FSU Heart for Music of the Americas presents ‘Seminole Legends and Songs’

Florida State College’s Heart for Music of the Americas will current “Seminole Legends and Songs” at 8 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 1, at Blue Tavern in Tallahassee’s Midtown.

“Seminole Legends and Songs,” the primary live performance of the American Musicological Society’s (AMS) Many Musics of America collection, will characteristic Seminole artist Brian Zepeda and discover the musical traditions and narratives of the Seminole Tribe of Florida.

Zepeda will current conventional tales and songs that narrate his folks’s wealthy historical past and vibrant current.

“As a Seminole Tribal Council liaison, member of the Florida Folklife Council and featured performer on the Florida Folklife Competition, Zepeda has lengthy been a significant power in public-facing music and folklore tasks right here in Florida,” mentioned Panayotis League, director of the Heart for Music of the Americas (CMA). “We’re honored to welcome him to FSU.”

Zepeda calls himself “a standard Seminole arts trainer and scholar” who goals to “share as a lot as I can of my indigenous tradition whereas defending its important core.”

He’ll embrace a few of his world-renowned beadwork at Thursday’s occasion.

“Zepeda brings an enriching program that calls upon his conventional Seminole tribal roots and their expression in track and phrase,” mentioned Gregory Jones, affiliate dean of the School of Music. “All ought to come and study extra about Seminole traditions that encourage a lot in our college.”

The occasion is the results of a collaboration between the CMA and the AMS’s Southern chapter. Members of the Southern chapter embrace students, professors, amateurs and college students, together with these from FSU.

The CMA promotes the scholarship, efficiency and dissemination of music broadly understood all through the whole thing of the American Hemisphere.

The AMS occasion collection is made attainable partly by the Nationwide Writing Mission’s “Constructing a Extra Excellent Union” grant program. This system is funded by the Nationwide Endowment for the Humanities, which gives grants to humanities organizations to assist them get well from operational disruptions introduced on by the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The AMS live performance collection focuses on totally different musical traditions from round the US throughout varied historic eras,” mentioned Sarah Eyerly, director of the Early Music Program within the FSU School of Music and coordinator of musicology. “The collection in the end explores our nation’s deep and various historical past main as much as the 250th anniversary, in 2026, of our nation’s founding.” For extra data, go to manymusics.amsmusicology.org.