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Firstly, this past Saturday, Electric Windows 2 in Beacon, NY was the place to be! Thousands of people journeyed to the lovely town of Beacon to see artists from around the country come and make magic.
Buxtonia {AHA/PMP’s Garrison and Alison} had an awesome time painting and printing, jumping between the screens and the stencils.
We will be posting up pics when we get them together. There are tons of pictures up online already and Flickr has some coming up.
Flickr.com
Electric Windows Site
Secondly, we’d like to give a big shout out to the wonderful peoples at BSA {Brooklyn Street Art} who posted an exclusive interview with Garrison & Alison Buxton. Check it out at http://www.brooklynstreetart.com/theblog/?p=12967
or read below.
Posted on | July 29, 2010 | No Comments
- Garrison and Alison Buxton, known together as Buxtonia, continue to carry the spirit of Ad Hoc wherever they are. See them at “Electric Windows” Saturday. (photo © Steven P. Harrington)
Among the many street artists flooding into Beacon for Electric Windows on Saturday will be a couple almost all of them know for their dedication to building and maintaining the community. Godparents to a street art gallery/collective/community in Bushwick, Brooklyn at a crucial time for Street Art in the mid 2000’s, Garrison and Alison Buxton are now on the road across the country 6 months a year continuing their collaboration with the Street Art community. It was a good five year run at Ad Hoc, the gallery, which officially closed late last year, having given many a street artist their first show while creating a sense of connectedness between Street Artists, Graff writers, photographers, screen printers, and social activists who all responded to the high vibrational pull Alison and Garrison created.
For the Buxton’s it was never about the hype. She’s full of industry and energy and organizing, while he’s full of a youthful wonder about life and loves to talk with you about social/spiritual movements. Together they have traveled a lot in the last 9 months across the States participating in art shows, re-connecting with friends, teaching screen printing, painting walls, organizing exhibitions, and discussing plans for a sustainable living project at their Vermont farmhouse, an old Buxton family homestead from the 17 & 1800′s. Amazingly, the Buxtons have recently learned that their old homestead was also where one of their favorite modern art forms, screen printing, was brought to life by a man named Harry Shokler, who lived and worked at the home & studio for over 40 years. Shokler is referred to a father of contemporary screen printing, a seminal figure in bringing screen printing from the world of industrial application to being accepted and recognized as a distinct fine art form. When you speak with either one of them for more than a few minutes you’ll learn they both sincerely believe we are here to share, learn, and teach lessons to each other and that now is time to do so.
Saturday Garrison and Alison will be making art at Electric Windows, and talking to friends about how to bring about the better world that is possible.
Brooklyn Street Art: How long has Buxtonia been working as an entity?
Garrison Buxton: I actually used Buxtonia as the title of my first website in like 2002/3. Alison and I have referred to it as a state-of-being for years, with our first Buxtonia mural manifesting in Peru in 2008. It has been coming into being for a while now and it seemed natural that we start referring to the works we did together as such. We did Buxtonia murals with Broken Crow in Minnesota in 2009, and with NOLA Rising in New Orleans in 2010.
- The installation for Unified Love Movement included a structure that arched in four directions and cast light from the center that emulated the patterns in their paintings on the ceiling. (Buxtonia)
Our first gallery work that I currently recall using Buxtonia was in October 2009 for an installation we did in Oklahoma called:
Buxtonia {Garrison & Alison Buxton}, Unified Love Movement
- Installation from “Unified Love Movement” by Buxtonia, a meditation and commentary on the worlds’ major belief systems, their interconnectedness, and a global awareness of spiritual themes.
BSA: Your work is layered and multi-dimensional – can you describe a typical process you two go through in creating a piece?
Garrison Buxton: Firstly, we come up with what the vision of the piece is, laying out and building the compositional aspects like imagery, arrangement, aesthetic, layers, and forms. After we have that in mind, then comes breaking it back down to the base and working up each of the aspects. Construction, Deconstruction, Reconstruction, on and on… After priming, we start out with washes and/or gradients to unify the background, then we build out light & dark areas based on the piece’s color palette. Once the background is built up, we then use layers of stencils to create textures and develop areas of light & pattern. We incorporate screen printing as well, either directly on the surface or via collage. Using hand painting and drawing helps to bring in the upper layers. Certain aspects are predetermined, like a border design, but building up the stencils and textures is a very participatory and engaged process. The action of assembling the pieces to the puzzle encourages reflection, dialogue, and feedback. It is a dialogue with all of us, humans, materials, and the voice of the work. We change with each other. Every piece is that moment’s exploration into human interaction and relationship.
- “Resistance is Fertile”; a mechanized hand combines industrial revolutionary diagrammatic style with a surreal zeal of modern possibility. The piece repositions the struggle of the worker in a future context. From a mural done with NOLA Rising (Buxtonia)
BSA: Where do you draw upon for inspiration thematically?
Garrison Buxton: The core of it for me would be that we are all part of the same thing, the singularity and inherent oneness of existence. Until we truly get that, we are not making real progress. There is a lot of misery being generated by the intention of a select minority on this planet enabled by the masses of under-informed. Most days, the urgency of our times inspires me to maintain a sense of peace in a world run by sociopaths gone utterly mad. I have a hard time believing that we are destined to go out this way, like a stupid rampaging beast, smashing to bits anything and everything in our path as we careen over the cliff. Another world is possible in every instant. The power to share, to contribute, to change is abundant and always around us.
BSA: For both Willoughby Windows in Brooklyn and Welling Court Queens also participated as artists. What about being in these group shows is gratifying to you?
Garrison Buxton: Bringing creativity and beauty to people directly is very fulfilling. It is one of the most unfiltered ways to bring art to a culture largely starved of non-corporate, non-advertising-generated media. One of the fundamental aspects of street art is the democratization of public space. Maybe it is all an illusion, but it is fulfilling to believe in the power of art to create, inspire, and plant seeds of observation as well as shared experience. People relating to one another is what will get us to the other side. People fearing one another will not. Relating comes when people take the time to simply do it, relate. Seeing the direct results of these art projects has been profound and definitely inspires us to keep taking things to the next level. The bonds that result from bringing generations of different peoples together for a celebration of the human experience are so strong. Together we can do amazing things. I have seen it.
BSA: What are you planning to show the people at the Electric Windows show?
Garrison Buxton: We have been working with a figure, Metatron, for a while now. Metatron is typically depicted as a eye with wings. The Electric Windows piece is going to have a small flock of Metatrons flying up on the horizon with rays and shapes of light emerging from behind.
Is the loosest of senses, Metatron is the messenger of the divine, translating the beyond-human transmissions to be human-comprehensive. I believe we are all Metatrons, our own divine messengers, and that we all transmit this divine information to our selves and each other. When we are still and listen to that part of us that existed before we can remember existing, the knowledge we seek is there. We are all self contained enlightenment, divinity, god, whatever you want to call it. How to illustrate that is the never ending pursuit. It has become important for us to focus on sending positive transmissions. We aim to send a net positive charge into the matrix. The grid is cracking. It needs all of our help. This piece depicts the strength of coming together and building something with a whole greater than the sum of its parts.
BSA: How has your life changed for both of you since leaving Ad Hoc?
Garrison Buxton: For clarity’s sake, we never left Ad Hoc, as Ad Hoc Art still exists as an entity and we are still doing art events and projects like the previously mentioned Willoughby Windows and Welling Court projects as well as currently featuring many AHA artists with us in a screen printing project at SummerStage in Central Park through September. The mission of Ad Hoc Art is to promote awesome work made by badass human beings. We’ll keep doing that as long as we can, in myriad manifestations, which is the method to the madness. On the front burner is a fall/winter tour where we will be working with artists across the country, many of which we worked with at Ad Hoc, as well as artists we have worked with since then.
So, I’m assuming that you are referring to how have our lives changed since moving out of Bogart St, yes? That question is an expansive one, so many changes happening in so many ways. Like any era in a relationship coming to a close, it is largely in how one perceives it. Boiling it down, there are times we’re missing the great times, all the magic; we’d wish we were still making a difference in the Bushwick hood and wonder if there were somehow an angle we didn’t think of that could have kept the hull together. Then we quickly remember how working 18 hour days for years takes it toll, how there were days of stress and frustration, and how five years flew by in the blink of an eye and I hadn’t seen some good friends in years. Overall, we are much healthier and happier and realize we are blessed to have the opportunities that we have and don’t look back. There is so much to be accomplished now, more so than ever. We are still working crazy hours, but in a way that serves us better and is sane. We are operating at a more tenable, sustainable pace, training and running with a marathon mindset for a race of enduring as opposed to the frenetic burst of the 100 yard dash. Short term focus will not get us to the other side. Thinking beyond ourselves will get us there.
