master class-RSVP
with Big Chief Shaka Zulu
Saturday, October 8, 2022
2:00 p.m.- 4:00 p.m.
William Grant Still art center
2520 S West View St. L.A., CA 90016
Big Chief Shaka Zulu has been Masking for over 20 years, but has been a part of the African/Haitian Music Culture in New Orleans through his father Zohar Israel since he was a small child. He was honored as a recipient of the 2022 NEA National Heritage Fellow award. Chief Shaka is the reigning chief in a long line of secession dating back to the 1860’s Congo Square. He began stilt dancing from a very young age and was a part of the Skull and Bones Krewe. Among a myriad of other things, Chief Shaka is director of an African Drum & Dance Arts Company, soon to debut an original stage production called the “Voices of Congo Square”.
Master Class:
The William Grant Still art center will present a Master Class with Big Chief Shaka Zulu. Shaka Zulu is one of the lead Black Masking Craftsmen of New Orleans and the leader of the Goldenfeather Hunters tribe. The focus of the class will be on the costuming tradition of the Goldenfeather Hunters. His class is an oral history lesson that includes discussion about the migration to the Americas, the evolution and creation of Congo Square, and the 160 years timeline of life, cultural and musical practice as free black people in the United States of America. Shaka will give participants some insight into a cultural tradition that is for the most part not general public knowledge, but an integral part of American History.