KW

Karen Wilson, Ph.D.

(Fulbright Regional Research Fellow, Sub-Saharan Africa (Nigeria and Ghana) 2011-2012
Management: Black Mother Entertainment, Ltd.

198, Ikorodu Road,

UNICAL Guest House,

Ekwueme Palace,

USA-April/May 2016

Palmgrove, Schomolu,

Ekorinim, Calabar,

Umugara, Nkwerre,

Contact:

Imo State, FRN.

(646) 603-7004

Lagos, FRN.

FRN.

Email: kmwsongstory@gmail.com / Skype: karen.m.wilson3 /

Website: karen-wilson.weebly.com

Summary of Dr. Karen's Profile:

Vocalist of JAZZ, BLUES, and SOUL

AFRICAN AMERICAN TRADITIONAL SPIRITUALS and WORK SONGS

SINGER, STORYTELLER, TEACHING ARTIST

Narrator and Mistress of Ceremonies

Mezzo-Soprano/Alto Soloist

Sings in Spanish, French, Italian, German, Latin, Portuguese, Haitian

Creole, Igbo, Yoruba, Shona, Xhosa, Fante, Nigerian Pidgin, and English

Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Arts, Formerly Department of History and

International Studies Currently Department of Music, University of Calabar

Interdisciplinary Scholar - Cultural and Intellectual Historian and Musicologist

Researcher specializing in 18tg - 20th century

Africa in Diaspora Culture and Intellecturality in the United States

Pianist snd Organist

Profile Details:

Singer/Storyteller, Curator, Producer - Story Cabaret Series, Back To the Grind, Riverside,
CA

Creative performances of original story and classic song with Musical Direction by
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Stephen Vaughan

Good Hair: I Got My History All Over My Head, October 2010

Much Obliged and Thank You, Too! Exploring Gratitude, (Inlandia Institute Affiliate
Event) November 2010

'Christmas Was Just Breakin: The Lost and the Found December 2010. Stories of

Christmas growing up in Harlem, New York City, the Black socio- cultural heart

of the United States, and built around a Black version of The Night Before Christmas.

Mezzo-Soprano Soloist, University of California, Riverside Chamber Singers, Riverside, CA

Winter 2008. In the Beginning, Aaron Copeland. Conducted by Dr. Ruth Charloff.

Narrator, University of California, Riverside Orchestra, Riverside, CA Spring 2009,

2010, 2011 Narrated the Children's Concert Series, conducted by Dr. Ruth Charloff.

The series included Peter and the Wolf by Russian composer Piotr IllyichTchaikovsky.

Singer, Storyteller, Writer, and Director, MissionInn,Riverside,CA,September2010 "Let

the Music Soar: Celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Kimball/Kilgen Organ at The
Mission Inn".

Storyteller, Inlandia Institute, Riverside, CA June 2009, June 2010

Inlandia Laughs. Fundraiser for the Inlandia Institute, not-for-profit organization supporting
the development of writers in and around Riverside, California.

Vocals, Spoken Word. Composition, University of California, Riverside. MFA Project for Carol
Abizaid, June 2010

Memory of Life in a War Zone: Landing on My Feet in Bits, in Pieces, Collaboration with
choreographer Carol Abizaid and percussionist Ray McNamara, with the poetry of
Suheir Hammad.

Vocalist, Storyteller, Curator, and Producer

A Tribute to Nina Simone, Downtown Supper Club, Riverside, CA, 2003 (Bandleader)
A paean to the iconic singer, pianist, songwriter, and civil rights activist, with stories
about her life, and the songs she wrote and sang. Songs and Stories for a Summer

Evening: A Kind of Cabaret Blues, Jazz, Traditional and Contemporary Story, Back
To the Grind, Riverside, CA, 2008.

Sojourner's Uninterrupted Blues, with bassist Mikel Ali and narrator Yazmin Sayeed
University of California, Riverside. Riverside, CA, 2005 (Bandleader)

Telling the life and times of a great African American woman. Formerly enslaved

abolitionist. orator, women's rights advocate, and spiritual leader, Sojourner Truth was
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one of the most influential thinkers of the 19 th century United States, though she could
neither read nor write. We find her through her words, and the songs she sang.

