A Season’s Griot

(Rochester, New York) — Join WXXI for a celebration with A Season’s Griot, public radio’s only nationally syndicated Kwanzaa program, on Wednesday, December 26, 2012 at 1 p.m. on AM 1370/FM-HD 91.5-2. Hosted for the last 19 years by acclaimed storyteller Madafo Lloyd Wilson, this annual one-hour special captures tales and traditions of African-American and African peoples.

This year’s program features our youth as the special guest griots, reading their own original and traditional stories.  Familiar and favorite elements of Griot will also be in place with plenty of music, and an original composition by the show’s poet laureate, Beverly Fields Burnette in this, the 2013 edition of A Season's Griot.  

Madafo Lloyd Wilson has worked as a storyteller and musician for over 25 years. Following in the footsteps of the griot, a West African storyteller, Wilson shares the vibrant traditions of African and African-American folklore. To the delight of audiences throughout the U.S., East and West Africa, and Europe, he combines traditional and contemporary tales with original music to create a mixture of styles and periods. Whether performing in schools, libraries or churches, at cultural festivals, weddings or funerals, whether in concert halls, studios, nightclubs or under shade trees, Wilson shares tales that are ageless and that speak to all people and cultures. 

A Season's Griot is produced by WHQR's Mary Bradley and distributed nationwide by Public Radio International. This project received funding from The North Carolina Arts Council and The National Endowment for the Arts.

For a complete list of holiday programming on Classical 91.5, AM 1370, and WXXI-TV/HD visit WXXI.org/holiday

Photo: Season’s Griot host Madafo Lloyd Wilson
Credit: Courtesy of WHQR Public Broadcasting