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RANKY TANKY

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2017
5:00 PM
CHESTER MEETING HOUSE

SPONSORED BY THE ROBERT J. SEMRAD FOUNDATION

About Ranky Tanky

The soulful songs of the Gullah culture are brought to life by this band of native South Carolinians who mix the low country traditions with large doses of jazz, gospel, funk, and R&B. Fresh out of college, trumpeter Charlton Singleton, guitarist Clay Ross, bassist Kevin Hamilton, and drummer Quentin Baxter originally worked together as an in-demand jazz quartet on the Charleston scene in the late 1990s before splitting off to each make their way as freelance musicians, working with names like Houston Person, Freddy Cole, Cyro Baptista, and René Marie. Gaining years of valuable experience while developing a deeper appreciation for the South Carolina Gullah tradition they came from, the band reformed with the dynamic vocalist Quiana Parler to celebrate the bone-deep mix of spirituals and gutbucket blues that mark the low country mainland and Sea Islands – music made by a self-contained culture of descendants of enslaved Africans that introduced such indelible parts of American songbook as “Kum Bah Yah” and “Michael Rowed the Boat Ashore.” The word “Gullah” comes from West Africa and means “a people blessed by God,” and “Ranky Tanky” translates loosely as “Work It,” or “Get Funky.”

Program will be announced from the stage.

There will be one intermission.

At the conclusion of the program, members of the audience are invited to meet the artists at a reception with refreshments.