Lots of performances ask audiences to sit back and watch. Ron Daise’s “Lowcountry Inspirations” asks you to show up ready to sing, answer questions and be part of the story.
“They will be right in the moment with me,” Daise said.
Daise, known to many as the star of Nickelodeon’s “Gullah Gullah Island,” has spent over four decades preserving Gullah Geechee culture through poetry, writing and performance.
He will share songs rooted in Geechee spirituals at the Drummond Studio Gallery on June 4.
The Gullah Geechee are descendants of formerly enslaved West and Central Africans brought primarily to the coastal and Sea Islands of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida for their skillsets in growing rice and indigo, said Djuanna Brockington, executive director of the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor.
The geographic isolation of many of these communities allowed the Gullah Geechee to retain more of their African cultural traditions than many other African American communities in the United States, Brockington explained.
The result is generations of language, food, crafts, spiritual practices and a deep connection to the land and sea — a culture that stretches from Wilmington, North Carolina to St. Augustine, Florida, she said.
“You taste it in food traditions rooted in rice culture and coastal life. You experience it through artists, chefs, farmers, faith leaders, historians, musicians, sweetgrass basket makers, and everyday people who are carrying traditions forward,” Brockington said.
Ron Daise is one of those keepers of Gullah Geechee culture. These songs he will perform recount his life experiences, including lyrics he wrote after traveling to Ghana and Sierra Leone in the early 2000s and hearing the familiar melodies of his own childhood in the music of West Africa.
His books, songs and performances are all based on lived experiences and he wants to share why it matters.
“Hopefully, the stories that they allow to take space in their minds are ones that strengthen them and not diminish them,” Daise said. “When one realizes the importance of his and her heritage, that enables them to know the importance of preserving it and appreciating it.”
Daise’s performance at Drummond Studio Gallery, owned by South Carolina artist Arun Drummond, is a demonstration of that cultural appreciation.
Drummond also honors Gullah traditions in his mix-media art. He was a featured artist at Piccolo Spoleto last year and founded Drummond Studio Gallery in 2025 to give emerging artists, particularly those rooted in Gullah and Southern Black culture, a platform to tell their stories. He agrees with the need to preserve Gullah culture.
“Right now there are lots of examples of cultural erasure happening. Places across the country where arts, creativity and culture is normally amplified – a lot of those spaces and those programs are being taken away,” Drummond said. “So if I can add back to the system where those things are being taken away, then I feel like that’s my purpose.”
Drummond calls it a full-circle moment to host Daise, recalling the time that Daise gave Drummond his first solo art show at Brookgreen Gardens.
“Whatever he wants to showcase is going to uplift whoever is witnessing it,” Drummond said.
Among those stories, Daise will share how his mother’s faith and baking inspired his “Gullahlicious” pound cakes, including a Gullah prayer inspired by her. Audience members at the show will be able to sample the cake.
The event is capped at 35 individuals per show so that audience members can connect with Daise on a deeper level.
IF YOU WANT TO GO:
“Ron Daise: Lowcountry Inspirations” will take place June 4. Two shows are available. The first begins at 6 p.m., followed by an 8 p.m. show. Both will be held at Drummond Studio Gallery, 12 Line St., Suite 102.
The show lasts 45 minutes. Space is limited to 35 guests per performance. Admission is $25.
Jai’La Du Rousseau is a magazine, news and digital journalism graduate of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.
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