Urban Ink Presents FREEDOM SINGER Next Month

Following the acclaimed world premiere of Freedom Singer during Black History month 2017, Urban Ink is proud to bring this "must-see" theatre production to the Goldcorp Stage at the BMO Theatre Centre from Oct. 7 - 18, 2017.

Co-created by Khari Wendell McClelland and Project: Humanity's Andrew Kushnir Freedom Singer is a rare musical journey through the history of the Underground Railroad and the songs that carried freedom seekers northward to Canada. Performed by McClelland along with JUNO nominee Toronto soul singer Tanika Charles and acclaimed Vancouver guitarist Noah Walker.

In 2015 McClelland retraced the steps of his great-great-great grandmother Kizzy and discovered the songs that likely accompanied her and thousand of others as they escaped US slavery, (as documented by journalist Jodie Martinson on CBC's The National and Tapestry). In sharing this music - which is reinvented through contemporary styles like hip hop, funk and soul - Khari is brought face to face with his own "unrecorded" heritage and the realities and myths of one of our quintessential historic narratives: the Underground Railroad. Freedom Singer premiered in Toronto in February 2017 and has toured to Regina, Calgary, Winnipeg, Halifax, Montreal and Ottawa.

Freedom Singer is a documentary-style piece of theatre that blends Khari Wendell McClelland's original music with 1850s freedom songs, verbatim interview excerpts, and first-hand stories. It tells of McClelland's journey to find the music that would have accompanied his great-great- great-grandmother, an escaped slave who walked to Ontario, lost her legs to the cold, had two children with a British-Canadian, then returned to Detroit after emancipation.

The show is directed by Andrew Kushnir of Project: Humanity, a Toronto theatre company that uses journalistic research and verbatim texts to explore social issues. (e.g. The Middle Place looked at youth shelters and Small Axe, the intersection of homophobia and racism.

"You can physically feel this music right now as it may have been felt in the 1800s. History becomes animated; history becomes a verb instead of a noun. These were songs of survival for those singing them - for those who escaped, but also for those who endured or succumbed to the tyranny of slavery. They are songs of dignity forged in the face of inconceivable indignity. They stir the collective memory, the collective imagination -- and they need to live on," says Kushnir.

McClelland adds, "What I've come to realize more and more is how important this look back is right now, with the number of people who are displaced through war, environmental degradation, systemic oppression and poverty. I want to ask the audience - what is our role in this time? We often see the Underground Railroad as a defining narrative of Canada, the realization of hope, a safe place from tyranny. I want us to investigate our commitment to liberty and freedom today."

Recommended for ages 13+.

For tickets visit www.vancouvertix.com and for more information visit www.urbanink.ca.

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