JCCFS: Tell us a little bit about yourself. What’s your background in your medium? How did you get started?

SGW: As the American Griot, I’ve been sharing African and Post-African music, dance and story for over fifty years: from my native D.C. to New York, from Boston to Berea to the Bay, and to Europe and Africa. Co-Director of the 2005 Black Banjo Gathering (@ Appalachian State University), I’m a Founding Member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops. I’ve performed or recorded with Taj Mahal, Mike Seeger, Tony Trischka, Cathy Fink and Marcy Marxer, Baba Olatunji, members of Sweet Honey in the Rock, Ethel Caffie-Austin, Cheikh Hamala Diabate, the International Afrikan American Ballet, and more. I’ve jammed with Howard Armstrong, John Jackson, Algia Mae Hinton and Sam Grisman; schooled with Moses Hogan and James McBride. I’ve sat with elders of Lindy and Tap, Capoeira, Yoga and Yoruba. Blessed to see both Stanley and Monroe. I’ve taught from Primary to University, at Centrum and Augusta, Mars Hill, the Oakland Public Conservatory of Music and Common Ground on the Hill. I authored The Drummer’s Path: Moving the Spirit with Ritual and Traditional Drumming; Moving Beyond Mindfulness: Rhythm ’n’ Spirit; and Funky Banjo—Levels One and Two. See/hear me in Chasin’ Gus’ Ghost; Give Me the Banjo!; and The Librarian and the Banjo. My programs, be they classroom, concert or keynote, are always an Interactive Edu-Tainment Experience, fulla funk & folk. Can ya get to that?

JCCFS: Tell us more about your class’s specific technique or process.

SGW: One thing I know: If you can say it—you can play it. Also: If you DO know how to move it, you’re sure to know how to groove it. That means EMBODIMENT—voice work and movement to engrain all we’re gonna do—string, story, song, strikin’ and shufflin’—into your body and soul. When most folks discuss African American music, they’re usually pretty thin on the “African” part. I’ve been studying and performing African folklore and ceremony—Mande, Yoruba, Shona, Zulu, Akan— since before I needed deodorant. I worked with the best African dance company in the U.S. for six years. I know traditional dance, song and story—from both sides of the Atlantic. In fact, I just got back from West Africa, sitting with masters of the Akonting, Gambian cousin to the banjo, after speaking at the opening of a Folk School there. I’ve never neglected my “American” side either! I’ve played in bands since Junior High, studied Tap and Lindy with the masters, sang in/played with choirs, and got a Masters in U.S. History. Playing banjo for over thirty years, too—one gets to learn a thing or two about Appalachia. ‘Jo and drum’s gotten me to Louisville, Gastonia, Mars Hill, Boone, the Carter Fold, and Flippin, AR; got me playing with John Sebastian, Tony Trischka, Mike Seeger and Peter Rowan—not to mention the Chocolate Drops. That ain’t bad. I’m bringing all this to John C. Campbell—African aesthetics and American understanding; decades of work, deep-down grooves and the stories to back it all up.

Súle playing Lamba/Jalidont at the Earth Mother Mind Jam, AZ 2000

Súle playing Hit em Up Style with Carolina Chocolate Drops live at the Alaska Folk Festival, April 2007

Súle tuning up at the Rhythm Room, Phoenix, AZ 2017

JCCFS: What can students expect to leave your class with?

SGW: At the end of the week, folks will have an embodied understanding of the inherent power of African-based Performance Science—and how it manifests across American culture; they’ll have new physical prowess from working the R.B. factor in the Shim Sham Shimmy; they’ll have expanded respect for themselves and others as well as a newly crafted instrument to demo and eventually master; they’ll have felt acceptance and love…and sore muscles; they’ll have new songs and stories to share.

JCCFS: What do you enjoy most about teaching?

SGW: What I enjoy MOST about teaching is the HONESTY. My day job is teaching, and I know that at least once a day I’m going to encounter someone whose question or attitude demands nothing less from me than a true response from my deep, authentic core. Anything else is gonna be instantly smelled out as mendacity—either voracious or timid—and we can’t have that. Such action rots your soul and ruins relationships. To really EDUCATE—-to help them draw out their goodness—demands I be open enough that they recognize me modeling that it’s okay to reach inside and try to find that good, and share it with the world. It’s also cool when the frown disappears and the eyebrows go up—‘cause…they GOT IT!

JCCFS: What attracted you to the Folk School? What are you most excited about for your first time teaching here?

SGW: I was invited to the Folk School by a respected colleague—they asked me to sub for them and painted a glowing picture of the place. The premise of the school is wonderful—it’s part of my own credo—the Akan principle of SANKOFA: as we move through life and culture, reach into the past to bring the golden lessons forward. JCC seems to be a “living Foxfire”—and that’s mighty cool. I’m looking forward to encountering those whom JCC has drawn in—kindred spirits, I dare say. Common Ground on the Hill has an amazing community of teachers and students. If JCC is anything like that…we’re good to go.