Artists

Diali Cissokho & Kaira Ba

Diali Cissokho & Kaira Ba ecstatically explore the spiritual songs, stories, and rhythms of Senegal’s millennia-old Mandé culture. Cissokho comes from a long line of prominent griots entrusted to maintain a West African village’s genealogies and important ceremonial affairs through song. Cissokho and his band, Kaira Ba, effortlessly integrate the kora’s traditional sounds with a modern electric guitar rush and an exuberant rhythm section.
Kaira Ba Music
Jabu by Diali Cissokho Kaira Ba, Live at the Cat’s Cradle with Interview

CJ Suitt

CJ Suitt (he, him/they, them) is a performance poet, arts educator, and community organizer from Chapel Hill, NC, whose work is rooted in storytelling and social justice. CJ is the first Poet Laureate of Chapel Hill.
CJ Suitt’s Website

Fred Joiner

Fred Joiner is a poet and curator based in Chapel Hill, NC. He is 2019 Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellow. His work has appeared in Callaloo, Gargoyle, and Fledgling Rag, among other publications. Fred has read his work nationally and internationally.
Fred Joiner’s Website

Cortland Gilliam

Cortland Gilliam is a poet, educator, cultural organizer, and doctoral candidate in Cultural Studies and Literacies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He serves as Co-Chair of the Board of Directors at the Marian Cheek Jackson Center and is the 2023-2024 Poet Laureate of Chapel Hill.
Cortland Gilliam Daily Tarheel Article

Zankiliwa

A student led African dance troupe that expresses African culture through various styles of dance from traditional to modern Afro Hip-Hop.
Zankiliwa Organization Website

Eritrean-Ethiopia Student Association (ESSA) Dance Group

ESSA strives to be a space for continual knowledge and strength for the Eritrean and Ethiopian diaspora.
ESSA Organization Website

Masquerade

TBC

Mickey Mills

Mickey Mills is an exciting, energetic, multi-talented entertainer par excellence. He is a vocalist, songwriter, steel drum soloist, and actor. Born and raised Port-of-Spain, T, Trinidad, West Indies, MICKEY MILLS first started playing the steel drums at the age of 12 as a soloist with the Solo Harmoniteeel Orchestra. In 1970 he moved to New York, where he worked with artists such as Mick Jagger, Ralph McDonald, The Mighty Sparrow, Johnny Mathis and Lord Kitchener.
Mickey Mills Bio

DJ Kevin Sphinx

TBC

Silas Piper

Silas Piper is a singer and guitarist who has been making music from 5 years old, growing up in Nairobi, Kenya, and from Ethiopia and the United States. Surrounded by African sonics but with American influences, Silas creates Afro-pop music and looks to globalize African sounds.
Silas Piper Soundcloud

Artists 2023