Songs, Stories, and Whatnot (for Grownups,)New York, NY, 1995

ZoraStories from Mules and Men by Zora Neale Hurston including The Keys and
The Toe Party with pianist/composer Bertha Hope, 1997-1998

Aint I A Woman? African-American Singers Reflect American History Meet the Artists
Program, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, New York, NY Stories and songs of
Sojourner Truth, Marian Anderson, Bessie Smith, Mahalia Jackson, Ella Fitzgerald,
Billie Holliday, Aretha Franklin, and Calypso Rose. Spring 1992, Spring 1993

A Tribute to Blueswomen: Beauty and the Blues, with Blue Wave and Blue Wave West.
Songs and stories of women who stand solid, talk straight, and live with their whole
heart. Many sang their autonomous and independent blues. Stellar singing and

storytelling by Bertha Hope, piano, Carline Ray, bass, Paula Hampton, drums as Blue
Wave. 1998-2008

From Boy to Man: The Life of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. with

Composer/Pianist Bertha Hope. Few are born heroes: childhood and youth are the

times that leadership and greatness develop. What can we learn from the childhood and
youth of Martin Luther King, Jr. about how to grow up and be a hero?

Singer, Storyteller/Teaching Artist, Program Developer. 1996-1998 Improvisation, a

presentation explaining how improvisation works with pianist/composer Bertha Hope Singer
and Storyteller, 1990-1999

The Long Walk to Freedom with SNCC Freedom Singers Matthew and Marshall Jones
for Community Works, New York City.

Additional Storytelling Performances include: C LEARWATERS HUDSON RIVER REVIVAL, VALHALLA,

NY // HUDSON VALLEY STORYTELLING // FESTIVAL, POUGHKEEPSIE, NY // CENTER FOR THE VARIED

ARTS, LOGAN, UTAH // AARON DAVIS HALL, NEW YORK, NY // HUDSON RIVER MUSEUM, YONKERS,

NY // CHILDRENS MUSEUM OF MANHATTAN, NEW YORK, NY // CENTRAL PARK ZOO, NEW YORK, NY //

MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS, PONCE, PUERTO RICO // OLD SONG, INC., GUILDERLAND, NY // METROPOLITAN
MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK, NY

EDUCATION
University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA

PhD in History, 2007 Areas of Doctoral Study: African Diasporic Folklore / Historical
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Ethnomusicology / Cultural and Intellectual History in the United States / Early Modern
World History

Master of Arts in History, 2003 Areas of Focus: US History / Comparative World History /
Latin American Colonial History

ABD, Interdisciplinary Studies in Education,

"Music as Education in the African American

Slave Quarter Communty" 1980 - 1984 Graduate Coursework: Literature / Communication /

Ethnography, 1979 - 1982

Master of Arts in Music Education, 1980 TTeachers College, Columbia University, New York,
NY

Graduate coursework, Institute for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, City University of New
York, NY

Music / Language / History, 1975

North Carolina School of the Arts, Winston-Salem, NC
Bachelor of Music in Voice (Minor, Piano), 1972

High School of Music and Art, Harlem, New York City, NY

Academic Diploma in Music, 1969

AWARDS
Fulbright Regional Research Fellowship (Ghana/Nigeria) Researching African Diaspora:
Untangling the Interlaced Ambiguities of the Historical Blues 2011 2012

Gilder-Lehrman Fellow, Colonial Williamsburg, Conducted archival research on The Old

Plantation, late 18 th /early 19th century watercolor Summer 2009

Gluck Program of the Arts Fellowships for Performance as Singer/Storyteller, University of

California, Riverside 2003-2007

Humanities Research Assistantship, University of California, Riverside, Continuity and

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Change: Identifying Source Traditions and Cultural Influences Among Black People in North
America 2003-2004

Women In Coalition, University of California, Riverside, Cause I Aint Studin Bout You:
Blueswomen As Intellectuals in the Early Twentieth Century United States 2002-2003

Research Assistant/Mentorship, University of California, Riverside, "The Uses of Culture in

the African-American Slave Quarter Community" 2001

Presidential Fellow, University of California, Riverside 2000-2001

Woman of the Year, North West BronxCommunity and Clergy Coalition,(Shared with Lyn Pyle
and Lois Haar for Passin It On) 1998

Whos Who in American Women 1997-98

BRIO (BronxRecognizes Its Own), Singer-Storyteller, Bronx Council on the Arts 1993
For more information, contact:

Karen for discussions of Program:

Email: kmwsongstory@gmail.com / Skype name: karen.m.wilson3

Mobile/Cell: (Nigeria) +234(0)810 071 2011 / +234(0)817 139 1707 (USA) (646) 603 7004

Management for bookings:

Blackmother Entertainment, Ltd. - +234 8052529898 / 08052529898 (from Nigeria)

blackmotherentltd@gmail.com

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