Creating space for community togetherness
Artist Madame Christiane Dolores co-envisioned with Geña, Rumbón de la Calle as a way of…“Celebrating our three rivers of life through sound... One of my fondest memories of growing up in Beltzhoover on the South Side of Pittsburgh was hearing the Congo drumming in McKinley Park. Those rhythms were the soundtrack to my childhood as we played hopscotch or swung on swings… As part of my Artist Residency, I invite you to join us for a flashback - flash forward drum performances at Allegheny Landing as we celebrate the global spanning rhythms of the African Diaspora.”
This series, titled Rumbón de la Calle is an ensemble of locally based, world renowned percussionists and drummers of the African Diaspora emulating the community gatherings of their respective countries. Featuring: Elie Kihonia, Hugo Cruz, Noel Quintana, Kelley E Parker, Geña, to name a few.
As part of the Pittsburgh Creative Corps, Join Pittsburgh Creative Corps artist in residence Christiane Dolores hosted a series of acoustic musical performances in collaboration with musician, Geña, at Allegheny Landing on Sundays from 3:00 PM to 5:00 PM, July 24, August 28, and September 26, 2022. The performances were held in the public space/upper terrace of the park, a 3-minute walk from the Andy Warhol Museum. Each performance was free to attend.
Support provided by Pittsburgh Creative Corps, Office of Public Art and Riverlife. Video provided by Madame Christiane Dolores. Livestreaming by Phat Man Dee. Video production by Brooke Schooles.
AURA
The AURA of the night is blue.
Blue like the water.
Blue like the sky reflected in the water.
BLUE
Pittsburgh Creative Corps, artist in residence Madame Christiane Dolores launched AURA to celebrate our rivers of life through sound, dance and color. AURA harkens to those nights when we would dance ALL NIGHT LONG and DJs were busy ‘saving lives’.
On September 10th, at the lawn on 11th Street at the River, from 7 - 10 pmthe kick off was the inaugural dance party AURA was an evening of deep house music curated by DJ Brotha Mike of Solid State Soul Radio. The color for the night was BLUE. Attendees were asked to come dressed head to toe in your finest blues. Azure, Turquoise, Lapis Lazuli, Cerulean, Cobalt, Denim and Persian Blue, Navy and Sky Blue. It’s a blue mood with a blue moon. Blue Train, Blue Devils, that Kind of Blue.
“BLUE is a mysterious color, hue of illness and nobility, the rarest color in nature. It is the color of ambiguous depth, of the heavens and of the abyss at once; blue is the color of the shadow side, the tinet of the marvelous and the inexplicable, of desire, of knowledge, of the blue movie, of the blue talk of raw meat and rare steak, of melancholy and the unexpected (once in a blue moon, out of the blue).” Chapter One, The Primary Colors by Alexander Theroux.
What will the next color be?
This program was supported by Pittsburgh Creative Corps, Office of Public Art, Riverlife, RAD works and the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust.