigan rockers Teegarden and Van Winkle onstage, and with the help of the thousands in attendance, filled the magnificent Orchestra Hall with the sound of “God, Love and Rock and Roll”

Thanks to New Detroit, ACCESS, The Arab American National Museum, and The Detroit Symphony Orchestra for presenting the 2009 Concert of Colors.

Kudos to Meijer, the Comerica Charitable Foundation, AT&T, HAP, Ford, yelp, the Metrotimes, WDET-FM WHFR-FM, and the Concert of Colors Groupies for stepping up to the plate in these hard times and providing sponsorship for the festival.  You guys hit a home run!!!!

Can’t wait for next year!

Thanks to
Debbie at Delicious Baby for continuing to deliver Photo Friday to us.

© Tim Marks all rights reserved

Photo Friday: Detroit Concert of Colors, Celebrating Diversity

Back in May I wrote about photographing music festivals and I used the Detroit Concert of Colors as my example.  Well, since the concert is scheduled for July 18^th and 19^th I wanted to highlight a few more of the shots I got at the 2006 festival.  It’s an opportunity to showcase one of Detroit’s great events.

The Concert of Colors was conceived as a way to celebrate the vast diversity of the Detroit community.  Bringing together music from all over the world, the concert hopes to bring together people from all over metro Detroit, Michigan and points distant.

Nikon D200,  Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5 @ 70mm,  ISO 800,  1/20 @ f/4.5

Here is a shot of the flugelhorn player with a jazz band as they entertain the enthusiastic concert goers at the Diversity Stage.  The Concert is held at the Max M. Fisher Music Center, home of the world renowned Detroit Symphony Orchestra.  The “Diversity Stage” is in the intimate performance venue called the Music Box.

Nikon D200,  Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm,  ISO 800,  1/40 @ f/2.8

This one is a shot of a bass player/vocalist for one of the soul/rock bands that played the Diversity Stage in 2006.  The Music Box has a dance floor and the crowd makes liberal use of it.

Nikon D200,  Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm,  ISO 800,  1/180 @ f/2.8

The Main Stage is located in the acoustically perfect Orchestra Hall.  In 2006 one of the headlining acts was the well known and loved folk duo, the Indigo Girls, joined in this photo by the acclaimed banjo picker Alison Brown.  Alison had played earlier in the day and joined Amy and Emily for a couple of tunes.

The Concert of Colors is presented free with the goal of spreading love, understanding and peace throughout the Detroit family.  The crowd is friendly, enthusiastic and tuned-in.  Come on down for two days of fun, music, dancing and peace. 

The Concert of Colors is presented by ACCESS, The Arab American National Museum, New Detroit and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

The Concert of Colors
July 18 & 19, 2009
The Max M. Fisher Music Center
Detroit, Michigan
Free Admission

Thanks to Debbie of Delicious Baby for organizing Photo Friday and spreading such wonderful images across the Web.

© Tim Marks 2009 all rights reserved

Americans in Paris: A Jazz Band on the Bridge

As a follow up to Wednesday’s blog about Paris, I wanted to share these photos with you,  After visiting and photographing the Cathedral of Notre Dame on the Ile de Cite in Paris, we decided to walk over to the Ile Saint-Louis to find a place for an early dinner.  As we left the grounds of the cathedral, to our surprise, we came upon a jazz quintet playing in the middle the street on the Pont (bridge) Saint-Louis.  To our even greater surprise we found out that they were an American jazz quintet.

Nikon CoolPix 8800,  Zoom @ 140mm,  ISO 50,  1/65 @ f/4.8

We decided to stay and listen for a while.  Almost felt like we were in an old movie, especially the way the guys were dressed.

Nikon CoolPix 8800,  Zoom @ 350mm,  ISO 50,  1/60 @ f/5.2

After listening to a few tunes and dropping a few Euros into the guitar case we continued on our way.  Dinner ended up in a very nice little Moroccan restaurant on the small island.  Let’s see, American jazz then Moroccan food, sound good to me.  Tastes good to!

Thanks to Debbie of Delicious Baby for organizing Photo Friday and spreading such wonderful images across the Web.

See you back here on Monday.

© Tim Marks 2009

Music Festival Photography

Each year the Concert of Colors is held in Detroit.  It is a diversity festival presenting music of all kinds.  Acts range from the Detroit Symphony to Zydeco to Rap to African song, music and dance.  It is also a great opportunity for some performer and people photography. 

I always make sure that I take my camera, a couple of lenses and lots of memory with me.  With the exception of some of the nationally known acts, photography is permitted and you can usually get very close to the performers (sometimes they jump down and insist on dancing with you).

Nikon D200,  Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm,  ISO 800,  1/60 @ f/4 

This picture of the guitarist’s hand was taken during a show at one of the venues other than the main stage.  As you can see, the lighting was questionable and I had to use a high ISO which admittedly introduces a bit of grain.  All-in-all I still like the shot.

The performances take place on three stages.  The main stage is in the world renowned Orchestra Hall, home of the Detroit Symphony.  There is the Diversity Stage in the more intimate setting of the “Music Box” and there is the Rhythm Stage outdoors that presents smaller acts and presentations such as drumming and Native American children dancing.

Nikon D200,  Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8 @ 135mm,  ISO 100,  1/640 @ f/5

This one was shot on the outdoor stage during a performance by the Stonefish Family Dancers from Peshawbestown in Northern Michigan.  The hoops and the colorful outfits make the picture.  At some points during the dance you think the dancer would get so tangled in the hoops that she couldn’t get out. 

Nikon D200,  Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8 @ 200mm, ISO 800, 1/200 @ f/2.8

These shots are of the famous South African group Ladysmith Black Mambazo.  A wonderful group that is an absolute joy to watch as you can see from the pictures above and below.

Nikon D200,  Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8 @ 80mm,  ISO 800,  1/60 @ f/2.8

Almost every city or region has a music festival or two.  The next time one is held in your area be sure to grab your camera, head over and enjoy the show!

© Tim Marks 2009