Spirited A rousing Kwanzaa Song BY JOHNETTE RODRIGUEZ
	A Kwanzaa Song Written and directed by Ricardo Pitts-Wiley. With Priscilla Bento, Jeannie Carson, Kevin Gibbs, Alonzo Jones, Jemel Murphy, Elsie-Cheyenne Mate, Abdul Mateen, Raidge, and Paul Williams.

Rhode Island has many historic distinctions from the Colonial era — some a cause for pride, such as being a haven for religious freedom, and others a cause for shame, such as having the largest slave trade in New England. That trade operated primarily out of Newport, and it’s fitting that Ricardo Pitts-Wiley’s Middle Passage Plays, A Kwanzaa Song and Celebrations: An African Odyssey, are being performed this weekend in Newport (on December 19 and December 20 and 21, respectively).

A Kwanzaa Song was also presented last week at the URI campus in Providence. The observance of Kwanzaa (from December 26 to January 1) began in 1966, when Dr. Maulana Ron Karenga adapted the seven principles of the harvest in Africa as codes to live by in the African-American community: unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith.

The story line in A Kwanzaa Song touches on those principles as a young man named Azu (Alonzo Jones), an apprentice to a group of African spirits, makes his way to the New World alongside the captives in the slave ships. He is assigned by the spirits as a witness to the Middle Passage and as a source of strength to help the African people survive their kidnapping and enslavement. As a spirit, he cannot save individuals but, in essence, he saves the soul and the culture of a people. Across centuries, he keeps them going until a time when they can connect once again with the roots of their heritage.

Watching A Kwanzaa Song this time, that’s what struck me. That enslaved people who didn’t speak each other’s languages found the will and determination to hold onto bits and pieces of what they remembered from their homelands. That they passed it down through all their hardships to a generation today that still hears the beat of Africa in their ears and feels the warmth of its spices in their mouths. And that they continue to give us their music, in all its multitudinous variations.

The musicians assembled for A Kwanzaa Song are stellar, with haunting voices, nuanced percussion, and an inescapably infectious spirit. Rap artist/actor Raidge does double duty on drums and vocals, with a heart-tugging exhortation to fellow slaves, "I Won’t Give Up." Elsie Cheyenne-Mate does a dance solo early on, when the characters are still in Africa, based on a traditional West African dance in which the women leap from side to side, faster and faster, as the beat of the drum urges them on. Later, she gives a soulful rendition of "A Layin’ On of Hands," where it seems that each note is sustained through a range of melodic tone and feeling. Absolutely mesmerizing.

In "Feast of Foods," the Kwanzaa principles are offered up, with props that accompany the principles, such as ears of corn or a basket of fruit and many countries of Africa are chanted along with the Swahili words for the principles. Jones is strong as Azu, who sees images of the future in the communal fire of his village, and he performs "Shame, Shame, Shame," along with Raidge and Jeannie Carson, with the refrain "the clouds drop tears instead of rain." Paul Williams on guitar and Abdul Mateen on drums and percussion provide subtle but very effective punctuation to the narration of the story and the a cappella songs. Priscilla Bento, Jemel Murphy, and Kevin Gibbs also contribute strong vocals on "A Train Coming" (Murphy) and "Little Bird" (Gibbs).

But the ensemble numbers really catch fire, on stage and in the audience. You can’t help moving or clapping (or both) with the rhythmic fervor that builds from drums and feet and voices. Writer/director Pitts-Wiley has a way of capturing both the urgency of faith, in a quiet number like "A Layin’ On of Hands," and the power of hope, in the pull-out-the-stops "Sankofa Bird," which closes the show. These songs have a classic gospel quality whose emotional pull or uptempo beat won’t leave your head (or heart) for days.

A Kwanzaa Song has a few slow moments, and the story doesn’t unfold in a typical dramatic way, but none of that matters up against the music. And up against the realization that Kwanzaa is a time for reflection and remembrance, for honoring the African ancestors of African-Americans, and for cherishing the contributions of their present-day descendants. Such as the songs in A Kwanzaa Song.

AKwanzaa Song will be staged on Friday, December 19 at 8 p.m. at the Newport Congregational Church. Call (401) 277-5457 or go to www.mixedmagic.org