Sponsored by the Elegba Folklore Society and promising music, a drum workshop, exhibits, food, and activities for children, the 18th Annual Down Home Family Reunion hits Abner Clay Park tomorrow from 4-10PM. J.Ron Fleming will emcee the event; Ban Caribe, Chkn Greas, Soul Logistics, Kingdom Vibes, and The Persuaders will provide the sounds.

The 18th Annual Down Home Family Reunion explores
a full spectrum of music, dance, stories, food, shopping and enrichment in this Celebration of African American Folklife. It’s a heritage festival that takes attendees on a folkloric journey from West Africa through the Caribbean and into America.
Of course, Virginia is at the historic epicenter of the latter movement.

On Saturday, August 16, the 18th Annual Down Home Family Reunion
kicks off, 4:00 – 11:00 p.m., at Abner Clay Park, Belvidere and West Leigh Streets, downtown in Historic Jackson Ward. Normally a two-day event, in this year of high prices, Elegba Folklore Society invites Virginians and visitors to a free family festival one big day designed to link West African and African American cultural traditions and to demonstrate ways these practices have been absorbed by the American South.

The 18th Annual Down Home Family Reunion is presented by the Elegba Folklore Society, Inc., Richmond’s Cultural Ambassador and sponsored by the City of Richmond, Virginia Lottery, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Upscale Magazine, Comcast, WCDX Power 92FM, KISS 105.7 and 99.3, Praise 104.7, with partial support from Virginia Commission for the Arts, Arts & Cultural Funding Consortium.
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18th Annual Down Home Family Reunion/444

Soul singing R & B celebrities, The Persuaders, headline Saturday’s Family Festival. The shattering gold classic “Thin Line Between Love & Hate” with “Some Guys Have All the Luck,” and “Love’s Gonna Pack Up (And Walk Out)” plus “Peace in the Valley of Love” will set festival goers on a long and melodious walk down memory lane with The Persuaders. Lead singer Douglas “Smokey” Scott, Willie Holland, James Barnes, and Charles Stodghill formed in New York in 1969 from the ashes of doo-wop groups the Internationals and the Majestics. They signed with Atlantic in the early ’70s and had their R&B chart-topper in 1971, “Thin Line Between Love & Hate.”

The musical force behind the group was pianist/songwriter Richard Poindexter (who had spent much of the late 60s writing for such artists as Linda Jones and the O’Jays).  Poindexter and Tommy Hill (who had joined the group in the 70s) reformed The Persuaders in the mid 90s. In early 2006, nearly two decades after their last album, The Persuaders released “Made to Be Loved” on the It’s Soul Time record label.  Chris Rizik calls “Made to Be Loved” “certainly a welcome return of one of the truly underrated groups of the 70s and is hopefully the first of a series of new recordings by this longtime favorite.”

The celebration continues with an Afrobeat concert and dance party. The band, King Dom Vibes with vocalists and instrumentalists from Nigeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Togo and Mali will perform West African contemporary music, reggae, salsa and more.

Richmond’s own Ban Caribe will bring an exciting blend of Afro-Cuban, Latin, Caribbean and Soulful Rhythm and Blues, all held together with pulsating percussion. The musical compositions and arrangements are spiritually inspired by the rhythmic beats and chants of African music. The group calls its music “Clave Soul” Soulful, Sophisticated, Universal. Kevin Davis Ban Caribe is the group’s founder and artistic director. His music was influenced by Tito Puente, Eddie Palmeri and Sam Cooke and after studying abroad in Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, and Jamaica, he relocated to Virginia’s Capital City. He keeps the music close to his heart while playing with many national artists and directing Ban Caribe.