Description
For Culture Works and the people of West Baltimore
Premiered on the Highway to Nowhere at Alternate ROOTS 35th anniversary festival
Begun in 1975, interrupted in 1979, and never finished, the infamous Highway to Nowhere viciously split the once prosperous Black neighborhood of West Baltimore. This division began a history of disenfranchisement, loss of community power and identity, and a steady increase of social ills and recourses that continue to plague West Baltimore to this day. ROOTS Fest 2011 was held on the usually empty green space of the Highway to Nowhere, turning it into a place to build rather than divide community.
I wrote Highway to Nowhere for the ROOTS Fest One Voice Community Chorus, which included singers of Hiphop to Bebop, Opera to Gospel, Folk to Choral. The Chorus was co-conducted by myself, and African vocal expert Dr. Fred Onovwerosuoke, with Charm City Labor Chorus director Darryl Moch, & Tony Winston from Payne Memorial AME church in West Baltimore. Feel free to add verses that pertain to your own community.
