|
|
Afropop NYC Select Concerts and Events, November 2009
|
THIS MONTH'S HOT PICKS! ! !
Compiled by Victor Marin
Events to List - Comments - Suggestions - Anything . . .
Contact us at: events@afropop.org
|
|
Schedule At-A-Glance
November 17-22: Destination Guadeloupe New York Festival 2009
November 20th: Ned Sublette @Joe's Pub
November 21st: Nollywood @Park Central Hotel
November 21st: Mariza @Carnegie Hall
November 21st: Hassan Hakmoun @Joe's Pub
November 23rd: Bakithi Kumalo @Le Poisson Rouge
November 27th: Forro in the dark @Highline Ballroom
November 28th: Los Amigos Invisibles @The Fillmore
November 28th: Rafael Gomez @Shrine
November 28th: African Soul Jam Thanksgiving Bash @Lava Gina
December 1st: Hypnotic Brass Ensemble @B.B. King's
December 5th: Lionel Loueke @Le Poisson Rouge
December 3rd, 10th, 17th & 31st: Antibalas @Knitting Factory (Brooklyn)
|
|
Regular Events
Every Monday: Monday Drums @ L’Orange Bleue
Every Tuesday: Tuff Tuesdays @ Bembe
Every Wednesday: Solar Heat Wednesdays @ Bembe
Que Bajo?! @ Rose Live Music
The Mandingo Ambassadors @ Barbes
Every Thursday:Toque Thursdays @ Bembe
Digable Brooklyn Thursday @ Amarachi lounge
Every Friday: Call To Drum Fridays @ Bembe
Every Saturday: Rhum Saturdays @ Bembe
African Night @ St. Nick's Pub
Afrokinetic @ The Royale
Every Sunday: Chris Washburne & S.Y.O.T.O.S.@ Smoke
|
|
Tune in to Afropop Worldwide with Georges Collinet on
Radio New York
October/November 2009 PROGRAM CALENDAR
Wednesday, November 18: Living in
New Orleans , Part 2
Thursday, November 19: Brazil’s Neo-Tropicalia Movement
Friday, November 20: Afropop Road Show 2008
Saturday, November 21: Afropop Worldwide Goes to
Copenhagen for WOMEX 2009, Part 1 (Available via ContentDepot)
Listen to Afropop every night, Mon-Sat 11pm!!!
CHECK BACK SOON FOR MORE PROGRAM LISTINGS
More Info at:
www.afropop.org or
www.myspace.com/afropop
|
Destination Guadeloupe Festival 2009
November 17-22
Casa Frela Gallery, Zinc Bar & S.O.B.’s
 From November 18 - 22, a host of tastemaking venues focus their attentions on the wondrous French Caribbean islands that make up Guadeloupe, the inspiration for the 2nd Annual Destination Guadeloupe Festival.
Wednesday 18: An Wonn La (In The Circle), an exhibition of onetime political prisoner Joel Nankin's mixed-media paintings opens the Destination Guadeloupe Festival uptown at Casa Frela Gallery, one of the cultural bright spots in Harlem's Mount Morris Historic District.
Friday 20: The music portion of the festivities kicks off in two hot spots: master Gwo-ka drummer François Ladrezeau (also known for working with tenor sax titan David Murray) gets the party started at Zinc Bar, while soulful veteran Jeff Joseph hits S.O.B.'s, with the backing of Panik, a versatile Caribbean band whose skill at zouk, biguine, compas, reggae, salsa and much more promises to make them festival MVPs.
Saturday 21: The group Kriyolio debuts at Zinc Bar, offering the seamless blend of urban and island flavors that Guadeloupeans call Gwada Jazz.
Sunday 22: All of the aforementioned stars return to S.O.B.'s for the evening's sprawling MAIN EVENT, and to boost the energy level even higher, Luc Leandry, the King of Zouk, headlines along with the Divas of Zouk, Joëlle Ursull and the sultry Jocelyne Labylle, who has also taken France by storm.