Some things we are loving: working our own creative endeavors/projects; less daily stress; the ability to be more dynamic and mobile (we’ll be on the road about six months of the next year, taking art love coast to coast and doing projects with people in places we never had time to visit before); more time to be human; & more time to work on altruistic projects. Basically, we have a lot more time to take care of ourselves, spiritually, mentally, and physically. As everything emanates from within, if the core is not stable, all that comes out contains that fundamental lack of stability. In taking time to be, we saw an immediate and direct positive return which correlates directly with overall happiness.
BSA: Any advice for people who are planning to go to Beacon for the show?
Garrison Buxton: Bring sunscreen and drink lots of water. Beacon is a nice lil’ town and the show is going to be awesome event. Open Space again delivers a solid roster of fun. We are excited to be working with some of our favorite partners in crime and a whole slew of new peoples. Plan on staying late Saturday night if you like to dance. Bring clothes if you’d like to have them printed. We are going to be screen printing live and dropping some brand new images that Saturday.
We love you.
Electric Windows will feature Buxtonia, BoogieRez, Chris Stain, Depoe, Elbow Toe, Mr Kiji, Michael De Feo, Peat Wollaeger, Rick Price, Ron English, Big Foot, Cern, Chor Boogie, Chris Yormick, Elia Gurna, Erick Otto, Eugene Good, Faust, Gaia, Joe Iurato, Kid Zoom, Logan Hicks, Lotem & Aviv, Paper Monster, Ryan Bubnis, Ryan Williams, Skewville, and Thundercut.
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ON THE FRONT BURNER! Electric Windows 2 in Beacon, NY
THIS SATURDAY: Electric Windows 2 in Beacon, NY!
July 31st we will be participating in a painting extravaganza of gigantic proportions. The ever wonderful and beautifully kind Dan & Kalene at Open Space are rolling up their sleeves to bring the masses together for another slammin’ full day of painting and partying.
Featuring the badass skillz of Ron English, Logan Hicks, Michael DeFeo, Chor Boogie, Pete Wollaeger, and many more.
Also, yours truly, Buxtonia {AHA/PMP’s Garrison and Alison} will be slinging at least 2 types of paint, spray as well as screen, as they print on the 1’s n’ 2’s with some brand new images to make some clothing magic. So don’t forget to bring your shirts, or we’ll have some you can purchase. Come on up to see some great people making some inspiring things. It is sure to be one for the history books.
http://electricwindowsbeacon.com/index.html
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PERIPHERAL MEDIA PROJECTS IS THRILLED TO BE A HEAVY VISUAL STREET COMPONENT OF CENTRAL PARK’S 25th ANNUAL SUMMERSTAGE PERFORMANCE SERIES.
WE HAVE DESIGNED THE MERCHANDISE FOR THIS BANNER YEAR AND WILL BE ONSITE PAINTING AND PRINTING WITH THE WORLD’S BEST ARTISTS & PERFORMERS FROM JUNE 1st to SEPTEMBER 26th. IN ADDITION TO A HEAVY ROTATION OF HOT-OFF-THE-PRESS WORK DEBUTED THROUGHOUT THE SUMMER, PMP WILL BE BRINGING GUEST ARTISTS ALONG ALL SUMMER LONG TO HELP STIR THE DELICIOUS GLOBAL MELTING POT-O-CREATIVITY! CHECK OUT THE FULL SCHEDULE BELOW, IT IS OFF THE HOOK.
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Central Park/Mainstage
Central Park SummerStage, a program of City Parks Foundation, presents performances of outstanding artistic quality, free of charge, to serve the diverse communities of New York City. The artists represent a breadth of genres and cultures and perform in an outdoor setting accessible to people of all ages and backgrounds. Central Park SummerStage strives to develop audiences’ deepening appreciation for contemporary, traditional, and emerging artists as well as the communities in which these artists originate.
Park Address
Rumsey Playfield
Get Directions
Public Transportation
Subway East side: 6 train to 68th or 77th Streets; N, R or W trains to 5th Avenue; F train to 63rd Street and Lexington
West side: 1, 2, 3, 9, B or C trains to 72nd Street
SummerStage Music
The New York Pops and Melody Gardot
When: Tuesday, June 1, 2010 at 7:00PM
Where: Central Park/Mainstage
The smoky seductive thrill of vocal jazz from chanteuse Melody Gardot supported by the acclaimed New York Pops.
Melody Gardot’s route to music has been unconventional and often arduous. Growing up in Philadelphia, she began taking music lessons at age 9, and was playing piano in local lounges by the time she was 16, although she didn’t think of music as anything more than a hobby at the time. After being hit by a car and severely injured when she was 19, music became a key therapeutic element in her lengthy recovery process and an outlet for self-expression. The young chanteuse’s songs offer deeply compelling evocations of love, loss and heartache, while her voice offers a level of emotional authority and technical fluency beyond her years. Supported by sparse arrangements, she draws upon elements of jazz, blues, folk and country, with expressive vocals that are both sensitive and seductive. Her breakthrough album,
My One and Only Thrill, has sold almost one million copies worldwide.
The New York Pops was founded by former NBC Music Director Skitch Henderson in 1983 with the mission to create greater public awareness and appreciation of America’s rich musical heritage. They are the largest independent pops orchestra in the U.S., and the only professional symphonic orchestra in New York City specializing in popular music. Led by Music Director Steven Reineke, they perform an annual subscription series and birthday gala at Carnegie Hall, and tour selections from the American songbook throughout the world.
Encore: last played in 2009
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SummerStage Music
Living Colour, Ebony Bones!, Pillow Theory and CX KiDTRONiK
When: Saturday, June 5, 2010 at 3:00PM
Where: Central Park/Mainstage
Classic BRC legends Living Colour usher in a new generation of African-American rock stars.
Living Colour last graced SummerStage in 2001, staging their first reunion concert to a packed house. Now Vernon Reid, Will Calhoun, Corey Glover and Doug Wimbish return to Central Park, to celebrate their own 25th anniversary- of the Black Rock Coalition, the not-for-profit artist collective co-founded by Vernon Reid. The band rose to stardom in 1988 with their breakout album Vivid, featuring the Grammy Award-winning smash hit and MTV staple, “Cult of Personality.” In 2009, the band released their fifth studio album,
The Chair and the Doorway, to critical success, with
Rolling Stone declaring it, “Living Colour’s most focused record since their 1988 debut.”
Ebony Bones! (a.k.a. Ebony Thomas) is a London-born, autodidact singer/songwriter/ producer/actress with a penchant for punk-meets-funk style and an extravagant eye for fashion. Ebony’s music has been described as reminiscent of “the aggressively proto-feminist dance music of Grace Jones and X-Ray Spex” by the Chicago Tribune. Bones’ self-released single, “We Know All About U” (recorded out of her apartment using bottles, woks and pans as percussive instruments) debuted as the “Hottest Record In the World Today” on BBC’s Radio 1, going on to become the most played single by an unsigned artist on that popular UK station.
Described by the Washington Post as “soul meets screamo,” Pillow Theory is a NYC-based quartet whose live shows are a roiling, genre-defying blend of metal, punk, free jazz and pop.
DJ CX KiDTRONiK has a reputation for putting on energetic, over-the-top shows featuring his signature live drum machine, freestyle synthesizer, and video game bleeps and blips. He has worked with a large range of co-conspirators including Antipop Consortium, Saul Williams, Trent Reznor, Kanye West and, more recently took his KraKSTRAVAGANZA Band on the road with Girl Talk, Zion I and The Grouch on The City of Dope Tour.
The Black Rock Coalition, founded in 1985 by Vernon Reid, Greg Tate and Konda Mason, is now launching into its 25th year of being the nation’s only nonprofit organization fully dedicated to finding, creating and cultivating opportunities for alternative musical artists of color. Member-driven, volunteer-run, and completely in it for the love, the BRC has and will continue to exert its influence in support and praise of the true innovators of rock and roll–past, present, and future.
