Oct. 24, 2000
Contact: Peter Bailley
news@knox.edu
309-341-7715

Poet and Ensemble to Perform Saturday, Oct. 28

The Muntu Kuntu Energy Ensemble will perform at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct, 28, in the Gizmo, Seymour Union, Knox College, Galesburg, Illinois. The group consists of poet Mwatabu S. Okantah and the Eric Gould Ensemble.

Okantah is Poet in Residence in the Department of Pan African Studies at Kent State University, and Director of the Center of Pan African Culture. He has also spent time as a "griot" for the Iroko African Drum and Dance Society, and has had an ongoing collaboration with the Cavani String Quartet.

He is the author of the books "Afreeka Brass" and "Collage." His current works are an epic poem, "Cheikh Anta Diop: Poem For The Living," and a CD, "Legacy: for Martin & Malcolm." His writing has been anthologized in "Why L.A. Happened," "Soul Looks Back in Wonder," "The Second Set," and "Warpland."

His honors include a 1999 Outstanding Teaching Award, selection to the 5th Edition of "Who's Who among Teachers in America," inclusion in the "International Who's Who in Poetry," and selection in "Outstanding Writers of the 20th Century" by the International Biographical Centre.

Okantah has taught at Union College, The Livingston College of Rutgers University, and is currently a professor of Pan African Studies at Kent State University. He has a BA in English and African Studies from Kent State University (1976), and MA in Creative Writing from the City College of New York.

The performance is sponsored by the Knox College Office of Intercultural Life.

Founded in 1837, Knox is an independent, four-year, liberal arts college in Galesburg, Illinois, with 1,220 students from 47 states and 41 nations. Knox's "Old Main," a National Historic Landmark, is the only building remaining from the 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates.

This news release: http://www.knox.edu/x160.xml2000/Okantah_Muntu_Performance.html

-end-