Súle Greg Wilson
Súle Greg Wilson, founding member of Carolina Chocolate Drops, will perform at Ballad Night at Berea College on Friday, April 22 at 7:30 p.m. in Gray Auditorium, Presser Hall. The evening is hosted by the Berea College Folk-Roots Ensemble.
Wilson will present a 30-minute set of African American ballads which will be followed by a ballad round robin. The performance is free and open to the public. All audience members must be masked as per college policy due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
With more than 50 years serving as a community musician, intercultural healer and storyteller, Wilson mines tradition for the power and wisdom within. He has shared at bembés, block parties, boardrooms, ceildhs, festivals, horas, jooks, shouts and symposia.
Born and raised in Washington, D.C., with university time in Ohio and New York City, Súle received his master’s in history/archival management from New York University, served as director for the Smithsonian Institution’s Afro-American Index Project (precursor to the National Museum of African American History and Culture), from 1991 to 1994, and co-led the 2005 historic Black Banjo Gathering. Wilson has careered as an archivist (New York Stock Exchange, Schomburg Center, World Bank, Pueblo Grande Museum) and an educator (New York, Phoenix, Tempe Public Schools; Maricopa County Community Colleges; Arizona State University).
Wilson’s work as a composer, writer and performing artist has graced stage and screen, print and the street, taking him from Antrim to Kumasi, Newport to Bahia, Juneau to Hermosillo. He has produced numerous folk and world albums, and his award-winning book, “The Drummer’s Path: Moving the Spirit with Ritual and Traditional Drumming,” is an international standard in the field.