A Griot Gathering
The two-day fest We Black Folk returns for its second night at Club Passim on Sunday, 2 February 2025.
Faces old and new, featuring Cliff Notez, Lydia Harrell, Chris Walton, Cinamon, Kemp Harris, Devon Gates, Naomi Westwater, and more.
We Black Folk Fest has rebranded in its second year at the subterranean digs of Club Passim in Harvard Square, adding a subtitle: “Griot Gatherings.”
A “griot” is a poet, a musician, a storyteller, broadly construed, coming out of the West African tradition. So a “griot gathering” is a nice, concise way to summarize what to expect out of the evening. The usual folk sounds you’ve come to love at the club, juiced with some historical context appropriate to the first and second day of Black History Month.
Don’t get too lost in the branding. Club Passim presents Folk Collective presents We Black Folk presents BAMS presents HipStory presents Griot Gatherings… Christ, almighty! It’s a real clusterfuck at the corner of Capitalism & Academia as everyone tries to plant their fork into one piece of pie.
(l-r) Chris Walton, Naomi Westwater, Cinamon
The second night saw a few returning faces from last year’s edition. Highlights among the festival veterans included the withering critique of Kemp Harris’ “Edenton,” Chris Walton’s musical memorial to his father, and Naomi Westwater working the room for some crowd participation.
Among the first timers, it was a treat to hear familiar musicians Lydia Harrell and Devon Gates in unfamiliar ways. Harrell usually moves in the jazz and RnB space, but she wore her folk hat for this one. And more often than not you’ll see Devon Gates with a standup bass. Not this time. She went electric for the tight confines of the stage at Club Passim, all the tighter when you’re sharing it with a half dozen other musicians at the start and close of the set.
Shout out to Cliff Notez for hosting, as well as providing these LeVar Burton-level intros to the recorded live sets at the Club Passim Yootoob. “Butterfly in the sky!”