<Beryl Dakers>: February is Black History Month, and tonight It's The Thing provides a sampling of traditional black One of the oldest art forms is the traditional art of storyt The two persons who have done much to preserve it are the dyna acting duo Ossie Davis and his w We talked with it briefly during a recent visit to the Uni of South Carolina, where they we of the Afro-American Student Ass <Ossie Davis>: I'll tell you, f breaking is hard and dying is me So get yourself a little leaven in between.

<Ruby Dee>: Yes.

Yes.

And I like Hold fast to dreams for if dream Life is a broken winged bird that cannot fly.

(Beryl>: That's simply beautiful <Ruby>: Langston Hughes.

<Beryl>: Yeah.

<Beryl>: Yes.

The two of you have sort of made a c in addition to your mini theater roles of promoting the black oral trad Why is this so important to you?

<Ossie>: Well, first, it is an authentic tradition.

It is one that requires professi and it pays.

It is a job, shall But we have felt a long time that much of what we were as a people, much of what I experience garnered, was transmitted from generation to generation by those members of the family who told stories either about the family experience.

Uncle Joe, who, you know, loved horses.

Aunt May you know, who could cook pies, Brer Rabbit or High John the Con Much of what I am aware of when I speak of me as a person, being, as I think back was fed t in the form of those stories.

And we think that's important.

<Ruby>: Is it for myself?

You know, I went to a predominan college and I grew up in Harlem, but and and I studied literature, French, German, Italian, Spanish literature.

And I learned to speak French an I mean, to study those languages But the whole business of black didn't come up.

You know, we knew a couple of wr And through my mother, I had some acquaintance with it.

But it was it was a nebulous fie It wasn't until I after I got out of school, then I bega live the whole the concept of black literature sunk into me, and I began to read as very good All through marriage and babies And.

And.

And because I was looking for wh who I was a I didn't realize how hungry I wa It was a with a with a passion.

The black women writers particul put put me in context gave me de that me know that there were peo there feeling the things I felt the definitions and the r and the affects of racism and an and the emotion.

It's many, many things.

I belonged somewhere as a human I can't I can't emphasize that surely enough.

Because as I traveled, as we travel around, we feel tha many young people have a kind of lost feeling.

But somehow in literature, there's there's s there's consolation.

There's belonging.

There's definition.

There's tradition.

There's histo There's oh, God.

Now I feel after all these years and I know, I know there's so mu I haven't read.

But I belong somewhere and I'm b and I belong to black people.

And I belong to the world.

But I come from somewhere.

It's not in a nebulous sense.

The historians tell me their own Lerone Bennett tells me.

The novelist tells me.

The playwright tells me.

Is there anything to be but a bl You know?

But I didn't before then.

I was feeling I'm trying the int you know, trying to get in when the door keeps nudging against you.

Now there's a whole ocean of opp I mean, you know, in my head, de everything, in everything and ev <Ossie>: Now, can I say?

You were addressing the question of content, of what it was in the stories, in the tr that affected your life and chan <Ruby>: Not only what, but the how and the why <Ossie>: With the how and the wh It has to do with the technique the storytelling technique, the setting in which it took pla <Ruby>: But also from the philosophers and historians.

<Ossie>: But if you let me make that might be even more relevant Now, back to the thing that I'm trying to get at.

What I learned as a child was also a part of the attitude of the storyteller toward what the material meant.

Now, the children today look at television, which doesn't make a judgment, but the parents used to tell me what the story was also taught m what the the moral was.

They taught me values and things that had a part to do with my hu Now I see on the television the story about Bugs Bunny and a sort of thing.

And no moral message, no being told, no substance.

Now that generation, white and black, is being denied the basic ingredient of its huma So part of what we are trying to is to say, hold on, this is what the storytelling fo It has human values.

That's what we're trying to do.

<Beryl>: Do you make a conscious transition from storyteller to or is it all the same?

Is it all a part of the same con <Ruby>: Yeah, well, I think it's part of the same.

A a poem is a very economical st I think the whole way of looking it's really hard, hard currency and, and even even the historian and the philosophers.

And there's a there's a story in that, too.

<Ossie>: Langston, for instance, has a whole way of life and a whole discipline in one li that says, I wish the rent was heaven sent.

The whole story.

You don't need anything more.

<Beryl>: You understand his plig Internal longing.

<Ossie>: The condition of the st is that you have somebody or two somebody is a mini who are listening and you want to tell them someth Now, if it's a poem, if it's a s if it's a puzzle, if it's a game all the same.

