11 AM   Amadou Diallo

Amadou Diallo is a percussionist from Senegal West Africa, he has made his home in the Hudson Valley since 2001. Amadou enthusiastically shares his culture with children and adults, since arriving he’s done hundreds of performances, workshops, presentations and classes on West African culture and traditional African rhythms. He has done this for both independently in collaboration with and as a guest artist with other area groups and performers. Amadou teaches children in the TOPs program in the Kingston city school district and has an ongoing adult class in the Living Seed Yoga studio in New Paltz, New York. Amadou‘s classes are in the Djembe tradition and feature hand drums and large stick drums called Dun Duns.

View Amadou Diallo in the 2020 Multicultural Festival.

12 PM   Poets: Dr. Lucia Cherciu, Jerrice J. Baptiste, Khadija Ghanizada, David Gonzalez

Dr. Lucia Cherciu, Dutchess County Poet Laureate, has curated this diverse group of Hudson Valley poets to recite poetry in English and a second language. Many of them poems are original works.

Lucia Cherciu is a Professor of English at SUNY / Dutchess in Poughkeepsie, NY. She is the author of five books of poetry. Her work was nominated three times for a Pushcart Prize and twice for Best of the Net. She is the 2021 Dutchess County Poet Laureate.

Jerrice J. Baptiste is a native of Haiti.  She has authored seven children’s books and a full book of contemplative poems for adults titled Wintry Mix.Jerrice was the recipient of a residency for The Women’s Leadership Program at The Omega Institute in NY, 2019.

Khadija Ghanizada is from Afghanistan. A rising junior at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, she is majoring in Environmental & Urban Studies, a member of the Women’s Lacrosse Team at Bard, the president of the Muslim Student Organization and the Treasurer of the International Student Organization. She loves to run and work out, read books and poetry by Rumi, photograph nature and do photoshoots with friends.

David Gonzalez is widely regarded as one of the nation’s top storytellers. He was a featured performer at the National Storytelling Festival, received the Lifetime Achievement Award from International Performing Arts for Youth.  Mr. Gonzalez was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for his original production of “The Frog Bride”, and earned his doctorate from New York University’s School of Education. www.davidgonzalez.com

11 AM   Tablo Muziko Klezmer

Klezmer music is the heart for longtime musical collaborators Elena Erber (accordion) and Karen Levine (clarinet and percussion), bandmates in Caprice Rouge and the Hotsie Totsie Klezmer Orchester. They are honored to share this traditional Jewish dance music for the Reher Multicultural Festival with their duo project Tablo Muziko. (tablomuziko.com)

12 PM   Center 4 Creative Education Dancers