Rhythms

of the

Diaspora

May

Sat

30

Roots Music Festival

Brandywine

MD

TICKETS

Rhythms of the Diaspora is a festival that celebrates and highlights the musical traditions, craft and foodways of the African Diaspora, and their profound influence on American culture. Join us for a day of live music, workshops, delicious food, art and culture. Bring your instrument to learn and jam, connect with your community and enjoy beautiful Southern Maryland.

Music

Experience the musical connections between West African traditional music, old time, folk, blues and contemporary roots music through performances by seasoned and emerging artists.

Cheick Hamala Diabaté
& The Griot Street Band

Cheick Hamala Diabaté is a grammy nominated musician hailing from Mali, West Africa. Born in Kita, Mali into the renowned Diabaté family, he comes from a long line of Griots, including his cousin Toumani Diabaté. Diabaté began playing music as a young boy and is a master of the Jeli N'goni, a traditional Malian stringed instrument. As his ancestors before him, Diabaté is a steward of the 800 year old tradition of the Griot.

Diabaté helps to steward this tradition, by sharing the music, oral history and songs of his homeland. Diabaté also plays banjo which he picked up after recognizing the links between it and the N'goni. His performances highlight the living connections between African and African American musical forms through his use of the banjo and collaboration with Blues musicians like Corey Harris. Cheick Hamala Diabaté and the Griot Street Band will be headlining Rhythms of the Diaspora, delivering an electrifying performance and providing music and dance workshops where you can learn how to dance to and play the music of Mali.

7 PM Set Time

Hubby Jenkins is a talented multi-instrumentalist who endeavors to share his love and knowledge of old-time American music. Born and raised in Brooklyn he delved into his southern roots, following the thread of African American history that wove itself through America's traditional music forms. As an integral member of the Carolina Chocolate Drops and later Rhiannon Giddens band, Hubby has performed at festivals and venues around the world, earning himself both Grammy and Americana award nominations. Today he spreads his knowledge and love of old-time American music through his dynamic solo performances and engaging workshops.

Hubby Jenkins

5:30 PM Set Time

Lee Johnson

Lee Johnson is a musician from Stone Mountain, Georgia (originally from Detroit, Michigan). Lee has been playing the banjo for over 4 years and considers herself a rhythmic, clawhammer banjoist that plays Old-Time Music and a genre she created called, ‘Groovy Banjo’. Through her Groovy Banjo style she is able to play the banjo in a way that’ll send the audience into a trance of deep bliss with a slight upbeat tempo. Lee’s focus is to share her musical expression, through the banjo, to help bring forth peace, joy and connection to Black & Brown communities. Lee’s music production has not been in the works yet but in the meantime you can find more of Lee and her music via Instagram and YouTube at iamleejohnson_. And if that’s not enough, then you can find her performing somewhere in Atlanta.

12 PM Set Time

Honey Belle Soul

Honey Belle Soul is a roots music duo featuring Jalila Williams and Samaria Marley. Covering a range of genres including blues, old time, gospel, and folk, Honey Belle Soul creates beautiful harmonies and honors the tradition of Black string band music while sharing their passion and joy of creating through their performances.

2 PM Set Time

Byron Thomas

Byron Thomas, a native of Charles County, MD, has been playing music since about 2015 and the banjo since 2016. Byron is also a performer with the Washington Revels Jubilee Voices, singing traditional African American songs and spirituals. Byron hopes that one day more people will be able to see the banjo not only as an instrument but also a vessel to better understand ourselves and our shared American history. A multi-instrumentalist, Byron also plays other stringed instruments such as guitar, mandolin, ukulele to name some, plus he plays rhythm bones. He loves a wide range of music and plays what sounds good to him.

3:30 PM Set Time

Music Workshops

Get into the rhythms of the music of the diaspora and enjoy in person workshops taught by the performance artists. Each workshop will be an hour and fifteen minutes. End the evening with an all skill levels jam! All music workshops are for acoustic stringed instruments. Intro to Malian Music is for banjo, guitar, ngoni or any other acoustic stringed instrument.

