Camille Yarbrough

Bio:

It took me a while to welcome you to MySpace, but I am here now and I am happy that you are here, too!

This is a very special spiritual space where first we thank The Mighty One. We thank the one who made us all, who gave us our first dignity as the parents of humanity. To the Great Creator who goes by many names and who is honored in every tongue, here, we give praise.

And it is here that we give praise to our ancestors, those bad ones, those strong ones, those tenacious ones who sacrificed and bought us this far. We thank you ancestors as we call out your names.

We are creative spirit people and our creations are public. Because we are who we are and do what we do, we have unending testing times (private and public). While in the creative process , we experience private and public fear, but our ancient spirit takes us on to experience victory over fear. It ain't easy. It ain't always pleasy. Sometimes it is scary, but it is absolutely necessary. Therefore, do what you do. Do what the spirit say do.

I close my first entry on this MySpace page to you with a quote from my first book "Cornrows." It was marketed to children but the message was for the whole family (it's partially written in ebonics):

There is a spirit that lives inside of you. It keeps on growin. It never dies. Sometimes, when you're afraid, it trembles. An sometimes, when you're hurt and ready to give up, it barely flickers. But it keeps growin. It never dies. Now a long, long time ago, in a land called Africa, our ancient people worked through that spirit. To give life meanin. An to give praise. An through their spirit, gave form to symbols of courage, an honor, an wisdom, an love, an strength. Symbols that live forever. Just to give praise…You see, the spirit of the symbol is not changed by time, place, class, or fame, and not even by hate or shame, oh nooo….You see, it's our spirit that makes the symbols and our spirit goes by many names.

So,
name it Robeson, name it Malcolm, you can name it Dr. King
name it DuBois, name it Garvey
name it something you can sing
name it Tubman, name it Hamer
oh, you can style a Fannie Lou
Name it Nzinga, Rosa Parks
and please name it Hatshepsut too
name it Powell, name it Carver
Richard Wright and Langston Hughes
name Belafonte, name it Baldwin
name it glory, name it blues

name it Miriam, Katherine Dunham
Mary Bethune and Josephine
name it Aretha, name it Nina
name it princess, name it queen

We artists are spirit energy symbols. It is to your spirit that I speak.

Welcome to MySpace!

Member Since:

Members:

Michael Mustafa Ulmer - Musical Director, Keyboard
Trevor P. Allen - Bass
Sharief - Guitar
Michael Wimberly - Drums
James H. Simmons - Congas
Martin Yarbrough - Bell
William "Spaceman" Patteron - Guitar (on "Witness" & "But It Comes Out Mad")

Influences:

NANA CAMILLE YARBROUGH At-A-Glance:

Rarely does one come across an individual who fully understands and embraces their divine assignment in life. Even more rare is the artist who has done so. If we ever get lucky enough to be immersed in the lives of artists, then it is cause for celebration and praisesongs. Here is a peak into the life/work of Nana Camille Yarbrough.

Yarbrough was a faculty member of the Black Studies Department of City College of New York (CUNY) for twelve (12) years. In 1994, Nana was enthroned by ABLADEI, Inc. (Ghanian), GA as Naa Kuokor Agyman I Queen Mother to the late Dr. John Henrik Clarke and she is the founder of the Throne House of Harriet Tubman. In 2004, Nana was again enthroned in the village of Agogo-Asanti, Ghana as Nana Tabuoa Tonko II.

She is a frequent guest and/or guest host for Imhotep Gary Byrd's, "The Global Black Experience' WLIB and WBAI in New York City.

Today Nana Camille is internationally known as the ol' school gifted singer - one whose song and vocals were sampled by techno-musician Fatboy Slim. His monster chart-busting hit, "Praise You," is sampled from Yarbrough's original hit "Take Yo Praise" and after his version found a spot on MTV's rotation, the song exploded commercially. It has been featured in movies (Cruel Intentions, Go, Thank God It's Friday, and Michael Jordan to the Max); on television shows (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Entertainment Tonight, the Golden Globes, the TV Guide Awards show); and on commercials for Mercedes Benz, Wimbledon, Air Jordan/Nike, and many others. "Take Yo Praise," however, was originally recorded in 1975 for Nana 's first, critically acclaimed album, "The Iron Pot Cooker."

"Cooker" was taken from the very successful 1971 stage dramatization of Nana Camille's one-woman/spoken word show, "Tales and Tunes of an African American Griot" (with which she toured nationally during the 70's and 80's).

As a children's book author... For more insight into Nana's life/work, visit www.ancestorhouse.net

This is the OFFICIAL MySpace page for and about NANA CAMILLE YARBROUGH (respectfully known as "Nana" or "Nana Camille"). Media inquiries may be directed here or to AKILA WORKSONGS Public Relations at pr@akilaworksongs.com. You may also call 718.756.8501

FAMILY FOREVER!

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