Master storyteller, Mwalim weaves a vibrant and epic Hip-Hop Jazz folktale about the spirits that dwell within the jazz clubs, art galleries, performance spaces, and warehouse lofts transformed into underground dance clubs around New York City.
Our tale begins in 1969, when Black squirrels began to appear in the Bronx. Obatunde Bey -a jazz musician and painter- leaves his desk job at the New York City Parks Department to open an arts academy in his Northeast Bronx neighborhood, "The Valley." Little did he know that his art house would quietly become the launch-pad of an underground arts movement.
"The Bronx Boheme" made its debut at the Nuyorican Poet's Cafe in New York City in 2003 as a long-form storytelling piece. Land of the Black Squirrels is book one of the BRONX BOHEME series.