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SummerStage Music
Pupy y Los Que Son Son and Jose Conde: A Tribute to Fania Records
When: Sunday, June 6, 2010 at 3:00PM
Where: Central Park/Mainstage
Cuba es Libre with a rare live set from songo icons Pupy y Los Que Son Son, pan-latin grooves from Jose Conde and an all-star DJ celebration of NY salsa.
As a former member of the internationally acclaimed Los Van Van, Cuban pianist, composer, arranger and bandleader César Pedroso has proven his talents. Now, touring under his nickname ‘Pupy’ Pedroso has set about taking the planet by storm. Along with his group, Los Que Son Son, Pedroso is a trailblazing representative of the relatively young style of Timba music. Pupy y Los Que Son Son’ s SummerStage appearance marks a major highlight of their first US tour.
Singer, songwriter, and producer Jose Conde is celebrated for his recordings with the Cuba-centric band Ola Fresca, which deviate from traditional Cuban music forms through a liberal juxtaposition and fusion of rhythms and the playful use of language. The Brooklyn-based, Miami-raised son of Cuban immigrants, Conde has reached a large audience by being featured in numerous recent compilations. Tonight marks the official unveiling of music from his upcoming solo 2010 release with his funky new pan-Latin powerhouse of a band, the nu Latin Groove.
NYC native and world-renowned DJ Bobbito Garcia is the Creative Chief at Project 2050, an ideas and solutions shop. The former Bounce Magazine Editor In Chief is also the critically acclaimed author of Where’d You Get Those? NYC’s Sneaker Culture: 1960-1987 and has a new CD compilation out titled Connection .
DJ Laylo’s unrelenting commitment to good music and rocking the crowd has earned her a reputation as one of NYC’s foremost turntablists. Born in Puerto Rico to Dominican parents, her musical selection reflects her NY upbringing: hip-hop, soul, salsa, house, merengue, reggae, and Afrobeat.
Born and raised in the culture of hip-hop, DJ SAKE-1 has been looking for the perfect beat since 1989. A founding member of California’s (((Local 1200))) Sound System, DJ SAKE-1 has utilized a combination of advanced science and Bay Area hustle to genetically alter the hip-hop idiom into a 360 degree circle of soul.
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SummerStage Music
SummerStage Gala – The Music of Simon & Garfunkel
When: Tuesday, June 8, 2010 at 7:00PM
Where: Central Park/Mainstage
Support 25 years of SummerStage! Seated tickets and table packages available. Bleacher seating also available online.
Click here for seated tickets and table packages.
Buy tickets for bleacher seats online
On Tuesday, June 8, 2010, City Parks Foundation will welcome guests to the SummerStage 25th Anniversary Celebration, an annual fundraising benefit, to support CPF’s free year-round arts programming.
This year’s benefit will feature the songbook of Simon & Garfunkel with unique duts performed by Shawn Colvin, Aimee Mann, Dar Williams, Loudon Wainwright III, Lucy Wainwright Roche, Joan Osborne, Stephen Kellogg, Dean & Britta, Cory Chisel, The Holmes Brothers, John Forte, Valerie June, John Roderick, Ricky Skaggs, Willie Nile, Paula Cole, Alejandro Esovedo, Marc Cohn, Ben Gibbard, David Hinds, St. Vincent, Ollabelle (house band) and many more.
A Cocktail Party for table purchasers will be held in the Pergola Area at SummerStage beginning at 6:00pm. Tables of ten will be provided with a full dinner; tables of four will be provided with a light snack. Both will receive bar service. The concert will begin at 8:00pm. Central Park SummerStage is located at Rumsey Playfield (72nd Street, mid¬park).
For event information, including ticket sales, please contact Jill Rothstein at (212) 360-8170, or by email at JRothstein@CityParksFoundation.org.
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SummerStage Music
The 8th Annual Cine Fest Petrobras Brasil, featuring live sets from Os Paralmas Do Sucesso and Maria Gadu, followed by a screening of Oscar Niemeyer – Life is a Breath of Air
When: Saturday, June 12, 2010 at 7:00PM
Where: Central Park/Mainstage
Brazil’s finest from the fields of music, architecture and film meet in the heart of New York City.
Os Paralamas do Sucesso formed in Rio de Janeiro in the late 1970s, and are now considered one of the “Big Four” bands of Brazilian rock. They have always incorporated reggae and ska into their sound, and have over the years continued to expand their soundscapes with intricate horn arrangements and Latin rhythms. The lineup, unchanged since 1982, includes Herbert Vianna on guitar and lead vocals, Bi Ribeiro on bass, and João Barone on drums.
Brazilian guitarist, singer and songwriter Maria Gadu is an emerging sensation to watch. She began her career as a child and went out to garner attention with her stunning interpretation of “Ne me quitte pas” by Jacques Brel. She has been featured on several soundtracks and her self-titled debut release has already created an international buzz.
The closing night film of The 8th Annual Cine Fest Petrobras Brasil is the documentary OSCAR NIEMEYER – LIFE IS A BREATH OF AIR . Is it possible to tell a story of a nation through its architecture? Life is Breath takes its cue from its subject, renowned and influential architect Oscar Niemeyer– the great icon of Brazil’s Modern Architecture movement– highlighting the poetry of his forms as inspired by his country’s majestic geography and soul.
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SummerStage Music
Baaba Maal, Playing For Change
When: Monday, June 14, 2010 at 7:00PM
Where: Central Park/Mainstage
Celebrating Senegal’s independence, West Africa’s best-known musician meets a boundary and nation busting collective of global artists.
World-renowned singer/songwriter and SummerStage alumnus Baaba Maal is widely acknowledged as one of Africa’s most prolific and beloved musicians. Maal’s distinctive palette, which fuses traditional African rhythm and song structure with elements of Western pop and R&B, first gained American attention with the seminal 1989 album Djam Leelii. Maal has since released over fifteen full-length recordings and engaged in a host of humanitarian concerns, including his work as a UN Youth Emissary. Maal’s most recent LP, 2009’s
Television , offers a unique amalgam of electronic dance and global influences.
Paste magazine observes, “Television embodies the sound of the African future while simultaneously nodding over its shoulder at the pain, joy, suffering and beauty of the continent’s past.”
Utilizing innovative mobile audio/video techniques, Playing for Change is the brainchild of Grammy-winning producer/engineer Mark Johnson. He records musicians in myriad outdoor environments- beneath urban streetlights, in public parks, in doorways, on cobblestone streets, amid hilly pueblos- and combines the tracks into unique new collaborations between artists that may have never met in person. Already the project has traveled from post-Katrina New Orleans to post-apartheid South Africa, from the remote beauty of the Himalayas to the religiously diverse Jerusalem, all while illustrating the power of music to transcend cultural and geographic boundaries. Select musicians from the project will come from different parts of the globe to perform together at SummerStage.
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SummerStage Music
John Butler Trio & State Radio Concert
When: Tuesday, June 15, 2010 at 6:30PM
Where: Central Park/Mainstage
A benefit concert to support the full season of free programs at Central Park SummerStage.
John Butler Trio is one of Australia’s leading musical outfits, composed of prominent Melbourne drummer and percussionist Nicky Bomba, bassist Byron Luiters from Sydney and, of course, John Butler. The band’s fifth and latest studio album is titled
April Uprising and it is a melodic, funky and free affair. With sold out performances worldwide on the back of their previous multi-platinum accredited album
Grand National , the John Butler Trio is reaffirming their status as one of the world’s best roots bands.
Mixing reggae influences with political calls to action, State Radio’s indie rock music features the socially conscious lyrics and roots rhythms that have made them a staple in the jam band world. The band’s latest release, Let It Go , was described by All Music Guide as “creat(ing) the biggest stir with its lyrics, whose sociopolitical content challenges listeners to think as much as dance.”
To purchase tickets, visit www.Ticketmaster.co.
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SummerStage Music
NYC Pride Rally featuring Me’Shell Ndegeocello , Martha Wash, The New York Gay Men’s Chorus, Vickie Shaw, Billie Myers, Bruce Vilanch and More
When: Saturday, June 19, 2010 at 4:00PM
Where: Central Park/Mainstage
Strength, virtuosity and joyous revelry reflect the diversity of the LGBT community and the lineup of this incredible evening’s entertainment.
