... and now to announce the selected composers for the second installation of the Black Composer Miniature Challenge ... or #BCMC 2.0! 

For this installation, Castle of our Skins is featuring 19 composers with world premiere pieces composed for any combination of flute and harp! The selected composers are:

Adero J. Knott - curator, artist, violinist, and composer!
Ahmed Alabaca - composer, conductor, song-writer, pianist, and long-time friend of COOS!
Alessandro Oreoluwa Buono - artist and sound engineer, currently studying in the UK!
Autumn Maria Reed - composer and bassist for the Black String Triage Ensemble!
Dr. Bernard Short - composer and recently married (congrats!)
Bonita Oliver - multidisciplinary performance artist and improviser 
Brittney Benton - young composer, studying at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas!
Charles Lumar II - international performer (bass, electric bass, tuba) and composer!
Danae Annalise - rising composer currently studying at Mannes (New York)!
David Bertrand - flutist/clarinetist/composer, active in the NY Jazz scene!
Deeann D. Mathews - composer, song-writer, and pianist in the Bay Area!
Eddy Conrad - our youngest composer, and participant in #BCMC 1.0!
Edewede Oriwoh - composer, and founder/editor of AfricanComposers.com! 
Dr. Gary P. Nash - professor, conductor, composer, and also a #BCMC 1.0 participant!
Dr. George Brandon - composer, trombonist, international musician, and teacher!
Kevin Scott - composer, conductor, New Yorker, advocate for new music!
Malcolm Jackson - multifaceted percussionist, producer, and compos
Raphael Wolde-Selassie - young guitarist, pianist, and composer in Sweden!
and Rodrigo G. Sousa - young writer, poet, saxophonist, and composer in Brazil! 

!!! *clap clap clap* !!!

Our Miniature Festival will last throughout the fall, so constantly engage with our social media to see when the new content is released AND to catch up on the past content you may have missed! And keep on reading BIBA for some spotlights, extra information, and more tidbits about Beauty in Black Artistry! 

Hello BIBA readers!

The second part of our MINIATURE FESTIVAL (ironically in caps) features not one, not five, but 43 Black poets who submitted haiku and tanka to our call! Castle of our Skins will be sharing these poems with you over the course of nine weeks in different combinations, and we are super excited about this project, curated by our own Shirley Graham Du Bois Creative in Residence, Marlanda Dekine (who also participated)! The list of poets are below:

1. FreeQuency
2. Liseli Fitzpatrick
3. Yolande Clark-Jackson
4. Nailah Nombeko - who is also a fantastic composer and pianist!
5. norm mattox
6. Tara Betts - a friend of COOS
7. Francis W. Alexander
8. Eric Jackson
9. Aliyah Muhammad
10. L. Marie Wood
11. Rahsaan "Wordslave" Eldridge
12. Karen Hays
13. Davelyn Hill
14. Len Lawson
15. DeAndrea Johnson
16. C. Thomas
17. Jennifer Oladipo
18. Joanne Godley
19. Chauncey Beaty
20. Michael A. Murray
21. Danie Etienne
22. Marcus Turner
23. Brittanei Wayne
24. Gavin Matthew
25. L'Merchie Frazier - a frequent COOS collaborator, historian, quilter, extraordinaire
26. Aaron Emmanuel
27. Zorina Frey
28. Ce Scott-Fitts
29. Regina Baiocchi - also a fantastic composer and tireless advocate/writer of Haiku!
30. Maya Simone
31. Eden Royce
32. Shemuel Namaste
33. B. Sharise Moore
34. lakeisha frith
35. Linda Addison
36. Michael Divine
37. Regina Jamison
38. Cassandra Byrd
39. Traci Neal
40. Kela Portee
41. Jacquese Armstrong
42. Erika DeShay
43. Marlanda Dekine - our current Shirley Graham Du Bois Creative in Residence

We couldn't be happier with the wonderful submissions, representing a range of people and subjects! What is even more special is that these incredible Black poets are extending a tradition of Black haiku and short form poets that often goes unrecognized. 

In the Winter 2016 issue of Modern Haiku, Charles Trumbull contributed part one of a fascinating two part essay about Black writers of Haiku, which you can begin reading HERE. In the essay are some fantastic examples by diverse poets (including one by Tara Betts, mentioned above!). Additionally, Richard Wright, during his final years, devoted his craft to Haiku, writing around 4000 of them! A collection of 815 can be purchased in THIS wonderful collection (not an amazon link). 

Many are familiar with Haiku as a three-lined poem following a 5-7-5 syllabic structure. Not many, however, are aware of its older cousin, the Tanka! This is a five-lined poem following a 5-7-5-7-7 line structure, for a total of 31 syllables as opposed to Haiku's 17. Both forms offer extremely rich possibilities and variations, and composers and visual artists are more often inspired by these short forms than what is usually known. 

COOS hopes that you are inspired to research more into Black poets working with short form poetry, especially Haiku and Tanka! And hopefully your research will inspire you to write your own mini poems! Additionally, please check our social media for the musical and poetic content we will bring to you throughout the entire fall!!!! We leave you with a Haiku by Richard Wright:

“Keep straight down this block
Then turn right where you will find
A peach tree blooming.”
​

Hello BIBA readers! Our 9th season has already begun, and we are excited to share this season containing a mixture of both live and digital content. Last year forced the world to put on a giant creativity thinking-cap, and ... while some things worked and some things didn't ... we here at COOS cherished the journey of re-tailoring our season for you.

One big success during last year's adjustments was the power of the miniature. Castle of our Skins kicked off its first Black Composer Miniature Challenge (#BCMC), bringing 18 world premieres to international audiences! We followed up on this wonderful content by publishing an anthology for those interested in performing this miniatures either for fun, for community music programs, for intimate concerts, or even for giant stages! So how did COOS decide to continue this wonderful project? Well ... we invited students to send in their video performances of pieces from #BCMC 1.0, we created #BCMC 2.0 with works for flute and harp, AND our new Shirley Graham Du Bois Creative in Residence Marlanda Dekine helped design a #BPMC - a Black Poet Miniature Challenge! 

What does that mean? From September to December, Castle of our Skins will be bringing you miniature content in the form of music performances from students, poetry readings, and world premieres for flute and harp! ALL FALL, 71 videos!!! LOTS OF CONTENT OF EXCELLENCE!!! 

Tomorrow kicks off the first week of our miniature festival, and we'll be sharing student performances of some of the pieces featured in #BCMC 1.0, namely works by Che Buford, Mokale Koapeng, Juwon Ogungbe, and Shannon Sea! The students that will be featured come from three of Boston's most thriving organizations that help young students learn how to perform on an instrument and study music. These are Project STEP, Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras (BYSO), and the Boston City-wide String Orchestra. Stay tuned for videos from the following students:

​Alba Gilabert- Reid from Project STEP 
Nora Edouarzin from BYSO 
Abby Cambronero from BYSO
Angelina St. Louis from BYSO 
Lauren Brown from Boston City-wide String Orchestra
Karla Davis from BYSO 
Syndey Carroll from BYSO
Krystal Chen from BYSO
Reagan Jackson from BYSO

We hope you enjoy the performances, and if you would like to purchase the sheet music, be sure to use the discount code in the picture above for the month of September to get 50% off your digital download!! Next week's post will be about our first #BPMC, and we'll share some fantastic information on Haikus and Tankas, and some historical tidbits related to Black poets using short forms! Have an excellent week!