Blues Banjo Workshop

Beginner Banjo Workshop

African Dance Workshop

Intro To Malian Music

Late Night Jam

Hubby Jenkins 1::30 PM

Lee Johnson 2:30 PM

Griot Street Band 230 PM

Cheick Hamala Diabaté 4:30 PM

Open to All 9 PM

Arts & Craft Workshops

Enjoy hands on craft and food workshops and an art exhibit celebrating the craft traditions and foodways of the Diaspora.

Into The Blue

1 to4 PM

Join us for a journey Into the Blue with fiber artist and natural dyer Kenya Miles. We will work with our hands to refresh beloved pieces of clothing or scrap material in community indigo vats. Participants will learn basic resist techniques drawing in new possibilities for material. Please bring one natural fiber item prewashed no larger than a t-shirt. Limited quantities of bandanas will also be available for purchase if needed. This workshop will be offered between 1-4 pm, with 1 hour time slots available. Please register separately for this workshop.

Kenya Miles

Kenya Miles is a multidisciplinary artist, educator & the alchemist behind Traveling Miles Studio. A one woman textile and fine art studio utilizing sustainable materials from earth pigments to natural dyes. Kenya’s work honors ancient practices while harmoniously drawing on a distinctive contemporary voice. From the valleys of Oaxaca, Mexico to the red clay roads of Ntonso, Ghana, Kenya's process is a ledger of years of wandering and apprenticing around the globe. Kenya founded Blue Light Junction, a natural dye studio, alternative color lab, retail space, dye garden & educational facility in central Baltimore. Blue Light Junction focuses on growing, processing, and preserving the history of natural dyes and their artistic, practical, and commercial applications. In 2022-2023, Kenya was a USC Annenberg Civic Media Fellow, a Braiding Seeds Fellow (2023-2024) and a Center For Craft Teaching Artist (2024).

Habesha Cooking Workshop

1 to 215 PM

Explore culinary connections across continents through a hands-on cooking workshop with Sara Ghebremichael. Together, participants will prepare a traditional East African dish of Eritrean-Ethiopian collard greens called Hamli or Gomen Wot. As we work with our hands around the shared table, we’ll conjure early cooking memories and create new ones.

Aside from cooking, Sara engages with song, poetry, and banjo rhythms as her main outlet for creativity, as well as the magic of imagery to help others unlock their inner wisdom. In the last two years, Sara has nurtured her connection to gourd instruments by crafting her very own Eritrean-Ethiopian krar, and a three-string gourd banjo. She spent much of the last decade performing with DC-based funk & soul band Everyday Everybody (fka AZTEC SUN) and sharing her own live set of jazzy bluesy rootsy originals at house shows, open mics, summer festivals, and other gatherings.

Sara Ghebremichael

Art Exhibition

Art Talk 5 PM

For more than 40 years, Caryl Henry Alexander has collaborated with multigenerational, multicultural, and interfaith communities to design and implement public art projects worldwide.

In the studio, her work spans painting, printmaking, papermaking, textiles, installations, and sculpture—often incorporating recycled materials, found objects, and natural plant elements. In the community, she engages as a visual artist, curator, lecturer, and activist, using art to foster collective vision and action.

With a deep focus on culture, environment, and nature, Caryl’s work explores the connections between people, plants, and the elements, weaving stories through visual, verbal, and movement-based expression.

Food

Enjoy a taste of the diaspora from our partner and venue host Junipers Garden! Featuring food from West Africa, the Caribbean, the South and Mid-Atlantic. Local, wood-fired and delicious! Pre -Order Wood Fired Pizza for lunch, available between 1130-230 PM. Pre Order Dinner Plate, Available between 6-9 PM.

Camping and Lodging

If you are traveling from out of town, we offer on site camping for Saturday. Camping includes access to campsite and bathrooms.

We are located in Brandywine, Md, if you are looking for lodging nearby, you can look in Waldorf, Clinton and Upper Marlboro. Please reach out if you have any questions.