One month after the Stonewall Riots of June 27-29, 1969, about 500 people gathered for a “Gay Power” demonstration. That event, the very first New York City Pride Rally, took place in Washington Square Park and was followed by a candlelight vigil in Sheridan Square. Now in its 42nd year, the Heritage of Pride Rally continues that tradition on the last Sunday in June, providing the City’s LGBT Community with a fabulous launch into Pride Week. This year’s rally, the first at SummerStage, will include performances by Me’Shell Ndegéocello, Martha Wash, The Gay Men’s Chorus, Vickie Shaw, and Billie Myers, hosted by writer and comic, Bruce Vilanch.
Canonized, marginalized or just scrutinized, Me’shell Ndegéocello has given up trying to explain herself. After 20 years in an industry that has called her everything from avant garde to a dying breed, what unquestionably remains is the fearsome bassist, prolific songwriter and the creativity and curiosity of an authentic musical force. With that, she has earned critical acclaim, the unfailing respect of fellow players, songwriters and composers, and the dedication of her diverse, unclassifiable fans.
Like many artists, Martha Wash has felt the ups and downs of the rollercoaster-like music industry. From being the uncredited powerhouse vocalist behind C+C Music Factory’s classic “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now),” to her Grammy nomination for the cult classic’It’s Raining Men’, to seeing her debut solo single “Carry On” reach the #1 spot – in her own name – Martha has unquestionably made her mark in R&B, in dance, in disco and in music history.
The New York City Gay Men’s Chorus comprises of 250 voices. The Chorus has appeared in Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. Affirming their world-class status is a roster of classical and contemporary artists who have graced the stages with the Chorus: Marilyn Horne, Roberta Peters, Liza Minnelli, Stephen Sondheim, Barbara Cook, Carol Channing, Jerry Herman, Eartha Kitt, Joel Grey– to name just a few. The New York City Gay Men’s Chorus (NYCGMC) is a member of Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses (GALA), the world’s only association committed to serving the LGBT choral movement.
Vickie Shaw returns to New York with her slow paced (she’s southern), incredibly endearing, (she’s southern), sharp, don’t mess with her (she’s southern!), comedy. Vickie doesn’t have to go far from home for material – as a recovering SoB (Southern Baptist) and out lesbian mother. She’s successfully raised two sons and a daughter (actually they’re just alive, I’m not sure if that successful), One son, his wife and their three perfect daughters and her daughter and fiancee all live with Vickie and her “husbian” in Sgt. Patch. Her census needed extra postage. Yeah there’s enough material there to fill a few hours. Vickie has performed in almost every State in the US, and had headlined in way too many venues to list here and TV out the YinYang, but trust us, this girl’s been around.
With the success of her hit single’Kiss The Rain’ from the debut record Growing, Pains, Billie Myers has proven her longevity as an artist. Myer’s live performances have been described as “electrifying” by Rolling Stone. She has toured extensively with the likes of Bob Dylan and Savage Garden and starred at Lilith Fair. Myers has worked with industry greats Desmond Child, Junior Vasquez and Peter Q. Harris. The London Times raves “Myers excels at weaving poetic narratives around starkly honest portraits of her life experiences reassuringly long on singer-songwriter talent.” Her new album, Tea & Sympathy, is out now on iTunes.
One of the most sought-after jokesmiths in the entertainment industry, Bruce Vilanch has become a recognizable face in his own right, thanks to the feature-length documentary Get Bruce! and his one-time stint as a regular on Hollywood Squares, for which he also served as head writer. He is perhaps best known as a regular gag-writer for the Academy Awards, which he has done since 1989.
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SummerStage Music
Fete De La Musique/Make Music NY Celebration: Salif Keita, Tabou Combo, Lo’Jo
When: Sunday, June 20, 2010 at 3:00PM
Where: Central Park/Mainstage
Iconic innovators from Mali and Haiti set the standards for global celebratory music, and are joined by the next generation of international visionaries.
Presented in association with the Cultural Services of the French Embassy with additional support from the French Bureau Export
Now in its fourth year, Make Music New York is a festival of free concerts throughout the five boroughs of New York City. Inspired by the French “Fête de la Musique” which takes place every year during the Summer Solstice in more than 327 cities around the world, this unique event is a global celebration of music.
Salif Keita’s career as a musician will always be colored by a history of ostracism due to his albinism, and the fact that he is a member of the Royal Family of Mali and the caste restrictions that should have barred him from becoming a performer. Instead, “The Golden Voice of Africa,” has become one of the most celebrated African vocalists of all time. With a career that spans four decades, his undeniable musical influence has had an impact worldwide — from western pop and rock to Pink Floyd, among others.
Tabou Combo is Haiti’s preeminent high-energy dance band, singing in English, Spanish, French and their native Creole. Tabou’s fresh interpretation of konpa borrows equally from Haiti’s traditional drum-heavy carnival music, the meringue of the Dominican Republic, and American R&B and soul.
Lo’Jo is a sextet that builds on France’s popular art form of street performance to reflect their diverse communal culture, and truly push the traditional music into a modern context by incorporating a variety of international grooves.
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SummerStage Music
CareFusion Jazz Festival New York: Mccoy Tyner Quartet featuring Ravi Coltrane, Esperanza Spalding and Francisco Mela & Stanley Clarke Band featuring Hiromi
When: Wednesday, June 23, 2010 at 7:00PM
Where: Central Park/Mainstage
An astonishing roster of luminaries and emerging lions on the jazz scene will unite their talents in a spectacular collaborative performance.
McCoy Tyner’s blues-based piano style, replete with sophisticated chords and an explosively percussive left hand, has transcended conventional styles to become one of the most identifiable sounds in improvised music. Tyner’s work with John Coltrane in the 1960s produced some of most canonical albums in the history of jazz. Many of Tyner’s musical compositions have long since become standards; his harmonic contributions and dramatic rhythmic devices form the vocabulary of a plurality of jazz pianists.
Born the second son of luminaries John and Alice Coltrane in 1965 in Long Island, critically acclaimed bandleader Ravi Coltrane has fronted a variety of jazz lineups, recorded critically-hailed albums as leader, produced recordings by artists, overseen important reissues and founded his own independent label. Ravi performs on the tenor and soprano sax both with his own group and in guest appearances with McCoy Tyner, Pharoah Sanders, Carlos Santana, Wayne Shorter, Stanley Clarke, Branford Marsalis and many others.
The twenty-five year old Esperanza Spalding is one of the freshest and hottest new voices in American jazz. Her two solo albums have won her universal critical acclaim, with no less than The New York Times praising Spalding as having “a light, fizzy, optimistic drive that’s in her melodic bass playing and her elastic, small-voiced singing.” Spalding recently had the honor of being hand-picked by President Barack Obama to play in Oslo Hall at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony.
Afro-Cuban jazz composer and bandleader Francisco Mela has been hailed as “one of the most important Cuban drummers in jazz” by Jazz Times. Since his debut release Melao, Mela has fast become one of the most talked about and in-demand drummers in New York and beyond.
Exploding onto the jazz scene in 1971, Stanley Clarke has since collaborated with Horace Silver, Art Blakey, Dexter Gordon, Joe Henderson, Pharaoh Saunders, Gil Evans, Stan Getz and Chick Corea. Clarke is the first bassist in history to launch a headline tour, selling out shows worldwide. Clarke’s artistry spans classical, jazz, R&B and pop idioms; he has earned an array of gold records for a variety of releases.
Hiromi first mesmerized the jazz community with her 2003 Telarc debut, Another Mind. The buzz started by her first album spread all the way back to her native Japan where Another Mind shipped gold and received the Recording Industry Association of Japan’s Jazz Album of the Year Award. The keyboardist and composer’s second release, Brain, won the Horizon Award at the 2004 Surround Music Awards, Swing Journal’s New Star Award, Jazz Life’s Gold Album, HMV Japan’s Best Japanese Jazz Album, and the Japan Music Pen Club’s Japanese Artist.
