|
Charlotte Blake Alston breathes life into traditional and contemporary stories from the African and African American oral and cultural traditions.
Based in Philadelphia, Charlotte is storyteller, narrator and singer whose interest in literature, the oral tradition and the arts began in childhood when her father read to her the work of writers and poets. He encouraged her to learn and recite the dialect poems of African American poet Paul Lawrence Dunbar.
After 21 years of teaching - at the preschool through graduate levels - Charlotte now devotes more time to touring and performing.
Her solo performances are often enhanced with traditional instruments such as djembe, berimbau, nkoning, mbira, shekere or the 21-stringed kora. She began studying the kora and the West African history-telling traditions of Senegal, Mali, Guinea and Guinea Bissau, in 1999. Her teacher is the highly respected Senegalese griot (jali), Djimo Kouyate.
Charlotte has been a featured teller at The National Storytelling Festival, The National Festival of Black Storytelling, and at regional festivals throughout North America. She has been a featured artist at both the Presidential Inaugural Festivities in Washington, DC and the Pennsylvania Gubernatorial Children's Inaugural Celebrations in Harrisburg, PA.
She was the first storyteller to perform with the Philadelphia Orchestra on both their Children's and Youth concert series. Since 1994, she has been the host of "Sound All Around," the orchestra's pre-school concert series, and she continues to appear as a guest host and narrator on family concerts. Charlotte also hosts "Carnegie Kids," Carnegie Hall's Preschool concert series and has been a featured artist on the Carnegie Hall Family Concert Series in NY since 1996.
In addition to her solo performances, Charlotte performs with her brother, world-renowned jazz violinist, John Blake, Jr. and his band in Tellin' On The Downbeat: A Program Of Storytelling And Jazz. In Fiddlin' With Stories, brother and sister perform as a duo featuring violin and kora, in a program that celebrates the role of stringed instruments in African and African American culture.
Charlotte also performs in American Storyfeast with nationally known storytellers Gayle Ross (Native American) and Jon Spelman (European American). This unique concert celebrates each teller's respective cultures through traditional and contemporary stories. She has collaborated with numerous instrumental ensembles and dance companies. She has been a featured narrator for several orchestras and conductors including The Philadelphia Orchestra, The Orchestra of St. Luke's, The Cleveland Orchestra, the Saint Louis Symphony, Orpheus Chamber Ensemble and the Carnegie Hall Jazz Band.
Charlotte's narrative voice can be heard on documentaries including Plenty Of Good Women Dancers, The Peddie School, and Crosstown. She herself was featured in the award-winning documentary Family Name that aired around the country on PBS. Kinocraft Media Productions converted her "Martin Luther King Storypoem" to video format for educational distribution. The video is entitled: A Closer Look: Martin Luther King. She is a regular guest reader on WNYC New York's Prime Time with PJ.
Charlotte has received numerous honors including the prestigious Pew Fellowship In The Arts in 1994. She was selected as Philadelphia Magazine's "Best Of Philly" in 1995. She is the recipient of the 1997 Commonwealth Of Pennsylvania Artist Of The Year Award (The Hazlett Memorial Award). This award recognizes individual artists "for...excellence in the Commonwealth." She holds two honorary PhD's from Seton Hill and LaRoche colleges respectively, and was one of four Americans selected to perform and present at the first International Storytelling Field Conference in Ghana in August of 1999. She was the Director of "In the Tradition" 14th National Festival Of Black Storytelling in 1996.
|
