Contact: David Kuehn, Executive Director s10

For Immediate Release: Contact: David Kuehn, Executive Director Cotuit Center for the Arts Phone: (508) 428-0669 Email: [email protected] Website: ArtsOnTheCape.org

Joel Karabo Elliott at Cotuit Center for the Arts October 7

American/South African singer/songwriter Joel Karabo Elliott will perform at Cotuit Center for the Arts on Tuesday, October 7, at 8 PM.

Elliott is a composer, guitarist, jazz trombonist, pianist, and poet, whose honest, earthy music is influenced by folk, reggae, rock, roots, and jazz influences from both urban America, where he grew up, and rural Africa, where he now lives. His music tells the story of his physical and spiritual journeys that have led him to a deeper understanding of our common roots and how they originate in our relationship with the earth.

Growing up and attending school in Indiana, Elliott always had African American friends and he was drawn to their approach to life and curious about the differences in their upbringing and his own.

“At the time, I was pretty much unaware of my own Jamaican heritage, so I was subconsciously seeking a kind of wholeness,” he said. “At the time, I did not express this outwardly.”

In university, this led to studies in African history, which drew him deeper into pre-colonial stories. Meanwhile, as his education deepened, he said, “I felt the contradictions in modern Western society and the way that human culture was being eroded, monetized. I started to see how our political and economic systems are not really humanly sustainable or enriching. I also sensed a calling to experience the wisdom and ancient way of life more prevalent in Africa—a way of life that has been rejected, suppressed, and exploited in the modern world.”

At the same time, music has always been a big part of Elliott’s life. Thanks to his mother, Kris, he began classical piano lessons at age 7 and then took up jazz trombone in middle school. “Jazz was liberating,” Elliott said. “It began the process by which I learned to play music entirely by ear.” By 18, he had added guitar, singing in church, and writing his own songs.

In the summer of 2005, Elliott visited the central African country of Chad, teaching English to members of a nomadic tribe. He traveled to South Africa in 2007 with the Peace Corps and has remained there ever since, living in the remote GaMphahlele region of Limpopo province, also the birthplace of the writer Es’kia Mphahlele. There he has worked on agricultural and youth development projects and speaks the Sepedi language, a dialect of the Sotho language group widely spoken in Southern Africa. Elliott sings in both English and Sepedi. His folk-indigenous-reggae rhythms, story-based themes, and compelling original melodies give his songs a universal appeal.

“Modimo re llela pula (or, “God, we cry for rain” is one of the songs on “Outcries,” the first disc of his double CD album, “Roots Grown Deep.” Sung in Sepedi, the song reflects his appreciation of the local culture.

“It is a song about praying for rain at the end of the dry season, when there hasn’t been rain for many months, sometimes as long as eight month,” said Elliott. “Rain is so precious in Africa. It represents life, fertility. There are many matriarchs across Africa called Rain Queens who have rainmaking powers. Rain makes the crops grow and restores life after a long drought; it is about the circle of life, and this is the song that I wrote as I began to understand these elemental realities.”

In rural Limpopo, Elliott has found “communalism and personal freedom, in the sense that there’s a space for children to develop into who they are, living with each other and with the land. Children and adults spend most of their time outside. People live closely with the animals—goats, cows, and sheep. The village is small and people depend on each other. Here, time is life-giving, rather than constraining. Trust me when I say that time is much better felt by the passing of a season or the beat of a drum, than by the tick-tock of a clock. It’s just natural.”

Elliott was given the name “Karabo” in Limpopo. “When African people sense you are with them in spirit, they are quick to give you a name,” he said. “Karabo means ‘answer’ in Sotho. I am still discovering my calling in this name.”

Tickets are $15. Cotuit Center for the Arts is at 4404 Route 28 in Cotuit. For more information, and to purchase tickets, visit artsonthecape.org or call 508-428-0669.

# # # What: American/South African singer/songwriter Joel Karabo Elliott

Where: Cotuit Center for the Arts, 4404 Route 28, Cotuit

When: Tuesday, October 7 at 8:00pm

Admission: $15 END