Show details
Venues: Casa Frela Gallery, Zinc Bar & S.O.B.’s
More information
Website of the festival
Ned Sublette
November 20th
Joe’s Pub
8PM
 Ned Sublette was born in 1951 in Lubbock, Texas. Bilingual in English and Spanish since childhood, he grew up in Louisiana, Texas and New Mexico and moved to New York in 1976. His range of musical experience is unusually broad, ranging from original musicological field work in New Mexico, to conservatory study in classical guitar and composition, to aggressive loud-guitar bands, to cutting-edge Latin music. In the downtown New York new music scene of the 70s and 80s, he worked with artists ranging from John Cage to La Monte Young to Glenn Branca to Peter Gordon's Love of Life Orchestra.
By the mid-80s he gravitated toward the salsa scene ("It was the best music in town," he says) and his inspirations grew increasingly Latin. In January 1990, he traveled to Cuba for the first time and was inspired to co-found Qbadisc, the first American record label dedicated to marketing contemporary Cuban music in the U.S. He was soon recognized as a major U.S. advocate for Cuban music, he also produced the outstanding debut album by the New York-based Puerto Rican group Viento De Agua, and for seven years, he served as senior co-producer of Afropop Worldwide, heard over Public Radio International. He is currently working on a book about Cuban music.
Singer-songwriter-guitarist-bandleader-producer, Ned Sublette is one of the most original figures on the New York music scene, and COWBOY RUMBA (PALMCD2020-2), his debut solo album on Palm Pictures, is equally, and exquisitely, unique. COWBOY RUMBA is just what the name implies: Ned's lyrics, compositions and vocals combine with a dream team of all-star musicians from Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, the New York salsa scene and . . . Texas, for an utterly danceable ride.
Show details
Venue: Joe’s Pub
Address: 425 Lafayette Street
Admission: $12
More information
Website of the venue/promoter
Website of the artist
NollywoodNYC
November 21st
Park Central Hotel
8:30PM
 Few months after recording a resounding success with When The Heart Lies, leading female filmmaker and honcho of Purple Pine Productions, Vivian Ejike, is set again to hit the local and international movie scenes with another box office. Entitled Silent Scandal, the thought provoking flick, according to cerebral Vivian, would be released on VCD and DVD soon in Nigeria, Europe, US and the rest of Africa.
The dramatic love story that revolves around the hidden and triangular love lives of a strict mother, her spoilt daughter and an indigent 'playboy,' has top actress, Genevieve Nnaji, as the lead act. Uche Jombo, Ebele Okaro, Ghanaian import –Michael Majid and a host of other emerging acts.
Shedding more light, pretty Ejike, who just returned from the UK where she went to tidy up some movie-related deals, disclosed that Silent Scandal was painstakingly shot with hi-tech production equipment and thoroughly manned by tested professionals within and outside Nigeria.
“It's a contemporary movie that will blow away the minds of movie buffs. It's also an emotional story, where a mother and her only daughter, unknowingly, are torn apart by the true love and lust of an indigent young man. Silent Scandal is full of intrigues and suspense from start-to-finish. With all sense of modesty, it's another plus for Nollywood, especially now that the nation is preaching the gospel of re-branding.
Show details
Venue:Park Central Hotel
Address: 870 Seventh Avenue
Mariza
November 21st
Carnegie Hall
8PM
Mariza began singing fado as a child, before she could read. Her father sketched out little cartoon stories to help her remember the lyrics. At the age of five, she would join in the spontaneous singing at her parent's restaurant in Mouraria, one of
Lisbon ’s most traditional neighborhoods. Mariza was born in Mozambique, but her family moved to Portugal when she was a baby, giving her plenty of time to get immersed directly in the "Fado Houses" where singing is part of everyday life. "They all stand on emotions", says Mariza, "Fado is an emotional kind of music full of passion, sorrow, jealousy, grief, and often satire."
Mariza walks the fine line necessary to both genuinely carry the fado's tradition and bring it freshness for today. Her performance style captures the raw emotion that characterizes the genre, but with her own personal twist. Mariza is a performer who has it all - charisma, stunning looks, a voice to die for and shows that deal in musical passion and drama. With her heart breaking voice, she performs with graceful, dramatic gestures, leaving slender wistful notes hanging in the air. If you cannot understand Portuguese, there is no problem. The way she sings fado communicates directly to the soul and the emotions, tugging at the heart with a performance that speaks of longing, love and nostalgia.
