‘Freedom Sings™,’ the story of music censorship, social anthems, to be performed in Nov. 14 concert at Syracuse University with special guest Joanne Shenandoah

‘Freedom Sings™,’ the story of music censorship, social anthems, to be performed in Nov. 14 concert at Syracuse University with special guest Joanne ShenandoahOctober 26, 2007Kelly Homan Rodoskikahoman@syr.edu

“Freedom Sings™,” a live multimedia performance that tells the musical and visual story of three centuries of banned music in America, will be presented on Wednesday, Nov. 14, at 7:30 p.m. in Goldstein Auditorium in Syracuse University’s Hildegarde and J. Myer Schine Student Center. Grammy Award-winning Native American musician, songwriter and Central New York resident Joanne Shenandoah will join the cast in performing a song during the event.

The event — sponsored by the Tully Center for Free Speech in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications; the 2007 Syracuse Symposium, presented by SU’s College of Arts and Sciences; and the First Amendment Center in Nashville, Tenn. — is part of the Newhouse School’s Year of the First Amendment. The performance is free and open to the public; free tickets are required and may be obtained at the Schine Box Office, 443-4517. Parking is available in the University Avenue Garage for $3.50 (garage closes at 10 p.m.).

Songs such as “The Star Spangled Banner,” “Rescue Me” and “With a Little Help From My Friends” are among the hundreds of popular American songs that have been challenged or suppressed because of controversy over their content. Using musical performance, film, photographs and narration, the critically acclaimed, 90-minute program invites the audience to take a fresh look at the First Amendment and the impact of the right of freedom of speech.

“Freedom Sings™” features an all-star cast of musicians, including Grammy Award winners Ashley Cleveland, Don Henry (“Where’ve You Been,” recorded by Kathy Mattea) and Craig Krampf (mega-hit drummer and producer). Other cast members include Bill Lloyd of the popular duo Foster and Lloyd; innovative singer and songwriter Jason White (author of the top ten hit “Red Rag Top” for Tim McGraw); and acclaimed singer Jonell Mosser, whose voice is heard in recordings and movies including “Hope Floats” and “Boys to the Side.” Completing the band are keyboardist Joseph Wooten from the Steve Miller Band and Jacqueline Patterson, formerly of the historic Fisk Jubilee Singers from Fisk University.

A 10-time Native American Award-winning artist and Wolf Clan member of the Iroquois Confederacy, Shenandoah is one of the most acclaimed Native American recording artists of her time. Since emerging as an artist in 1989, she has performed at Carnegie Hall, the White House, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Woodstock ’94. She has channeled her love of pop, folk and classical music into her ancestrally inspired music. Her music has been used in many soundtracks. She is also an educator and actress, and plays a major role in “The Last Winter,” a film on global warming released last year.

Gene Policinski, vice president and executive director of the First Amendment Center, narrates “Freedom Sings™.” He will be joined by co-narrator and Newseum producer Sonya Gavankar.

In its seventh year, “Freedom Sings™” is a national program of the Freedom Forum’s First Amendment Center in Nashville, Tenn. For more information about the program, visit http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org.

The Tully Center for Free Speech at the Newhouse School educates the University community and the public about the important value of free speech. Through educational programming, resources and research, the center strives to contribute to the discussion of media law and free speech issues. For more information, visit http://tully.syr.edu.

The Syracuse Symposium is a semester-long intellectual and artistic festival, hosted by SU’s College of Arts and Sciences, that celebrates interdisciplinary thinking, imagination and creation. The theme for the 2007 series is “Justice.” For more information, visit http://symposium.syr.edu.

The First Amendment Center works to preserve and protect First Amendment freedoms through information and education. The center serves as a forum for the study and exploration of free-expression issues, including freedom of speech, of the press and of religion, and the rights to assemble and to petition the government. The center, with offices at Vanderbilt University and in Washington D.C., is an operating program of the Freedom Forum and is associated with Newseum — the world’s only interactive museum of news. Its affiliation with Vanderbilt University is through the Vanderbilt Institute for Public Policy Studies.