Glocal Citizens - Episodes Tagged with “Musician”

Episode 304: When Lineage Meets Craft and Other Notes on Community with Tai Allen Part 2

Florence Amerley Adu — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 05:00:00 -0500

This week the US commemorates the MLK Day holiday - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday. He would have been 97. The third Monday of January has stood as the official holiday for 40 years, and no matter what the current US administration attempts at erasure, the Black American Diaspora will never forget. I remember growing up, before 1986 when the day became an official holiday, the majority of my Black classmates did not attend school on January 15th. This is the activism that the Civil Rights Movement inspired for two generations, and activism + grassroots organizing are prime topics in this two-part conversation with long-time comrade, fellow Brooklynite, poet, performer, jazz/soul vocalist, musician, producer, designer, and community strategist, Tai Allen.

A native New Yorker by way of Panama, Jamaica, and Virginia, Tai’s life story is filled with a history of progressive stands. From his mother’s family being among those that contributed to the suit that integrated schools across the United States—Brown vs. The Board of Education of Topeka to his father’s influential network of academics and thought leaders, his craft was in the making for his entire upbringing—without him necessarily knowing it. #Listenandlearn more!

Where to find Tai?
https://taiallen.com/
On LinkedIn
On Instagram
On Facebook
On YouTube
On Soundcloud

Other topics of interest:
About Yonkers, New York
Perspective on Jamaican Migration to Panama
About Colón and Panama City in Panama
About Saint Ann and Saint Elizabeth Jamaica
The Maroons of Jamaica
How Scots became a presence in Jamaica…
Flyght Tyme, the band
About Tai’s connection to Roots Author, Alex Palmer Haley and Palmer Family Ancestry
The Five Cases that lead to Brown v. Board
About recently shuttered community hotspot, The Brooklyn Moon Cafe and Michael Thompson
What was Real Player?
The Last Poets
Amiri Baraka
Yosef Ben-Jochannan “Dr. Ben”
About Leonard Jeffries
Who is Chi Ossé?
Revisit Anna Malaika Tubbs on Glocal Citizens
CBC - Congressional Black Caucus
What’s happening in policy in Utah?
A timeline of policing, law enforcement and resistance in the US

Special Guest: Tai Allen.

Episode 303: When Lineage Meets Craft and Other Notes on Community with Tai Allen Part 1

Florence Amerley Adu — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 05:00:00 -0500

Where to find Tai?
https://taiallen.com/
On LinkedIn
On Instagram
On Facebook
On YouTube
On Soundcloud

Special Guest: Tai Allen.

Episode 269: ENCORE Episode: On Mythology and Humanity's "Ever Fonky Lowdown" with Wynton Marsalis

Florence Amerley Adu — Tue, 22 Apr 2025 05:00:00 -0400

Greetings Glocal Citizens!

This week on the podcast, after the inspiring conversation in our last episode with Wesley Watkins about The Jazz & Democracy Project and more, I couldn’t resist giong back into the GC archives for an encore presentation of my conversation with Maestro Wynton Marsalis. We recorded this conversation when the podcast was just a toddler, back in the days when we were just “doing something” and not yet “manifesting a new world.” It was also on the eve of the 2020 election, however, like so many of our conversations the topics and insights remain evergreen. How far we’ve come and continue to carry on!

Check out the original show notes for more on his bio and topics of interest.

Where to find Wynton?
www.wyntonmarsalis.org
The Jazz @ Lincoln Center Orchestra
On YouTube
On Facebook
On Instagram
On Spotify

What’s Wynton reading?
American Founders: How People of African Descent Established Freedom in the New World by Christina Proenza-Coles
Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo" by Zora Neale Hurston

Special Guest: Wynton Marsalis.

Episode 126: Healing in Breathing with Zee Clarke

Florence Amerley Adu — Tue, 24 May 2022 05:00:00 -0400

Greetings Glocal Citizens! My guest this week is Zhalisa "Zee" Clarke founder of Reclaiming Flow, where she leverages her toolkit of meditation, breathwork, yoga, and much more, to teach others how mindfulness can improve their well being at work despite any challenges that race, gender, or sexuality might present. Prior to transitioning to a life more grounded, Zee, a Washington, D.C. native, by way of Filipino and Jamaican via Panama parentage, spent over 20 years leading teams at Fortune 500 companies and tech startups in Silicon Valley. After experiencing a number of challenges in the workplace from microaggressions from colleagues, to disparate treatment around salary and promotions, she pursued extensive mindfulness training in India to help her manage these challenges. She is a Harvard Business School graduate who applies holistic healing practices to corporate environments. You can follow her on her socials for weekly breathwork practices and tools. You'll also get to experience a sample breathing exercise as you listen in now. Breathing is believing!