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SummerStage Music
Tinariwen, Omar Souleyman, Toubab Krewe
When: Saturday, June 26, 2010 at 3:00PM
Where: Central Park/Mainstage
Energizing rock rhythms and unexpected up-tempo dance beats from Africa and the Middle East will make you rethink party music.
Plagued by warfare and drought, the political and environmental plight of the Tuareg people of the Southern Sahara has been given voice by the electrifying music of Tinariwen. Formed in 1979, the band rose to prominence in the 1980s as the pied pipers of a new political and social conscience in the southern Sahara, becoming icons to a generation of young Tuareg living in exile in Algeria and Libya. In the early 2000s, Tinariwen attracted a following outside Africa, first in the world music community and then in the wider rock scene, thanks to frequent tours and appearances at festivals in Europe and the US. Tinariwen sing about the suffering and exile of their people, the semi-nomadic Kel Tamashek, and about the beauty of their desert home.
Since 1994, Omar Souleyman and his musicians have reigned supreme as a staple of Syria’s dance-folk-pop scene. To date, they have issued more than 500 studio and live recorded cassette albums, easily spotted in the shops of any Syrian city. A ground-breaking musician, Souleyman melds classical Arabic mawal-style vocalization with Syrian dabke (the regional folkloric dance and party music), Iraqi choubi, and contemporary Arabic, Kurdish and Turkish styles. The music often consists of phase-shifted Arabic keyboard solos and frantic rhythms. Oud, reeds, baglama saz, accompanying vocals and percussion fill out the sound from track to track. This performance offers a rare glimpse into Syrian street-level folk-pop phenomena seldom heard in the West.
Toubab Krewe has set a new standard for fusions of rock ’n’ roll and West African music. The North Carolina musicians developed their unique sound over the course of numerous extended trips to Mali, Guinea and the Ivory Coast, where they immersed themselves in the local culture and studied and performed with native musical luminaries. Their seminal new studio album, TK2, is a genre and mind-bending example of what the instrumental group’s “futuristic, psychedelic, neo-griot frenzy” (Village Voice) is all about. Featuring an uber-unique and seamless mix of ancient and modern instrumentation and sounds, TK2 defines Toubab Krewe as “one of the most innovative bands in music today” (Honest Tune).
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SummerStage Music
Gil Scott-Heron
When: Sunday, June 27, 2010 at 3:00PM
Where: Central Park/Mainstage
The godfather of hip-hop and neo soul performs classics and music from his first new album in over fifteen years.
Presented in association with Jill Newman productions
Part of the NYC Revolutions series
Gil Scott-Heron’s poetry and music is widely acknowledged as the matrix from which hip-hop and neo-soul emerged. His transgressive, politicized, spoken-word-meets-jazz recordings, including, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” “Whitey on the Moon,” “The Bottle” and “Small Talk at 125th and Lennox,” have been covered, sampled, referenced, deified and parodied by generations of artists. 2010 saw the release of I’m New Here, Scott-Heron’s first release in thirteen years. SPIN called the album, “not so much a comeback as a testament to spiritual resilience.”
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SummerStage Music
Definitely Poetry: Daniel Bernard Roumain with Emeline Michel, Erol Josue, Cave Canem Poets: Gina Dorcely, Gregory Pardlo, and Mervyn Taylor
When: Tuesday, June 29, 2010 at 7:00PM
Where: Central Park/Mainstage
Innovative, cutting-edge poets and musicians with a special eye to the art of Haiti.
Having carved a reputation for himself as an innovative composer, performer, violinist, and band leader, Haitian-American artist Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR) melds his classical music roots with his own cultural references and vibrant musical imagination. Proving that he’s “about as omnivorous as a contemporary artist gets” (
New York Times). His newest album,
Woodbox Beats and Balladry was recently released on Thirsty Ear Records. Join DBR with special guests Emeline Michel — beloved in her native country of Haiti for her skillful infusion of social, political and inspirational content into traditional rhythms and Erol Josué — renowned for his ties to voodoo as well as for his infectious pop music.
Cave Canem is a home for the many voices of contemporary African American poetry and is deeply committed to cultivating the artistic and professional growth of African American poets. Cave Canem’s public programs showcase the work of over 150 poets, while its publications reach a national audience.
Gina Dorcely is a Haitian-born poet, translator and non-fiction writer. With numerous notable writings to her credit, she is quickly gaining fame in the literary world.
Gregory Pardlo is a highly celebrated poet with a large body of work that defies simple categorization. A mastermind who takes inspiration from everything around him, he has spanned numerous topics and genres and was the first person of color to ever win the American Poetry Review’s Honickman Prize in 2007 for his book, Totem. His works have appeared in Calalloo, Gulf Coast, Lyric, Painted Bride Quarterly, Ploughshares, Seneca Review, Volt, Black Issues Book Review and on National Public Radio.
Mervyn Taylor is a Trinidad-born poet who has read his poems to diverse audiences nationally, and his work has appeared in such journals as Poetry International, St. Ann’s Review, Sulfur, Rattapallax, BigCityLit, and in the recent anthology, Chance of A Ghost. He is the author of three well-known volumes of poetry, An Island of His Own, The Goat, and the recently published, Gone Away. Taylor can also be heard reading his poetry on the CD, Road Clear, accompanied by renowned bassist, David Williams.
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SummerStage Music
Nuyorican Poets Café
When: Wednesday, June 30, 2010 at 7:00PM
Where: Central Park/Mainstage
The multicultural, multi-arts institution showcases new work from rising poets, actors, filmmakers and musicians.
Part of the NYC Revolutions series
The Nuyorican Poets Cafe comes uptown to SummerStage with performances by legendary poets Miguel Algarin, Sandra Maria Estevez, Lois Griffith and Edwin Torres, plus the contemporary faces of the Cafe — Carlos Andres Gomez, Mariposa, Helena D. Lewis, Tahani Salah, Jive Poetic, Vanessa Hidary and La Bruja. Mahogany L. Browne hosts the event, which also features music by Annette Aguilar and Carlos Cuestas as well as appearances by Rome Neal (founder of the Cafe’s Banana Puddin Jazz Jam) and Daniel Gallant (Executive Director of the Cafe). Grammy nominee Wilson “Chembo” Corniel, Jr. will close out the evening with his special brand of Latin jazz.
The Nuyorican Poets Cafe is a multicultural and multi-arts institution that nurtures new work by established artists from every discipline and gives voice to rising poets, actors, filmmakers and musicians who have not yet found a consistent haven for their work. Founded in 1973 by poets and playwrights Miguel Algarin, Miguel Pinero and Pedro Pietri, the Nuyorican Poets Cafe has championed the use of poetry and spoken word as means of social empowerment for minority and underprivileged artists. The Cafe’s Theater Program has won more than 30 Audelco Awards for excellence, and its Fifth Night screenplay series resulted in the production of 45 independent films. The Cafe was recently named one of ten semi-finalists for the 2010 New York Times Nonprofit Excellence Awards; it is the only arts organization among the semi-finalists. The Cafe was also recognized as the top alternative NYC cultural destination by USA Today. Thanks to the generous support of the National Endowment for the Arts, the Cafe will stage a festival in fall 2010 that commemorates 37 years of Nuyorican poetry and theater.
Poet/playwright Miguel Algarin has been at the center of Puerto Rican literary activity in New York City for 36 years, via his work at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe. He is the author of eight poetry collections and is professor emeritus of Shakespeare at Rutgers University. Algarin is the recipient of the Bessie Award for Outstanding Creative Achievement, and an OBIE for excellence in theatre. He is coeditor of Aloud: The Nuyorican Poets Cafe Anthology, published by Holt. He has received six American Book Awards and the Larry Leon Hamlin Producer’s Award at the 2001 National Black Festival.
Mahogany L. Browne is a Cave Canem Fellow, the Editor of the women’s anthology His Rib: Stories, Poems & Essays by HER and author of several books including her latest book of poems: Swag. She has released five LPs including the live album Sheroshima. As co-founder of the Off Broadway poetry production, Jam On It, and co-producer of NYC’s 1st Performance Poetry Festival: SoundBites Poetry Festival, Mahogany bridges the gap between lyrical poets and literary emcee. She facilitates performance poetry and writing workshops throughout the country, focusing on women empowerment and youth mentoring. Mahogany is currently host and curator of the Friday Night Poetry Slam at the Cafe.