You're a storyteller and you must hold the interest until you make your point.

Music Traditionally, in Africa, the sp was of more importance than the written word.

History and lessons were recorded by the storyteller And so the storyteller was great and greatly respected.

I'd like to share an African folktale with you now called Mr. Frogs Wives make Nienaber puttin Frog had one wife that he loved very, very much, but he decided that he would like another wife.

So Mr. Frog took a second wife.

Oh, and he loved her very, very Now, Mr. Frog took his first wife to a to Um, Dala, and he built her a house and he planted her a garden.

And Mr. Frog took his second wife to a town called one Dummy, and he built her a house and he planted her a garden.

Now, whenever Mr. Frog was in $1, he would always dinner with the first wife.

And whenever Mr. Frog was in a dummy, he would al dinner with the second wife.

One day, when Mr. Frog was visiting with some of his friends, a mess running from an dollar and the messenger said, Mr. Frog.

Mr. Frog, your wife and $1 has just made nine of a pudding and she wants you to come with h right away.

Well, just then another messenger came From whom?

Dummy?

And the messenger said Mr. Frog.

Mr. Frog, your wife in Dumbo has just made minimal pudding and she wants you to come eat it right away.

Now, Mr. Frog was very happy that both of his wives had made because that was his favorite thing to eat.

But $1 was an hour to the north, and one Dumbo was an Al to the s Now, Mr. Frog knew that if he were to go to eat with the first wife, the second wife would be so mad she would say, Oh, Mr. Frog, you just want to eat with her because you think she's prettier And if Mr. Frog went to me, dummy to eat with the second wife.

Oh, the first wife would be so u she would say, Mr. Frog, you just want to eat with because you think she's sweeter.

Poor Mr. Frog.

He didn't know wh He didn't go to any dollar and he didn't go to one dummy.

He stayed right where he was and he kept saying, Ribbit, ribbit, I am in trouble.

I am in trouble.

Ribbit, Rabbit.

I am in trouble.

And the African say, whenever yo a frog go, Ribbit, ribbit.

He's saying, I am in trouble because both of made Nineveh pudding and sent for him at the same time.

We're going to take just a momen now to meet our delightful story Her name is Princess Wilson and director of La Safe in Lancaster And what is Leslie's?

Leslie's Well, it stands for the County Education and Cultural Enrichment League.

We are a minority arts agency in Lancaster.

We're affiliate of the Lancaster County Council of the Arts.

Okay.

And your purpose is what?

Well, we try to provide quality and promote Afro-American cultural heritage.

We also work with the LCA in bringing black and white audiences together for arts programs.

Tell me about your own particula then, in preserving the oral tra I have a real strong interest in African and their history.

I am currently involved in our a and education program in Clinton Elementary School in where I go in and teach African folktales as drama as a dramatic experienc And it's just simply to make all the children more aware of t of folktales and their symbolism and how they were used.

Princess, why do you think that that is a to contemporary society?

Well, I think it's really import for all children, black and whit to be familiar with the cultures of other people and folktales where the Africans way of transm their history and teaching their And like I try to point out to the children I have in the sc they didn't have all of the the books and the papers that we And so the storyteller would com and that person would be respons for teaching them, much like, well, Aesop, I suppos is the greatest African storytel that we know.

Yeah, like our fab Okay.

Well, in addition to the oral tr there is a very strong music tradition in black culture, and you've also brought along wi someone who is going to give us a sample of that.

We have Kitty Wilson, who is also from Lancaster, and she is a vocalist, a soprano She will be accompanied by Delor Shropshire, who plays for the Jo and friends, also from Lancaster They will be doing a few selecti and talking briefly about the im of black contributions to music and the fields that we have expa And you neglected the most important point, which is that Kitty Wilson is my So we're going to keep it in the right now.

Let's sample a little bit of mus from the black tradition.

Music has always played an important part in our It has helped us through good ti and bad times through pain and sorrow and even encouragement to our yo I will sing for you the Negro spiritual deep River and the lullaby from the black musical Porgy and Bess.

Sorry about the war.

You know, all.

Oh, no.

Oh, do.

Oh, my Lord.

Do you?

Oh, I do.

Cross over road.

Oh.

Oh.

Not go.

Oh, oh, oh.

You always do.

Oh, Whoa, whoa, oh.

Time is short in your duties.

Research on your bouzouki.

Little baby.

