SHOUTER!
SHOUTER!
Zane Rodulfo
Zane Rodulfo
SHOUTER! is a multimedia project comprising performance, composition, and immersive technologies. It explores the socio-political and cultural connections of Trinidad’s Spiritual Shouter Baptists and Gullah Geechee Ring Shouters from the American South. SHOUTER! examines the emigration of formerly enslaved African American Corps of Colonial Marines, or Merikins, to Trinidad in 1815, who were gifted land as free settlers for military service to Britain in the War of 1812. Their presence influenced the formation of the Spiritual Baptist faith, which through violent sanction was banned under the 1917 Shouter Prohibition Ordinance until 1951. The Spiritual Shouter Baptist religion remains a vibrant locus for African spiritual practices, with Spiritual Shouter Baptist Liberation Day becoming a national holiday in 1996.
Tracing diasporic movement, SHOUTER! disrupts the myopic idea of migration from ‘the colonies’ to the US, and reminds us of the multilinear flow of Black people who, through embodied sound and performance, thrived amidst religious suppression.
Healing traditions, herbalism practices, rituals, ceremonies, dialects, and music are direct leylines between the Spiritual Shouter Baptists and the Gullah Geechee Ring Shout tradition. Many songs and hymns used by Spiritual Shouter Baptists in ceremonies derive from Black Southern Christian traditions and the Gullah Sea Islands. SHOUTER! retains and refracts the Africanisms embedded within both communities through original compositions and arrangements of songs and hymns, as well as projections of archival film, field recordings, and interviews with faith based practitioners and leaders. The performance will coalesce with dancers, singers and musicians who bridge the two traditions evoking the shared resonances from within the faiths.
Jazz, Multimedia Performance, Performing Arts, Socially-Engaged Performance
2025
About Zane Rodulfo
New York, New York
Zane Rodulfo is a drummer and composer living and working in New York City. Born and raised in Trinidad and Tobago, Rodulfo has been intrigued by the sound of music since an infant. He began studying and performing music at the early age of 4 and completed graduate study in Jazz Studies at New York University. He holds Bachelor of Music degrees in both Jazz Performance and Ethnomusicology from the Oberlin Conservatory Of Music. Zane has opened for iconic musicians such as Stevie Wonder and Roy Ayers and performs at various festivals and venues such as Jazz at Lincoln Center and Blue Note. He has also worked as composer and music coordinator for films and documentaries. Zane has partnered with and been commissioned by organizations such as the Guggenheim Museum, Whitney Museum, Asian Arts Initiative, The Harlem Arts Alliance, the Brooklyn Arts Council and Hi-ARTS. His composition, Around The Circle, commissioned by the Guggenheim Museum, was part of the Vasily Kandinsky exhibition from August 2021 through September 2022. He also exhibited Abandoned Orchestra, a sound sculpture installation and performance at the Guggenheim Museum in 2021.
Zane focuses on publicly-engaging work addressing decolonization, the intersection of traditional and contemporary music, and ideas of transcendence. He performs and composes with electro-acoustic instruments, videos, and found/repurposed instruments.
Zane Rodulfo is a drummer and composer living and working in New York City. Born and raised in Trinidad and Tobago, Rodulfo has been intrigued by the sound of music since an infant. He began studying and performing music at the early age of 4 and completed graduate study in Jazz Studies at New York University. He holds Bachelor of Music degrees in both Jazz Performance and Ethnomusicology from the Oberlin Conservatory Of Music. Zane has opened for iconic musicians such as Stevie Wonder and Roy Ayers and performs at various festivals and venues such as Jazz at Lincoln Center and Blue Note. He has also worked as composer and music coordinator for films and documentaries. Zane has partnered with and been commissioned by organizations such as the Guggenheim Museum, Whitney Museum, Asian Arts Initiative, The Harlem Arts Alliance, the Brooklyn Arts Council and Hi-ARTS. His composition, Around The Circle, commissioned by the Guggenheim Museum, was part of the Vasily Kandinsky exhibition from August 2021 through September 2022. He also exhibited Abandoned Orchestra, a sound sculpture installation and performance at the Guggenheim Museum in 2021. Zane focuses on publicly-engaging work addressing decolonization, the intersection of traditional and contemporary music, and ideas of transcendence. He performs and composes with electro-acoustic instruments, videos, and found/repurposed instruments.