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SummerStage Music
ISTANBULIVE II: The Sounds & Colors of Turkey featuring Kenan Dogulu, mor ve otesi, Ilhan Ersahin’s Istanbul Sessions, Burhan Ocal Tulug Tirpan, Sukriye Tutkun, & DJ Salih Saka
When: Saturday, July 3, 2010 at 3:00PM
Where: Central Park/Mainstage
East meets West in this spectacular festival of Turkish jazz, soul, dance, pop and folk music.
Presented in association with Serdar Ilhan & Mehmet Dede
With support from the Turkish Ministry of Culture & Tourism
Coinciding with the year Istanbul is celebrated as European Capital of Culture, the Istanbulive program will feature a myriad of sounds within the east-meets-west mold including Turkish rock, jazz, dance, pop and folk music.
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SummerStage Music
Nortec Collective Presents: Bostich & Fussible, El Guincho, Anita Tijoux. Presented in association with the 11th Annual LAMC
When: Wednesday, July 7, 2010 at 7:00PM
Where: Central Park/Mainstage
Electronic rock from Mexico, Barcelonan psychedelic Tropicalia and Chilean/French hip hop give you a taste of the diversity that is Latin Alternative music today.
Nortec Collective is a Tijuana / Baja, California-based outfit of producers and DJs who fuse pulsating electronics with traditional Mexican music. The word “nortec” is a mash-up of the words Norteño and techno and is used to describe the movement launched in the late 90s when producer Pepe Mogt began to mix electronic music with traditional sounds from the Norteño and Banda regions.
El Guincho arrived in Barcelona at the age of 20, where he started the hip-hop project Los Feriantes and the freestyle jam band Coconot, which melded Tropicália music with a Kraut-Rock ethos. His most recent solo incarnation builds on that trajectory by adding afro-beat percussion, calypso harmonies, world music samples, doo- wop, trance repetition, underwater pop, steel drums into club worthy song structures. His lives sets include voice, percussion and a Pandora’s box of samplers to create what has been dubbed “amazonic rave.”
Anita Tijoux was born in Lille, France, to a French mother and an exiled Chilean father. She first became famous in Latin America as the female MC of hip-hop group Makiza during the late nineties. In 2006, she crossed over to the Latin mainstream with her collaboration with Mexican songstress Julieta Venegas in the radio hit “Eres para mí.” She is currently promoting her first solo album, Kaos.
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SummerStage Music
Maldita Vecindad, The Pinker Tones, and Profectas
When: Saturday, July 10, 2010 at 3:00PM
Where: Central Park/Mainstage
Latin American rock stars from Mexico City and Barcelona dish out an explosion of ska, electopop and funk.
Maldita Vecindad, considered one of the most influential rock acts in all of Latin America, are best known for their energetic, ska-influenced live sets. Originally formed in Mexico City in 1985, the band has toured extensively alongside such artists as Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, INXS and Jane’s Addiction. In 2009, the band released
Circular Colectivo, their first studio recording as a band in over a decade.
Hailing from Barcelona, The Pinker Tones have earned international acclaim with their infectious electronic/indie-pop tunes. Led by Mister Furia and Professor Manso, The Pinker Tones create rollicking party music that prompted The New York Times to remark, “(w)hatever crops up in the music – retro-funk breakdowns, bachelor-pad bossa novas, catchy choruses in Romance languages – the beat endures and thrives.”
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SummerStage Music
SummerStage Concert: Dr. Jimmy Cliff, Trevor Hall, & Victor Deme
When: Sunday, July 11, 2010 at 3:00PM
Where: Central Park/Mainstage
The king of Jamaican reggae plays alongside roots newcomers from South Carolina and Burkina Faso.
Dr. Jimmy Cliff is the world’s the best-known living Jamaican reggae musician and songwriter. He is generally credited for helping popularize the genre internationally with his soundtrack to the movie
The Harder They Come, in which he also starred. His many hits include “Sitting In Limbo,” “You Can Get It If You Really Want” and “Many Rivers to Cross” and the now classic covers of “Wild World” and “I Can See Clearly Now.” He was recently inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and holds The Order of Merit, the highest honor granted by the Jamaican government for achievements in the arts.
Trevor Hall, a native of South Carolina, has been writing and performing since he was fourteen years old. His unconventional mix of acoustic rock and reggae serves as a vibrant backdrop for thought-provoking, inspiring lyrics, which he delivers in a uniquely soulful voice. Of his self-titled 2009 album, Rolling Stone says, “Trevor Hall fills his third album with spiritually inclined roots jams.”
For more than thirty years, Victor Démé has performed his soulful blend of rootsy African blues in bars and clubs of his home town of Ouagadougou, the capital of the landlocked West African nation of Burkina Faso. His heartful vocals evoke the struggle of a hard lived life, but also the confidence and wisdom of a man who comes from the griot tradition and spends his life honing his craft. Having already won acclaim throughout Europe, this is his US debut. But it wasn’t until the intervention of a French journalist and local hip-hop club promoter that he was able to record his first album of all original material. In 2009, his self-titled debut of rootsy blues gems was finally released internationally.
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SummerStage Music
Raphael Saadiq, Aloe Blacc, and Special Guests
When: Saturday, July 17, 2010 at 3:00PM
Where: Central Park/Mainstage
Award-winning songwriting/producer/performer Raphael Saadiq brings new meaning to old soul.
Raphael Saadiq is a standard bearer for ’old school’ soul, a contemporary artist continuing the time-honored American tradition rooted in the sounds of ’60s and ’70s. From his early days as a member of the groundbreaking ’80s group Tony! Toni! Toné!, through his work as an award-winning producer for Joss Stone, The Roots, Snoop Dogg, and John Legend, and in his own perfectly crafted solo albums, the multi-talented Saadiq has kept the faith. His latest release, the three-time Grammy-nominated The Way I See It, was named the Album of the Year by iTunes. While other contemporary artists may attempt to emulate the sound and flavor of soul, Saadiq brings real emotion and production values that are simply “right on.”
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SummerStage Music
Global Family Day presented in association with Parents® House of Kids: Featuring Ralph’s World, Bethany and Rufus and Cirque-tacular Entertainment
When: Sunday, July 18, 2010 at 3:00PM
Where: Central Park/Mainstage
An afternoon of family fun with songs that kids and grown-ups will treasure equally.
This annual family affair will spark imagination, nurture creativity and celebrate the kid in us all through puppetry, music, mime, acrobats and magical mayhem. Featuring catchy kid-friendly rockers, captivating American roots musicians, interactive story-tellers, face-painters, puppet shows, jugglers, and an instrument-making workshop, this afternoon is sure to be enjoyable for both kids and adults!
Amongst the many rockers now making kid-friendly records, there’s the original genre-breaker Ralph Covert, an irrepressibly enthusiastic performer who rocks just as hard for kids as he does for grown-ups. A genuine smile on his face and too-cool shoes on his feet, his traveling circus of catchiness known as Ralph’s World is equally loved by hip-seeking parents as it is by children, fortunate to be living in an era where their music both rocks and respects their intelligence and curiosity. The New York Times says “It is possible that Mr. Covert will turn out to be [the] genre’s Elvis Presley or, at the very least, its Elvis Costello.” He’ll be with his rock’n’roll band playing songs from his new album on BarNone Records, All Around Ralph’s World, plus classics from his eight Disney releases, all suitable for dancing and singing along– regardless of one’s height or age. “The traveling circus of catchiness known as Ralph’s World is equally loved by cool-seeking parents as it is by children.”
When Bethany Yarrow and Rufus Cappadocia join forces on stage they spark a fire-in-the-belly, soul-stirring experience of American roots music that lingers long after the concert ends. Sliding between groove, world, and blues they push the boundaries of American Roots music far into unexpected territories. As the daughter of Peter Yarrow (of the famous folk band, Peter, Paul and Mary), Bethany absorbed much of this music through osmosis in her early childhood, but it’s her tour-de-force stage presence, mesmerizing voice and deep knowledge of the material that allows her to turn these songs inside out and make them her own. Rufus Cappadocia is a multi instrumentalist, composer, and instrument designer. He is known both for his solo cello recordings as well as his collaborations with artists from around the world including Urban Tap, The Paradox Trio, and the Vodou Drums of Haiti. Drawing from the modalities of Middle Eastern, West African, European and American folk forms, Cappadocia’s effortless and natural embrace of music is awe-inspiring.