Do you know what Miss Universe looks good to, Mother.

Gone home.

You move soon to boom.

Oh, okay.

Fan today is artistic director of the Charleston Afric Ensemble, and it's the company that certainly is unique in many Why are you so devoted for the perpetuation of this art My main reason for presenting this to to Charleston all of the world, I would say, is because the African culture has really been limited in our s and our communities and we have not really been expo to a lot of what the African culture represents.

And basically what our goal with the Charleston African Danc Ensemble is to share with the co some of the beautiful and intric our troops attributes of the African cultur And we do this through dance, song, music and literatur You incorporate all of these ele in the ensemble itself.

Yes.

Tell me, Founder, your backgroun in dance, but not in African dan My background includes African d However, I started my dance training, my formal training at and that included ballet, tap, the whole gamut of dance.

And at the age of about 14, I was exposed to Afro-Cuban type And from there, I started to study folklore, and I fell in love with folklore and began to share what I learne through some of the masters from the continent and in New York about folklore.

What I noticed during watching you perform previously is that you often use the congas and other native African instruments for backgrou Why is this?

Well, the the way that the dancers communicate or express this form of dance is through th The musicians are actually motiv from the dancers, and they become as one as they i a message to whomever is watchin So the African instruments are u because they are of African orig Thus, you know, that is for the Are you suggesting that the dance would change form then depending on when and where it's played or by Is it the same dance or you said the musicians are inspired by the dancers themselves.

Well, the way that the way that folklo from any other type of dance is that folklore?

There are no beats in folklore.

There are no counts in folklore.

It's a spontaneous type of dance So the drummers move with the da verses.

The dancers move to the music.

For example, in modern or ballet you'd count five, six, seven, eight women in folklore.

You don't count.

You listen to the breaks of the and they respond to whatever you They may accent a movement that you're doing.

So there is that relationship th And the spontaneity, when you lo you get this unified picture that seems as th it was all choreographed to go.

Exactly.

So it seems that way, but it's n Tell me a little bit.

You've brought a few instruments here and this one.

Okay.

That is me horror and that is used throughout West And it is made from a gourd or c It is strung with seeds or beads and it's something like a macram And here in the States, a lot of folks call it the Afric And in Africa, the women grow th and then shape them into whateve they like them to be in.

And they may also use them for u Oh, okay.

And of course, the drama is fami as the backbone of communication if not a lot of people think tha is the only instrument used by the African musician.

But the African orchestra is ver very diverse.

We have drums and shakers and be and there are families of drums where you may have six in a fami from the smallest to the largest And this particular drum has strings around it.

And when it's squeezed it, it ta And for the Yoruba people, they call it a talking drum.

It's similar to a talking drum.

it's an interesting type drum because it can really the sounds of a human being.

Absolutely.

And of course, the final instrum is a stringed instrument that we see in a lot of cultures really a basic variation of one that sort of resembles our own g Okay.

This is the mother of the banjo and guitar.

You could say this is a corps and its origin is West Africa.

And traditionally it was used by the Grio or histo who went about the different vil sharing the past history and also telling folk tales.

And the dances themselves tell a The dances tell Tale is also the children's group puts on lit about different African folktales and proverbs.

And of course, through the folkl we tell stories.

We tell the stories of the diffe And through this, we also share with our audiences the derivation of different danc The ethnic group that perform the particular dances, the costu that are worn, their significanc social or religious dances.

So it's really an educational ty performance versus just getting up and danci So we grow and so do our audienc And we're going to have a chance to do that in just a moment as w you perform.

Thank you so much for.

Oh, boy, that looks exhausting.

Next week, the dynamic duo piano team of Delfin and Romain, artist in residence at the Colle Charleston, will be our special Until then, good night and good DAYBREAK in Alabama.

When I get to be a composer.

When I get to be a composer.

I'm going to write me some music I'm going to write me some music about daybreak in Alabama, and I'm going to put the prettie in it.

Prettiest songs and rising out of the ground lik a swamp mist rising out of the g Like a swamp mist and falling out of the heaven li like soft dunes out of the heave So I'll do and I'm going to put some tall, tall trees in the center and the smell of red after rain, long red and poppy colored face Brown on the field.

Daisy I Why, why, why, why, Why, And I'm going to write hands and yellow hands and red clay with h touching everybody doesn't everybody anything touching each It doesn't matter what you do in that music.

When I get to be a composer, I get to be a composer, write about and write me some music about DA