Joseph & Roumain (Robert Torres)

“The Just and The Blind,” the acclaimed work by spoken-word artist Marc Bamuthi Joseph and composer Daniel Bernard Roumain, came to The Ford in the Hollywood Hills on August 2. Roughly 500 concert-goers braved Friday rush hour for an evening of poetry, music, movement, and film projections that explored themes of racial profiling, sentencing, and the prison-industrial complex from the perspective of fathers of Black and Brown children.

“The Just and the Blind” is a piece that we’ve been performing all over the country for about five years now,” stated Joseph. “It continues to inspire everyone who sees it because it draws people together in a common experience, in a new learning experience, and ultimately towards hope.

“I refer to freedom fighters,” he continued, “like (civil rights leader) Fannie Lou Hamer (“We who believe in freedom cannot rest”). We come together to make something new and “The Just and the Blind” is one of those pieces that honors that particular legacy of freedom fighting and speaks to the responsibility that comes at the intersection of artistic work and the social contract.”

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Drew Dollaz, who choreographed the dance movements, opened the evening with a demonstration of flexing or bone-breaking to Joseph’s reading, “Get Home to Me” and Roumain’s moderato piano accompaniment.

“Marc and Daniel are two artistic powerhouses which always made it a goal of mine to try and fit in with the synergy that they have created with one another,” stated Dollaz. “I respect them as older brothers, so working with them is like a lesson in how to progress as a creative.

Nia Andrews (courtesy)

“Flexing has become a form of urban contemporary dance,” he continued, “which gives me the ability to take the music and the language of ‘The Just and The Blind’ and create a choreography that speaks from the verbiage of the spoken word, as well the emotions of the raw music, making a heartfelt yet empowering piece of art.”

Roumain collaborated with Joseph on the multimedia performance. His work speaks to social injustice and racial and cultural identity.

“I’ve been described as a kind of [American artist and dancer] Bill T. Jones,” he said. “When I play the violin, Marc and I have collaboration, which is important to our sons. We want to have a conversation with the audience, a type of collaboration where we both know what role to play while we create something together.

“I’m grateful to the LA Sentinel,” he continued, “because you are culling our conversation into an art form that is the beginning of the show. We artists would call that an overture. I would call it an underture.”

Michael John Garcés directed the show and the performance included a storytelling curriculum designed for youth and families directly impacted by incarceration. Nia Andrews provided the soulful vocals on “What Is Left” and “Broken.” The Inglewood native has become a seminal voice at live venues across Los Angeles’ thriving music scene.

The evening was complete with a Q&A session by the performers and audience members.

“The Just and The Blind” was commissioned by Carnegie Hall and produced by SOZO with support from the Ford Foundation and the Miami Light Project.

The Ford, 2580 Cahuenga Blvd East, is one of L.A.’s oldest performing arts venues. The woodsy, open-air amphitheater has just under 1,200 seats and no patron is more than 96 feet from the stage.

For more information, visit https://www.bamuthi.com.

Links: https://bit.ly/3WxK8aa