Where to find Zee?
On LinkedIn
On Instagram
On Facebook
On YouTube
On TikTok
Pre-order Black People Breathe!

What's Zee listening to?
Balanced Black Girl Podcast

What's Zee reading?
About Octavia Raheem
Pleasure Activism by Adrienne Maree Brown

Other topics of interest:
DC Youth Orchestra
On Ayurvedic Medicine
Swan Yoga Retreat - Goa
Trap Yoga
BICOP
The Principles of Pleasure
Episode 118 with Nydia Swaby

Special Guest: Zhalisa "Zee" Clarke.

Episode 99: From Activist Musician to Building Innovator with Yaw "Zoh Zoh" Boateng

Florence Amerley Adu — Tue, 16 Nov 2021 05:00:00 -0500

Greetings Glocal Citizens! I'm live on the streets of Accra this week on the podcast with my guest, Yaw "Zoh Zoh" Boateng. He is a Ghanaian activist musician and builder transforming items typically thought as waste into functional works of art. His stage name, Zoh Zoh translates to "one step at a time" in the Ewe language, one of his two mother tongues. He chose this moniker because life is a journey and his has taken him across the globe. In his journey he has lead an eight-piece band producing a unique, upbeat, and invigorating Afro-Reggae sound co-mingling Afro Beat, Afro Fusion Jazz, Old School Reggae and African Funk High life, all together for with a unique sounding rhythm driven by West African percussion. He has opened for act such as the late James Brown and Hugh Masekela.

Nowadays he is making a mark in Ghana as the owner of The Pallet Kitchen which is constructed of recycled pallets. His current project, "The Arrk," a tribute to the native history and sea vessels will open in December 2021 in time for the bustling holiday season.

Where to find Zoh Zoh?
On LinkedIn
On Facebook
On YouTube
On Twitter

Other topics of interest:
Napier, New Zealand
Who are the Kiwis?
Nomadic African and other Zoh Zoh Music
Zoh Zoh chats with Wode Maya

Special Guest: Yaw "ZohZoh" Boateng.

Episode 47: On Mythology and Humanity's "Ever Fonky Lowdown" with Wynton Marsalis

Florence Amerley Adu — Tue, 10 Nov 2020 05:00:00 -0500

Greetings Glocal Citizens! This week I had the great treat of meeting the Maestro Wynton Marsalis, managing and artistic director of Jazz @ Lincoln Center which he co-founded in 1987. He's produced more than 100 recordings, he's a nine-time Grammy Award winner, he's an internationally acclaimed musician, composer and bandleader, an educator and a leading advocate of American culture. Wynton has created and performed an expansive range of music from quartets to big bands, chamber music ensembles to symphony orchestras and tap dance to ballet, expanding the vocabulary for jazz and classical music with a vital body of work that places him among the world’s finest musicians and composers. He is a native of the birthplace of jazz, the New Orleans, Louisiana, which he left in 1979 to attend The Julliard School in New York City. He continues to call New York home but his reach is indeed global!

Where to find Wynton?
www.wyntonmarsalis.org
The Jazz @ Lincoln Center Orchestra
On YouTube
Wednesdays with Wynton and Skain's Domain On Facebook
On Instagram
On Twitter
On Spotify

What’s Wynton reading?
American Founders: How People of African Descent Established Freedom in the New World by Christina Proenza-Coles
Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo" by Zora Neale Hurston

Other topics of interest—
• Congo Square
• Congo Square the Album
• Yacub Abby and Odadaa!
• The Ever Fonky Lowdown
• Fannie Lou Hammer
• From Plantation to Penitentiary
• All Rise
• Blood on the Fields
• Thandi Ntuli
• Nduduzo Makhathini
• The Essentially Ellington Jazz Academy
• The Tanglewood Music Center

Special Guest: Wynton Marsalis.