Singer-songwriter Melanie DeMore has a remarkable voice, weaving
the fibers of African American folk music with soulful ballads,
spirituals and her own original music. DeMore beautifully
brings her audience together through her music and commentary.
DeMore has toured extensively, singing at festivals, universities,
in coffee houses and concert halls. This family concert will
also feature DeMore leading community singing and a Gullah
stick-pounding piece featuring an inter-generational mix of
kids and their families from the Alameda Boys & Girls
Club.
In addition to her solo work, DeMore facilitates vocal workshops
for professional and community-based choral groups and has
taught her program called "Sound Awareness" in schools,
prisons, and youth organizations in the US, Canada, Cuba and
New Zealand. DeMore was a California Artist in Residence with
the Oakland Youth Chorus for 10 years and has received an
award from the Music Educators National Conference for her
work with young singers and artists.
She is a featured artist/presenter for SpeakOut!: The Institute
for Social and Cultural Change and is Adjunct faculty at the
California Institute for Integral Studies. She is on the music
faculty at St. Paul's School in Oakland and at the East Bay
School for Boys where she teaches acapella singing and body
music. She is also the artistic director/conductor of the
Oakland Community Children's Choir with Living Jazz.
DeMore was a founding member of the critically-acclaimed
, Grammy- nominated vocal ensemble, Linda Tillery and the
Cultural Heritage Choir, a group that has toured extensively
through out the U.S., Canada and Europe.
Her belief in the power of the voice can be summed up in
a line from her writings: “A SONG CAN KEEP YOU ON YOUR
FEET WHEN THERE SEEMS TO BE NO GROUND BENEATH YOU.
Alameda Boys & Girls Club Workshop: 4-5:30pm
Melanie will teach the basics of Gullah Stick Pounding along
with various pounding, foot-stomping and hand-clapping rhythms.
The rhythms will be combined w/singing civil rights songs,
spirituals and songs of protest. Open to all ages and can
accommodate up to 55 participants.
"It's an electrifying experience that is communal and
transformative."
When: Friday, February 10th
