Crowd celebrating life of Michael Jackson after his death during Black Music Month 2009.  (Getty image) The basic idea underlying the concept of Pan Africanism is that of cultural awareness and connection leading to mutually beneficial cooperation between people of African descent throughout the Global Village . It is a concept which those who are possibly more politically, philosophically, and economically motivated have promoted at least since the year 1900. One of the ways this powerful theory has met with notable success in practice has been in the area of music. To help ensure the viability of African-American music in particular, famed music producer Kenny Gamble and broadcast executive Ed Wright in 1979 persuaded then President Jimmy Carter to declare June as Black Music Month. The crowning event that year was a celebration concert held on June 7 at the White House. Featured on that occasion were representatives of the broader spectrum of black music, from the rock...

Syrian children behind a barbed wire fence at the Ceylanpinar refugee camp in the Sanliurfa province of  Turkey . (Photo by Reuters) At the heart of Creative Thinkers International’s operational philosophy has always been a core belief in the ability of positive creativity to help inspire nonviolent conflict resolution. This is not a romantic notion; it is a crucial alternative. The blood-and-bone-splattering spectacles of war have come to command most news headlines in the modern world. The maniacal brutality that was 9/11 engraved in the world’s collective consciousness themes and realities intensified by perpetual chaos, terror, and death. It is a chilling prospect, and yet an observable phenomenon, that humanity at this point in history too often defines itself by how efficiently it destroys itself. Love, it seems, is valued most when violence or disease threaten to annihilate the life that would serve as a channel for it. Men and women discover the deeper nat...

                                 ( embossed graphic courtesy of Bright Skylark Literary Prods ) Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance , first published by Facts On File in 2003 and through Infobase Publishing in 2010, is now available as a Kindle Edition on Amazon and that is big news for a lot of good reasons. For one, 2013 marks the tenth anniversary of Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance’s publication and a new edition of a new edition of a modern award-winning classic is always a good way to celebrate such occasions. Secondly, advances in technology proved a powerful component of the Harlem Renaissance just as it has in the contemporary era. During the 1920s and 1930s, important developments took place through the growing radio and the recording industries. Those advances not only allowed African Americans to showcase and preserve the marvels of black music such as jazz , ragti...

             Music legends Ray Charles and Ahmet Ertegun (Reuters photo by Fred Prouser) “God has wrought many things out of oppression. He has endowed his creatures with the capacity to create—and from this capacity has flowed the sweet songs of sorrow and joy that have allowed man to cope with his environment and many different situations. Jazz speaks for life.”  ––Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., 1964 Berlin Jazz Festival Opening Address The second International Jazz Day Global Concert held April 30, 2013, in Istanbul, Turkey, was as much about the long-standing relationship between the music and the country of Turkey as it was about a world audience enjoying an exceptional line-up of world-class performers. Millions unable to attend the concert physically were able to do so via a live stream on YouTube and other web locations. The music of jazz is one which many African Americans are prone to jealously safeguarding as an original f...