Supported by her impressive acoustic trio, her voice is a gorgeous, evocative instrument and Mariza sings with bravura and power. "This isn't an image! It's me! I like my hair like this... there's no rule that says all fadistas have to have black hair..." says Mariza, "And I like to see beautiful clothes and make-up on stage... I just do what I would like to see..."
Show details
Venue: Carnegie Hall
Address: Admission: $25-95
More information
Website of the venue/promoter
Website of the artist
Hassan Hakmoun
November 21st
Joe’s Pub
11:30PM
 Hassan Hakmoun, the master Gnawa musician from Morocco, celebrates the release of his new album The Gift (Triloka) with a special acoustic performance. Drawing on Gnawa’s intensely spiritual and ancient tradition of trance and purification via rhythm and movement, Hakmoun infuses an Arabic influence with a West African sensibility. The driving, ecstasy-inducing rhythms of Hakmoun’s sintir (a 3-stringed bass lute) and his soaring call-and-response vocals have been featured in collaboration with such artists as Peter Gabriel, Paula Cole, Don Cherry, Kronos Quartet and Pharaoh Sanders.
Show details
Venue: Joe’s Pub
Address: 425 Lafayette Street
Admission: $15
More information
Website of the venue/promoter
Website of the artist
Bakithi Kumalo
November 23rd
Le Poisson Rouge
8PM
 A native of Soweto Township outside Johannesburg, South Africa, Bakithi Kumalo's musical career has been characterized by a series of serendipitous events ranging from his debut gig as a precocious seven-year-old filling in for the bassist in his uncle's band to his enlistment into Paul Simon's group during the recording sessions of the pop star's landmark 'Graceland' album in 1985.
Kumalo creates a singular electric fretless bass sound that teems with double stops that sound like human voices and the African grooves of his homeland and has garnered him a stellar reputation as a sideman. In addition to touring with Simon on his current European tour, he's also recorded and/or toured with the likes of Gloria Estefan, Chaka Khan, Eileen Ivers, Randy Brecker, Hugh Masekela, Harry Belafonte, Gerald Albright, Miriam Makeba, Josh Groban and Chris Botti.
Kumalo's bass-playing history began in Soweto where he grew up surrounded by music. His mother sang in a church choir and his uncle, a saxophone player, was always at his house rehearsing his band. "Every weekend, everyone would be at my house singing and playing all day." Kumalo says, "Plus there were bands on every block of my neighborhood. So, music surrounded me. There was traditional African rhythmic music as well as a cappella vocal groups. I picked up the bass early and realized I could follow the groove of a tune with it. I could play the bass lines from acappella music, and I learned how to develop lines based on the left-hand work of accordion players in the township bands."
Kumalo's work on 'Graceland' opened the doors for him to pursue other avenues, including, recently, recordings with Herbie Hancock, Paul Winters, Gloria Estefan, Josh Groban, Randy Brecker and Cyndi Lauper. Plus, he hooked up with former Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart, who took the bassist on tour with him. 'Mickey was great, Kumalo says. There was no audition. He told me to pack up my bass and not to worry about learning the music because that would happen on the road. It was a great time.'
Show details
Venue: Le Poisson Rouge
Address: 158 Bleecker street
Admission: $15
More information
Website of the venue/promoter
Website of the artist
Forro in the dark
November 27th
Highline Ballroom
7:30PM
 For those who don’t already know, forró is the hip-swiveling, dancefloor-filling, rural party music of
’s northeastern states. And Forró in the Dark is the collective of four New York-based Brazilian ex-pats –Mauro Refosco (zabumba drum and vocals) Davi Vieira (percussion and vocals) Guilherme Monteiro (guitar and vocals) and Jorge Continentino (pifano flute, sax and vocals) - who are updating this traditional sound for the 21st century.
“In Brazil, forró literally means party,” says Mauro. “It’s a gathering, a good time. The objective is to make people dance.” Which is exactly what Forro In The Dark have been doing since 2005 at their weekly residence at East Village nightspot Nublu, where their signature blend of down home forró and urban cool have made them one of the city’s must-see buzz bands.
Show details
Venue: Highline Ballroom
Address: 431 W 16th Street
Admission: $15
More information
Website of the venue/promoter
Website of the artist
Los Amigos Invisibles
November 28th
The Fillmore
| |
