Khari Wendell McClelland will bring a melting pot of performance, catharsis and reconciliation to the Commodore stage on April 8.
The Vancouver-based musician will unveil his performance piece known as Freedom Singer, described as a hybrid that lands somewhere between music, acting and theatre.
The show’s narrative depicts McClelland’s research into the life of his great, great, great grandmother Kizzy and how she escaped slavery in the southern U.S. in the mid-1800s.
“What comes through in the performance is the challenge of attempting to find recorded history around people who were impoverished,” McClelland told the Courier. “Their voices, history and legacy were rarely kept in records during those times.”
Kizzy escaped the southern U.S. in the 1850s, though McClelland doesn’t know which state her story originated in. His research suggests she came to southern Ontario via the Underground Railroad, a series of covert routes and safe houses to help slaves escape to Canada.
McClelland’s research began three years ago when he was performing with gospel group the Sojourners. After the gig, he was approached by author Karolyn Smardz Frost, who won a 2007 Governor General’s Award for Non-Fiction for her book I’ve Got a Home in Glory Land: A Lost Tale of the Underground Railroad.
The pair bonded over that shared backstory and McClelland got to reading. Each chapter in the book begins with a quote that he interpreted as lyrics and the plan was set: research Kizzy’s story and try to uncover the music of her day.
“That’s what really spurred my curiosity and lightning struck in my mind,” McClelland said. “I wanted to put together a suite of tunes interpreting old songs that might have accompanied people escaping slavery and coming into Canada.”
Criss-crossing Canada was next on the agenda: trips to Nova Scotia, throughout Ontario, pouring over archival materials, interviewing academics and meeting with elders from First Nations across Canada.
It’s still an ongoing search. Record keeping from that time period was suspect at best, particularly for those who were impoverished or discriminated against based upon their colour or race. McClelland said many people travelling the Underground Railroad would change their names and appearances.
He has uncovered, however, that Kizzy eventually returned to Detroit, McLelland’s place of birth, at some point after emancipation in the early 1860s.
“To me, Freedom Singer is about home and about family,” he said. “It’s a journey to understand the self and I think there is a sense of catharsis by going through the journey, but also through reconciling the things that are gained and lost when we really look deeply into our histories.”
Freedom Singer is currently a standalone performance piece that sees McClelland accompanied on stage by Tanika Charles and multi-instrumentalist Noah Walker. Plans are afoot to record the music at some point this fall.
McLelland performs the show April 8 at the Commodore as part of the Motown Meltdown, a multi-act fundraiser for blindness prevention and treatment in impoverished countries.
For tickets and info, go to www.seva.ca/motownmeltdown.htm.
