RALEIGH -- Chuck Davis and his African American Dance Ensemble have delighted and educated audiences all over the world, across the country and here in North Carolina, including the Triangle.
But few performances have meant as much to him as the one the native son and his ensemble gave early Saturday afternoon, when they did the opening performance on the main stage for the first African American Cultural Festival of Raleigh and Wake County.
Davis, a 1955 graduate of Raleigh's old Ligon High School, and his ensemble were set to begin the day's main stage performances with a ceremonial "Call to the Community Elders" at the City Plaza in front of the Bank of America building in downtown Raleigh.
"This is very important ground," Davis said. "The ground we are standing on was cultivated by black folks. Everything that has come up since then has as its foundation their sweat and tears."
Hundreds of people of all colors showed up under Saturday's sunny skies for the festival, a two-day event that features a mix of art, music, history, food and fun.
In addition to Davis, Chuck Brown, the undisputed godfather of go-go music, will close the festival with a late afternoon performance today.
In between Davis' rousing opening and Brown's go-go, the festival will feature local performers, including the horn-laden, old-school funk masters Mixed Water, new school hipsters Kooley High and traditional performances by the Djembe Fire! Drummers and the Martin Luther King Children's Choir. Saturday's round of performances ended with the Sierra Leone Refugee All Stars.
Vendors' booths in the 400 block of Fayetteville Street turned the sidewalks into colorful corridors of arts, culture and food.
The sounds of the festival were joyful: children's laughter competing with Bob Marley's "Redemption Song" flowing over the sound system as a band set up; folks greeting one another while a flutist's melody swelled in concert with drums; parents hunkering down over plates of steaming food while their children lapped on ice cream cones.
"This is important because it gives us something to own in Raleigh," said Teli Shabu, a drummer and artist.
The beats of African drums were heard throughout the day as the Charter Square on City Plaza was transformed into an African village.
Shabu and members of Djembe Fire! played their instruments while a parade of children danced and waved the "Ngwisho," or traditional cow tails they made out of colorful construction paper at an arts and crafts table.
Mama and Baba Shabu, natives of Detroit and the founders of the Magic of African Rhythm, have been married for nearly 50 years. The energetic couple, who reared their four children in West Africa and now reside in Raleigh, rested a bit after helping the youngest festival-goers create Adinkra symbols.
"The children learn what the symbols mean. They pick a symbol they can identify with," Mama Shabu said. "The symbols mean faith, respect, cooperation, creativity - all of the things that we need."
The weekend celebration had its start about two years ago when city leaders - including Mayor Charles Meeker, Raleigh Councilman James West and Wake Commissioner Lindy Brown - started calling for an event in Raleigh that "spoke to the needs of African-Americans" when the CIAA and MEAC basketball tournaments both left the city.
"We sat down and discussed what was the best avenue to bring black folks together," said Kenneth Martin, a former Holly Springs councilman, architect and chairman of the festival's governing board.
A series of focus groups were set up around the county, leading to this weekend's festival. The event has both public and private support but faced challenges in the sour economy.
Martin said the recession cut the festival's expected operating budget nearly in half.
"It's really a testament to the resourcefulness of the [festival's] board," Martin said. "We had to do twice as much with half as much money."
