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The McIntosh County Shouters are the principal exponents—and one of the last active practitioners—of the ring shout, one of the oldest African American performance traditions surviving in America
Rooted in the Gullah Geechee communities of coastal Georgia, where the ring shout endures as a community-rooted sacred practice, they have carried this tradition to major festivals and concert stages across the Eastern seaboard, including the National Black Arts Festival, the National Folk Festival at Wolf Trap, the Kennedy Center, and the Library of Congress Homegrown Concert Series.
Their performances weave call-and-response singing, hand clapping, a stick beat on the floor, and a signature counterclockwise dance.
They have made landmark recordings on Smithsonian Folkways, and their work has been featured in numerous PBS documentaries, as well as HBO’s “Unchained Memories” and Oxygen’s “Who Needs Hollywood?”
Named NEA Master Artists in 2008, recognitions include the NEA National Heritage Fellowship and the Governor’s Award in the Humanities.
This concert is presented by the Center for Jazz Studies at Columbia University, which will also present a one-day symposium on the ring shout, featuring a workshop by members of the Shouters. More information can be found at jazz.columbia.edu.
