Josanne Francis

WHO IS SHE?

DC-based award-winning artist, composer and educator Josanne Francis began playing steelpan at age 9 in her native Trinidad & Tobago. She delivers unmatched technical mastery and an energetic and emotional complexity that enchants listeners across the world. Josanne approaches steelpan with great reverence for its versatility, a perspective through which she promotes cultural exchange on and off the bandstand.

She has appeared at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Strathmore Music Center, Times Square and Port-au-Prince International Jazz Festival. She has performed with David Rudder, Etienne Charles, Negah Santos, John Batiste, Kes, Andy Narell, and Liam Teague; appeared with the Michigan Philharmonic and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra; and recorded on projects for Charles, Victor Provost, The Mawasi Experience, and Afro Bop Alliance. In 2022, Josanne received the Vanguard Award presented at Caribbean American Heritage (CARAH) Gala & Awards, and the Rising Leader Award, presented by his excellency Anthony Phillips-Spencer, Trinidad & Tobago Ambassador to the United States. She has garnered grants from U.S. Artists International, Maryland State Arts Council and Prince George’s Arts and Humanities Council; delivered a TEDx presentation; and recently received a commission from the San Jacinto College Central Steelband to complete a multi-movement gesture for steelband.

Josanne received her bachelor of music education degree from the University of Southern Mississippi, her master’s degree in steelpan performance from Northern Illinois University, and recently earned a Ph.D. in music education from the University of Maryland. She has taught at venues and institutions across the nation, including the University of Delaware, the University of Maryland and the Cultural Academy for Excellence. She has held artistic residencies at University of Michigan, Strathmore Music Center and Johns Hopkins Peabody Institute, and served on a number of prestigious panels. In 2022, Josanne co-created the thriving performance outfit Elite Pan Consortium and, in 2019, launched Steel on Wheels LLC, an all-inclusive educational program that eliminates barriers for the creation and development of steelbands, and varied percussion ensembles.

To keep up with Josanne’s performance and teaching schedule, visit her website josannefrancis.com and follow her on social media @josannefrancis. 



 

Photographer: Jonathan Timmes

 

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Rāginī Festival

  • Fushing Town Hall 137-35 Northern Boulevard Flushing, NY, 11354 United States (map)

a diasporic night representative of Caribbean memory, language and iconic sound culture. This curated night explores the axis of acoustic memory and palpable story telling, capturing the many rifts, continents and currents expressive of the Caribbean postcolonial experience.

The Rāginī Festival, formerly known as the Women's Raga Massive Festival, is a month-long virtual and in-person festival that explores the work of artists challenging systemic patriarchy in the South Asian creative ecosystem. Seeking to provide equitable and collaborative performance spaces, invigorate diasporic community engagement and inclusion, heal the infliction of colonial borders, and amplify the creative voices of non-patriarchal creators, The Rāginī Festival brings together artistic and musical threads from across oceans - retracing the labyrinth of memory and cultural myth-making. This festival exists as an invitation to invoke musical history as a tool to dream of homeland-- to transfigure exile’s dark waters, both tangible and spiritual, into art. The Rāginī Festival, features traditional raga, experimental performance, folk arts, poetry, visual art, dance and social justice panel conversations at renowned NYC venues including National Sawdust, Joe’s Pub and the Rubin Museum.