“The Uncle Devin Show,” an interactive musical experience for children, is back again this year as part of the Wichita Public Library Summer Reading Program’s live performance series. He was a popular performer from last summer’s series.
Uncle Devin and his drums will take the stage for two shows on June 18, one at 10:30 a.m. at the Advanced Learning Library, 711 W. 2nd Street, and the second at 1 p.m. at Linwood Elementary School, 1654 S. Hydraulic.
“The Uncle Devin Show” takes children on a journey through the Land of Percussion, teaching them about a variety of percussion instruments.
He says the world of percussion is all about “shaking, scraping and striking” the instruments,” he said. “I tell the kids you do this to the drums. If you try it on your brothers and sisters, you’ll be in trouble.”
His music is rooted in African and Latin rhythms.
“I play a style of music that’s based in D.C. called Go-Go,” he said. “That’s because it never stops. There’s no breaks. In between songs there’s call and response between the band and the audience.”
He says children are invited to dance and jump or come up on stage and play the drums.
He is a featured performer on the 2022 Grammy-nominated 1 Tribe Collective’s album “All One Tribe,” with his song “A Go-Go Fun Day.” Two other summer program series performers, “Ms. Niki” and “STEMusic,” are also featured on that album.
Uncle Devin is an activist, diversity trainer and teaching artist and has a powerful presentation, “Racism in Children’s Music: Liberating Music for the Black Child!” exploring solutions to eradicate racist lyrics, cartoons and books.
He is also the creator of Watoto Entertainment and Education, or WEE Nation Radio, an online music radio program and app for children that provides age-appropriate family music in R&B, jazz, world music and more.
