Writing, composing, performing.
"That's my life, 24/7," says Hannibal Lokumbe, the newly appointed artist-in-residence at Penn's Center for Africana Studies.
"I'm very honored to be here and offer what I can to people," he said. "That's why I live. ... The joy from that is immeasurable."
Started in the 1980s, the artist and scholar-in-residence program aims to bring leading artists and intellectuals to campus.
The program gives these scholars an opportunity to live on campus and teach classes for a semester.
Onyx Finney, the program coordinator at the Penn Center for Africana Studies, expressed excitement about Lokumbe's selection.
"We wanted to bring something new and fresh to the University campus," she said. "We're very excited that he's here ... and [hope] the University takes advantage of his presence."
Lokumbe -- the first musician to participate in the artist-in-residence program -- is a Grammy-nominated composer and jazz musician whose works have premiered at New York's Carnegie Hall.
His original African Portraits opera has been characterized as "groundbreaking." Lokumbe called it "an ongoing ... monument to the descendants of Africa."
"I'm still learning from it," he said.
Finney praised the work, saying, "There hasn't been anything of its kind."
Lokumbe identifies his experiences in Africa as the inspiration behind his works.
Suffering from double pneumonia as a young man in 1979, Lokumbe traveled to Africa to die, but instead found a remedy for his soul.
"I was reborn physically, but I was nourished spiritually," he said. "I was a changed person."
"In Africa, I'd learned the truth about things that you couldn't read in a book."
At Penn, teaching a class entitled "Music and Liberation," Lokumbe tries to impart those truths to his students.
"I stress ... developing awareness of the plight of the people less fortunate than them," he says. "That's the heart and soul of the class." Lokumbe is planning several on-campus performances throughout the semester.
Among the upcoming shows is a piece called Trilogy, which he will perform in early March.
"That's gonna be something," he says. "If you're living, you should see that piece."
In the meantime, Lokumbe will be doing what he does best -- writing, composing and performing.
"There's a lot in this pot of stew called Hannibal Lokumbe," he said. "It has reached cauldron proportions."
"But that's OK. I like cooking."
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