Cirque-tacular Entertainment is a premiere creator of new American circus and variety productions. They have performed throughout the world, before both live audiences and through appearances on major television networks. Their art has reached millions of viewers. Under the leadership of Tad Emptage, and supported by the work core members Melissa Marie Wilhelm and Aaron Bonventre, the group is now complemented by twenty resident performer-creators. Watch as the skilled acrobats of Cirque-Tacular perform one dazzling, death-defying feat of athletic prowess after another. Spectacular aerial numbers, gorgeously choreographed ground acrobatics, energetic music and bright, and beautiful costumes bring the most thrilling and irresistible aspects of the circus arts into one electrifying show.
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SummerStage Theater
Comedy Central Park presents The Daily Show and Friends, hosted by Lewis Black
When: Wednesday, July 21, 2010 at 8:00PM
Where: Central Park/Mainstage
SummerStage is pleased to welcome back Comedy Central for our fourth annual free comedy program. This show will feature stand-up performances by correspondents and friends of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart including Rory Albanese, John Oliver, Rob Riggle and more.
SummerStage is pleased to welcome back Comedy Central for our fourth annual free comedy program. This show will feature stand-up performances by correspondents and friends of
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart including Rory Albanese, John Oliver, Rob Riggle and more.
Lewis Black has performed his caustic, cranky, bile-spewing, dead-on social and political comedy throughout Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States. As “America’s Foremost Commentator on Everything,” he is a weekly political commentator on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and has starred in comedy specials for the network.
Rory Albanese is a four time Emmy award winning Executive Producer/ Writer of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Rory is also an accomplished stand-up comedian, recently appearing in his own Comedy Central half-hour special. He has toured with such comics as John Oliver, Lewis Black and Jon Stewart. Rory can be seen headlining at clubs and colleges throughout the country.
John Oliver has been a writer and correspondent on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart since 2006. John is currently appearing in a recurring role in the NBC series, Community, and his own series for Comedy Central, John Oliver’s New York Stand-Up Show. John has had multiple Writers Guild and Emmy Nominations for his writing on The Daily Show and in 2009 he won the Emmy Award for Best Comedy Writing in a Comedy or Variety Series.
Rob Riggle has been performing sketch and improvisational comedy in New York and Los Angeles for the last 12 years as part of the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater. Rob’s film and television work include The Hangover, Saturday Night Live, Arrested Development, The Office, and Talladega Nights.
Plus, Comedy Central’s AddressTheMess will return again this year to distribute free reusable tote bags to the first 3,000 attendees and invite fans to properly dispose of their recyclables. Wanna help? Visit addressthemess.com or comedycentral.com for more details on becoming a Mess-enger! Enjoy reserved seating & one drink on the house. AddressTheMess is committed to helping our fans be more eco-conscious; getting a prime spot is just gravy.
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SummerStage Dance
The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
When: Saturday, July 24, 2010 at 8:00PM
Where: Central Park/Mainstage
The world-renowned Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater returns to SummerStage for a weekend of cutting edge dance performances.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, one of the world’s favorite dance companies, comes to SummerStage to show off the brilliant artistry and passionate energy that bring audiences around the globe to their feet night after night. What makes this phenomenal company so special is the incomparable sense of joy, freedom and spirit that the dancers and audiences share. Discover for yourself what millions of fans already know– you don’t just see an Ailey performance, you feel it.
This engagement marks the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s return to Central Park, where their first SummerStage performance in 1993 yielded over 30,000 attendees and rave reviews. Alvin Ailey believed that “dance came from the people and should always be delivered back to the people.” Join Ailey’s acclaimed dancers in a moving celebration of the human spirit in their highly anticipated SummerStage homecoming performances this season.
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SummerStage Music
Bassekou Kouyate + Ngoni Ba, Burkina Electric, Fool’s Gold
When: Sunday, July 25, 2010 at 3:00PM
Where: Central Park/Mainstage
An inside look into the past, present and future of West African music.
As a master of the West African lute known as the ngoni, Bassekou Kouyate first gained popularity in his home country of Mali working extensively with such esteemed artists as the late Ali Farka Touré, Taj Mahal, and Toumani Diabate. Since 2005, Kouyate has led Ngoni Ba, the first-ever band built around four ngonis, all played by members of his family. The show is a high energy blend of traditional artistry, blues, and rock roll.
Burkina Electric is the first electronica band to hail from Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso. This diverse group combines Burkinabé grooves, sounds of traditional instruments, and other African traditions with popular dance music to create a unique and refreshing musical world.
The buzzed-about L.A.-based collective Fool’s Gold weaves Western art-pop aesthetics with African rhythms and melodies. The group’s sound explores their love of various African forms of music, as well as ’80s dance-influenced pop music, with vocals in Hebrew and English. The end result is an infectious, effervescent blend as sunny as the California basin from which they hail.
DJ Frank/VooDoo Funk has lived and travelled in West Africa since 2005, while playing music and building up a unique collection of rare West African Funk records, and unknown grooves to now share with the rest of the world.
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SummerStage Music
The Flaming Lips: Sold Out!
When: Monday, July 26, 2010 at 7:00PM
Where: Central Park/Mainstage
Legendary for their wild stage shows, The Flaming Lips are among the most notorious and beloved rock and roll bands in the world.
Grammy winners The Flaming Lips have long been known for their lush, multi-layered, psychedelic arrangements, peppered with spacey lyrics and bizarre song and album titles—for example, “Psychiatric Explorations of the Fetus with Needles” and
Transmissions from the Satellite Heart, which featured the hit single, “She Don’t Use Jelly.” They are also acclaimed for their elaborate live shows, which feature costumes, balloons, puppets, video projections, complex stage light configurations, giant hands, large amounts of confetti, and front-man Wayne Coyne’s signature man-sized plastic bubble, in which he traverses the audience. Q magazine has named The Flaming Lips as one of the “Fifty Bands to See Before You Die.”
Presented in association with The Bowery Presents
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SummerStage Music
The Black Keys, The Morning Benders: Sold Out!
When: Tuesday, July 27, 2010 at 6:30PM
Where: Central Park/Mainstage
Bluesy indie pop and rock, supercharged with energy, gritty riffs and wild emotion.
The Black Keys’ highly anticipated sixth new album,
Brothers is due out in early 2010. Of the band, Rolling Stone says “rock of this caliber is really timeless.” The Black Keys are Dan Auerbach on guitar/vocals and Patrick Carney on drums. The new album was recorded at the legendary Muscle Shoals Studios in Alabama.
The New York Times has called The Black Keys’ music “tough-minded, blues haunted songs,” and the ghosts of Muscle Shoals inhabit
Brothers’ 15 tracks. Of the album, Auerbach says, “We like spooky sounds… like Alice Coltrane, where a dark groove is laid down. That’s the headspace we tried to get into for this record.”
The Morning Benders are fast gaining indie fame with a distinctive sound, featuring a plethora of instruments and skillful multi-layered vocals. This year saw the release of Big Echo which has garnered a myriad of amazing press. It was produced by the band’s Christopher Chu and Grizzly Bear’s Chris Taylor. The New York Times said of the pairing, “their shared fondness for California pop gloss with experimental underpinnings, from Brian Wilson and psychedelia to Fleetwood Mac, has transformed a straightforward, 1960s-loving, folk-rock and Merseybeat band into one whose songs exult in texture… It’s a splendid transformation.” Pitchfork gave the album an 8.2 and said “Morning Benders (have a) stylistic transition, one any band would envy and many listeners will love.”
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SummerStage Music
Concert: The Black Keys & The Morning Benders
When: Wednesday, July 28, 2010 at 6:30PM
Where: Central Park/Mainstage
Bluesy indie pop and rock, supercharged with energy, gritty riffs and wild emotion.
The Black Keys’ highly anticipated sixth new album,
Brothers is due out in early 2010. Of the band, Rolling Stone says “rock of this caliber is really timeless.” The Black Keys are Dan Auerbach on guitar/vocals and Patrick Carney on drums. The new album was recorded at the legendary Muscle Shoals Studios in Alabama.
