This fall New Orleans Airlift, in partnership with the Amistad Research Center, and Third Eye Theatre Interdisciplinary and Improvisational Performance Company, presents Liberation Vibrations, the creative output of two years of collaborative research and artistic production. Inspired first by research connecting New Orleans and Congo Square to the Kingdom of Kongo at the heart of Africa, then by investigation of the history of the land upon which Music Box Village currently sits, project co-creators Delaney Martin, Jay Pennington, Monique Moss, and Dr. Kara T. Olidge eventually unearthed a startling discovery: The land is directly linked to Louisiana’s 1811 Slave Revolt, revolutionary leader Charles Deslondes, and the infamous enslaver Manuel Andry. 

Grapplings with generational and structural frameworks of race and culture collisions emblematic in the ancestry of this land germinate at the very core of Liberation Vibrations: a multi-pronged work that coalesces and memorializes this history.

The culmination of Liberation Vibrations includes the unveiling of the Mbongi Spirit House, a new, monumental structure of musical architecture that interweaves extensions of cultural practices from the Houma Nation, Kingdom of Kongo, and African-American peoples who are all connected to Bulbancha. In this debut performance, audiences will be led through an immersive experience that uses dance, drumming, installation, and ritual to acknowledge and honor ancestral connections and open channels for deep psychological and spiritual repair conducive to collective healing.  

This event is a part of NOLAxNOLA, a citywide celebration of New Orleans music and culture from September 23 - October 9.

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