Diversity takes center stage at annual Black History Month concert

CLAY HALE thedmfeatures@gmail.com

With an impressive list of upcoming events celebrating Black History Month around the University of Mississippi and the Oxford community, it can be hard to navigate which events should take priority on heavily populated schedules.

The annual Black History Month concert put on by the University of Mississippi’s music department is striving for strong turnout by promoting compositional, generational and gender-inclusive diversity.

George Worlasi Kwasi Dor, the McDonnell-Barksdale Chair of Ethnomusicology and Professor of Music, created the concert almost two decades ago.

“I realized that the music department was not planning any major activities during Black History Month celebrations. That wasn’t good enough,” Dor said.

His remedy? Create recognition for the month using something that connects a mass audience — music.

“Music plays a major role in any kind of celebration, so I initiated and organized the first Black History Month concert in 2005,” Dor said.

Dor’s musical answer to the lack of recognition for Black History Month became a consistent tradition at the university and in the music department — even during the COVID-19 pandemic.

What makes this year’s take particularly special, Dor said, is the further implementation of diversity and inclusion in the program.

This year’s edition will feature 10 African American composers, with 30% of those being women, which Dor emphasizes is a huge step in the direction of inclusivity. The concert also embraces generational diversity.

“(The composers) don’t all come from the same generation. We are talking about 19th century composers, 20th century composers and some who are still current,” Dor said.

This year’s participants include the University of Mississippi Gospel Choir, the Lafayette-Oxford-University Symphony Orchestra, the University of Mississippi Men’s

Glee Club, the Ole Miss African Drum and Dance Ensemble, collaborative pianist Amanda Johnson and guest artist Tanisha Ward, who graduated with her master’s degree from the university just a few years ago.

The show’s runtime was shortened to two hours so that there could be a higher concentration on these particular acts. Dor shared that for next year’s concert, another set of groups will be featured so they can also have a chance to share in the celebration.

Although that celebration theme is consistent throughout the show, Dor indicated that that does not mean the sound of the show will be synonymous throughout all of the performers.

“You cannot homogenize the sounds of the concepts,” Dor said. “Each group is going to be unique. What I know is that all of the directors are doing their best to give the audience a good show.”

The music department’s Black History Month Concert will start at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 21, at the Gertrude C. Ford Center. It is free to the public. The annual UM Black History Month concert welcomes a wide array of guests and performers.