Albina Music Trust & Mississippi Records are pleased to announce a special collaboration between the band Roman Norfleet & Be Present Art Group + experimental video artists Spoiler Room. The event is FREE & all ages. It all goes down at Historic Alberta House - a community center devoted to showcasing Albina's arts & culture legacy, as well as its future..
ROMAN NORFLEET & BE PRESENT ART GROUP - "THEIR COWRIES"
“This piece is a sonic love story poem interpreted through song and movement-based improvisation. It tells the story of two beings in love, pulled apart by misunderstandings that can occur in relationships. In the midst of their separation, a spiritual longing for one another provokes a simultaneous epiphany - a remembrance of an important tale from an elder in the couple’s childhood village. This tale recalls the legend of cowrie seashells and their unusual power to carry messages through the ocean. Upon remembering the tale, the couple recites messages to their cowrie shells, run toward the beach, and drop the shells in the water. Will their cowrie shells find each other???"
The Alberta House galleries feature:
AMT’s Wall To Wall Soul exhibit - a collection of photography, newsprint, and poster art depicting the legacy of Black Music in Portland.
Artwork by Henk Pander: “The Climate Refugees of Vanport” and “The Artist as Eyewitness to History”
"Vanport: The Surge of Social Change" Exhibit
Albina Music Trust is preserving North Portland’s music culture with programming that documents the Black community’s oral history, archival media, and special events. In collaboration with Albina musicians, founders Bobby Smith and Calvin Walker have brought to light a definitive catalog of historic regional music and the memories of its creators. This preservation initiative is a program of the World Arts Foundation, serving Oregonians at the intersection of arts and education since 1976.
Mississippi Records: Depending on who you ask, Mississippi Records has been around for 20 years as of 2023. A rotating cast of characters has contributed release ideas, art, sound, and sweat. We aim to keep prices affordable and horizons wide. We work directly with artists and their families. We release “discarded music of the world”, according to one of our dear friends and mentors, Lonnie Holley. Visit the shop at 5202 N Albina Ave. or online at www.mississippirecords.net