By Sabrina Joseph/Photos by Claudia Ferro

Somerville celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day with a variety of performances at the annual event, this year entitled “Growing Our Community,” on Monday at the East Somerville Community School. The first performance was by Marcus Santos, who is a master Brazilian drum teacher and a graduate of the  Berklee College of Music.

After graduating from Berklee, Santos founded  Grooversity, which promotes music as entertainment and an action as well as social change. The event started with the usual joke; the audience’s attitude towards him made me believe that he was a fan favorite and that they were glad that he was emceeing this event and not someone else.

He started out by announcing the members of the Board of Aldermen. Next came the musical stylings of the SHS World Percussion Ensemble. Santos has described this ensemble as being the best. After that performance Marcus, as well as a few high school students, performed using Marcus’ instrument of choice: the drums.

After the lovely music it was time for the readings of the student essay contest. After the readings there was a photo op and then a performance from Arabic Children’s Choir.

For the second to last performance of the morning, Marcus announced that the Somerville Human Rights Commission will be recognized for the work of the late Ralph Hergert. It was mentioned that for the past eleven years Hergert has served as the Director of Human Services for the City of Somerville. As director, he helped create the Human Rights Commission, as well as the City’s Martin Luther King Jr., Celebration.

The last performance for the event that almost lasted two hours was by the high school students who played wonderful piece of music with the drums.