Folk Magic Man

The beats reach a crescendo on the Co Limbo,an African thumb piano,that Afro-American novelist Arthur Flowers plays expertly to an audience gathered at the basement theatre of The American Center. “There is no boundary I won’t cross for a song,” sings Flowers,58,who describes himself as a performance poet who sets his verse to blues’ rhythms. One moment he’s rapping about being a trickster,at another,he’s transformed into a mad blues piano player. What eventually unfolds,is an endearing love story,in evocative verse.

Flowers relates his stories the prehistoric African storytelling way,through song,dance and ancient African instruments with some blues music and hoodoo (African American folk magic) thrown in. “I am not a blues artist as many people seem to think. I write paranormal prose set to blues,” explains Flowers,a Memphis native who served in the Vietnam war and is also the co-founder of New Renaissance Writer’s Guild.

Flowers,who believes that magic and art are a part of the same process,recreates slavery through singing simple narrative ballads. As he continues in his lyrical and boisterous style,Flowers also gives us a piece from his novel Mojo Rising,giving a feel of the traditional blues verse as was sung long ago and became famous as jazz and rock and roll in the 1960s and 70s. “I am at heart just your basic tribal witch doctor,a representative trying to take care of the tribal soul through my anointed skills,” he says. Magic for the soul.