by Jacob Sorrells, LACIS M.A. student
In March, LACIS was pleased to welcome saxophonist and author, Dr. Benjamin Barson, and award-winning vocalist and guitarist, Gizelxanath Rodriguez to campus for a week-long artists-in-residency which featured a variety of special events including a public lecture, live musical performance and book talk, undergraduate classroom visits, and workshop at Lodi High School.
The week kicked off with a public lecture, where Dr. Barson debuted his widely-acclaimed new book, Brassroots Democracy: Maroon Ecologies and the Jazz Commons, presenting a whole new look of the birth of jazz in the wake of both the Haitian Revolution and Radical Reconstruction here in the U.S. In addition, they visited several music classes on campus.
Later that evening, Ben and Gizel teamed up with UW’s very own Blue Note Ensemble, for a supremely groovy jazz social at Leopold’s Books Bar Cafe. Shortly after the event, Sam, of Leopold’s had this to say: “It was
the best event we’ve had since I’ve worked here – great turnout, great music, a genuinely excellent book talk (which is rare!).”
The following day, the illustrious duo visited Lodi High School where they rounded out their residency with a guest lecture/workshop in choir teacher Kate MacRae’s class. According to Ms. MacRae, “…the kids had a great time! They said ‘Gizel was really fun!’, that they ‘liked it when she asked us to use Star Wars hands’ to help demonstrate energy while singing, and that they really enjoyed the performance Ben + Gizel gave to kick off class that day.”
All in all, it was a week to remember. We are so grateful to Ben and Gizel for the immense wealth of knowledge, talent, and creative imagination they shared with us during their time here. We look forward to welcoming them back to UW-Madison soon!
We’d also like to extend a big thank you to all of our gracious co-sponsors who helped make it all possible – including the IRIS-NRC, the Center of Humanities, the Department of History, the African Studies Program, the Chican@ & Latin@ Studies Program, the Mead Witter School of Music, and the Department of Anthropology.