Big Chief Shaka Zulu awarded National Heritage Fellowship

Shaka Zulu, the Big Chief of the Golden Feather Hunters and a renowned stilt dancer and drummer, was named one of 10 National Heritage Fellows in 2022 by the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). The fellowships are the highest honor in folk and traditional arts awarded in the US. Each year since 1982, the program recognizes recipients’ artistic excellence, lifetime achievement, and contributions to the nation’s traditional arts heritage.

Zulu’s biography appears on the NEA website and includes the following:

“Shaka Zulu is a master of Black Masking suit design, an art form specific to New Orleans, which originated as part of the Indigenous and African culture in the city. The intricate suit-building of the New Orleans Black Masking Carnival tradition usually involves sewing and designing for one full year, and are colorfully displayed during Mardi Gras, St. Joseph’s Night, and Super Sunday in New Orleans. In addition to upholding the Black Masking tradition, Zulu is revered as a drummer and stilt dancer, both part of the city’s West African traditions.

“Born in New Orleans in 1969, Zulu grew up immersed in African and Caribbean culture by being a part of his father Zohar Israel’s performing arts company, Free Spirit, in New Orleans. He started drumming at an early age and became a master of African and African diasporic percussion instruments, such as the djunjun, djembe, shakare, and congas. Under the masterful tutelage of his father, Zulu, at the age of 15, became a skillful and accomplished second generation stilt dancer. In 1995, Zulu and his wife Naimah formed the performing arts company, Zulu Connection, and toured their company of dancers, stilt dancers, and drummers nationally and internationally. Zulu has also toured internationally with NEA Jazz Master Donald Harrison Jr. as a masking performing artist and percussionist in Harrison’s band Congo Nation.

“In 1999, he studied under Chief Darryl Montana, son of Chief Tootie Montana (1987 NEA National Heritage Fellow). His talent for impeccable sewing quickly led to his significant stature within the Black Masking tradition. He continues the “downtown” suit-making tradition pioneered by Chief Tootie Montana (a NEA Heritage Fellow in 1987), distinguished by its three-dimensional or soft-sculpture pieces with sequins, beads, turkey feathers, and a more abstract style. Zulu is now Big Chief of the Golden Feather Hunters established in 2018.

“A thought-provoking lecturer on the origin and culture of the Black Masking traditions of New Orleans, Zulu has exhibited his suits both nationally and internationally at museums and festivals. Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Zulu lectured and exhibited his suits at the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco. His 2015 suit was featured in Sounds of the City, an exhibit in Berlin, Germany, featuring the culture of New Orleans. His suit “Shango” is currently on exhibit in the Netherlands at the Africa Museum.

“A consummate teacher and culture bearer, Zulu has conducted workshops on masking, drumming, and stilt dancing nationally and internationally. On trips to Tanzania in 2009 and 2019, he engaged with the Masai and Meru communities about the connection between the African and New Orleans African American traditions. It was in Tanzania in 2019 that Zulu beaded his 2019 Suit “The Toucan” with the diligent assistance of the youth in the villages of the Masai and the Meru people.

“As part of New Orleans’ tricentennial in 2018, Zulu produced New Orleans Voices of Congo Square, a 30-cast member stage production featuring the Black carnival traditions of New Orleans, touring the show nationally and internationally, and making a film of the production.

“According to Shaka Zulu’s customs and traditions, he has passed down the Black Masking and stilt dancing traditions to his daughter, Sarauniya, who continues these practices.”

Each fellowship includes a $25,000 award and all of the recipients will be featured in a film that will premiere in November 2022 on arts.gov. Through the film, viewers will have the opportunity to visit the homes and communities where the fellows live and work, providing a connection to the distinct art forms and traditions these artists practice.

Other honorees in 2022 include bluegrass fiddler Michael Cleveland of Indiana, flamenco artist Eva Enciñias of New Mexico, and the Excelsior Band of Mobile, Alabama, among others.

Including the 2022 class, the Arts Endowment has awarded 467 National Heritage Fellowships since 1982, recognizing artists working in more than 200 distinct art forms, including Big Chief Tootie Montana of Hill Country blues musician and songwriter Cedric Burnside, Chicana altarista Ofelia Esparza, Tlingit Ceremonial regalia maker Anna Brown Ehlers, leatherworker James F. Jackson, oud player and composer Rahim AlHaj, and quilting community advocate Carolyn Mazloomi. More information about the National Heritage Fellows is available on the Arts Endowment’s website.

Fellowship recipients are nominated by the public, often by members of their own communities, and then judged by a panel of experts in the folk and traditional arts. The panel’s recommendations are reviewed by the National Council on the Arts, which sends its recommendations to the Arts Endowment chair, who makes the final decision. Visit the National Endowment for the Arts website for more information and to submit a nomination.

Listen to a podcast interview with Zulu that originally aired on OffBeat Magazine’s weekly radio program, Beat Café, which broadcasts every Friday on WHIV 102.3 FM in New Orleans or online at whivfm.org.