The New York Times has called The Black Keys’ music “tough-minded, blues haunted songs,” and the ghosts of Muscle Shoals inhabit
Brothers’ 15 tracks. Of the album, Auerbach says, “We like spooky sounds… like Alice Coltrane, where a dark groove is laid down. That’s the headspace we tried to get into for this record.”
The Morning Benders are fast gaining indie fame with a distinctive sound, featuring a plethora of instruments and skillful multi-layered vocals. This year saw the release of Big Echo which has garnered a myriad of amazing press. It was produced by the band’s Christopher Chu and Grizzly Bear’s Chris Taylor. The New York Times said of the pairing, “their shared fondness for California pop gloss with experimental underpinnings, from Brian Wilson and psychedelia to Fleetwood Mac, has transformed a straightforward, 1960s-loving, folk-rock and Merseybeat band into one whose songs exult in texture… It’s a splendid transformation.” Pitchfork gave the album an 8.2 and said “Morning Benders (have a) stylistic transition, one any band would envy and many listeners will love.”
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SummerStage Music
Jovanatti, Los Amigos Invisibles, Natalia Lafourcade
When: Saturday, July 31, 2010 at 3:00PM
Where: Central Park/Mainstage
A convergence of pop superstars from Italy, Venezuela and Mexico represent the global connectivity and collective ability to merge musical genres of dance, elctro, hip-hop and pop.
Italian superstar Jovanotti is perhaps the best known pop/hip-hop artist in Italy’s history, regularly performing to sold-out stadium crowds throughout his native land. Jovanotti has consistently explored and integrated other musical genres such as folk, rock and even classical into his vast repertoire. He has proven to be as comfortable appearing on record with Pavarotti as with Bono. In July 2009, Jovanotti took a break from the stadium lights to do a run of small, decidedly stripped-down acoustic performances at intimate NYC and this marks his return to the big stage audiences expect.
Los Amigos Invisibles, originally from Venezuela, can always get a party started with their dance-inducing fusion of funk, disco and acid jazz. The band made a name for themselves in 1995 with their debut album A Typical Autoctonal Venezuelan Dance Band, which they performed live in a series of underground dance parties in abandoned clubs throughout Caracas. In 2009, the band released their seventh studio album, Commercial, a critical success that garnered the band a Latin Grammy for Best Latin Alternative Album.
Natalia Lafourcade is a superstar in her native Mexico. Her music explores the joining lines of bossa-nova and rock through a pop style that is coquettish, flirty and sweet in the style of Tori Amos or Björk.
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SummerStage Music
St.Vincent, tUnE-yArDs, Basia Bulat
When: Sunday, August 1, 2010 at 3:00PM
Where: Central Park/Mainstage
Three of North America’s most compelling female songwriters share the stage to sing their carefully-crafted songs that are at once confident and delicate, brimming with beautiful melodies and narratives.
St. Vincent is the nom-du-microphone of multi-instrumentalist/chanteuse Annie Clark. This Dallas-raised, doe-eyed songbird began her musical career performing with Sufjan Stevens and The Polyphonic Spree. In 2007, St. Vincent released her debut solo debut effort
Marry Me, catapulting the young singer to the top of critics lists and earning a PLUG Independent Music Award for Female Artist of the Year. Her second album, 2009’s
Actor, prompted Pitchfork to exult “St. Vincent is an artist capable of crafting believable, complicated characters with compassion, insight, and exacting skill.”
tUnE-yArDs is the singular musical project of New England native Merrill Garbus. Possessing an expansive sound that marries a coarse folk ingenuity with the bold pop sensibility of an R&B siren, her debut release BiRd-BrAiNs was assembled with a staunch DIY aesthetic. She is aptly described by Stereogum as “a self-contained Sublime Frequencies compilation, jumping between blues, African tunes, shiny reggae-esque sprawls and lo-fi folk.”
From the age of three, singer-songwriter Basia Bulat has been perched on a piano, playing. In time she picked up guitar, autoharp, banjo, ukulele, sax, upright bass and flute. Her songs are breathless and thirsty; influenced by the spirits of Jeff Magnum, Odetta, Emily Dickinson, as well as soul-music. Bulat’s songs reflect the stillness of experience on the road, hand-in-hand with a freshly blossoming career.
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SummerStage Music
Clark Sisters and Kierra Kiki Sheard
When: Saturday, August 7, 2010 at 3:00PM
Where: Central Park/Mainstage
Detroit family legacies live on in these soulful gospel tunes bursting with a wide range of vocal and melodic harmony.
Presented in association with WLIB and Globestar Media
Four of the most celebrated voices in gospel history–The Clark Sisters: Jacky, Twinkie, Dorinda and Karen–have spent three decades singing, preaching, evangelizing and teaching the Word at home and abroad. With three Grammys under their belt and twelve full-length records to date, they are credited as cornerstone performers in the mainstream, contemporary gospel style.
Kierra “Kiki” Sheard is the latest generation of a legendary Gospel music family. The daughter of Karen Clark-Sheard of The Clark Sisters, she continues the family legacy of spiritual encouragement with a sound and perspective that is all her own. Inspired by her personal experiences, her latest release, Bold Right Life, features cutting-edge music that could be at home in churches and clubs alike, bringing her open declaration of the love for Gospel to the forefront.
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SummerStage Music
The xx, Chairlift, Jack Peñate
When: Sunday, August 8, 2010 at 7:00PM
Where: Central Park/Mainstage
Breakthrough indie favorites bring the soulful magnetism of their dreamy elecropop to the stage.
Presented in association with Meanred Productions
The xx are making a quick ascension to pop fame with their dreamy, post-punk songs. The British band’s 2009 debut, simply titled xx, caught the attention of music critics and fans alike, which lead to sold out tour dates around the globe, as well as wide-spread acclaim. NPR says, “Both casually cool and absolutely magnetic, this young London (band) makes music that’s simple and raw, but utterly captivating.”
Chairlift formed in 2006 to make music for haunted houses (!), but has since abandoned that mission to make cleverly seductive psych-pop instead. Best known for their song “Bruises,” Chairlift is part of a collaborative circle of Brooklyn experimental pop magicians including MGMT, Yeasayer, Telepathe, and Class Actress.
UK singer/songwriter Jack Peñate pieces together a collage of up-tempo sounds from a myriad of influences. Rolling Stone describes Peñate’s sophomore release, 2009’s Everything is New, as “a more mature album… that jumps from classic soul to Afropop to Tropicalia with a rock undercurrent. As advertised, everything is new this time around for the twenty-four year old soul-singing Brit rocker.”
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SummerStage Music
Bachata Fest featuring Andy Andy, Luis Miguel de la Amargue, Elvis Martinez and Alexandra
When: Saturday, August 14, 2010 at 3:00PM
Where: Central Park/Mainstage
Some of the world’s best known and most beloved Latin American bachata artists.
Presented in association with Globe Star Media
Dominican singer Andy Andy has emerged as one of a handful of musicians on the cutting edge of the bachata craze. Andy began his music career as a merenguero before making the switch to the increasingly popular bachata style. With 5 solo chart-topping bachata albums to his credit, Andy Andy has consistently maintained himself on Billboard’s Top Tropical album charts .
Luis Miguel de la Amargue, known as the “King of Bachata” has taken his music worldwide and is one of the most respected artists in the genre. The multi-award winner and recipient of 2009’s “Bachatero of the Year” and “Bachata Song of the Year” is a genre favorite not to be missed.
Elvis Martínez, a.k.a. El Camarón, is one of the most popular bachata performers around. He got his start in the 1990s, and has been on the fast track ever since. Martínez has the distinction of being not only a singer but also a songwriter and guitarist as well.
Alexandra is best known as half of the hugely successful Monchy y Alexandra who began singing together in 1999. They have been often credited with being instrumental in popularizing bachata music outside of the Dominican Republic. Alexandra is now embarking on a highly anticipated solo career, and is certain not to disappoint.
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SummerStage Music
Public Enemy, Blitz The Ambassador, The 7th Octave
When: Sunday, August 15, 2010 at 3:00PM
Where: Central Park/Mainstage
The most influential and controversial rap group of the’80’s performs on the 20th anniversary of their seminal album Fear of a Black Planet, with two rising and equally political new comers.
Part of the NY Revolutions series
Public Enemy rewrote the rules of hip-hop, becoming the most influential and controversial rap groups of all time. Public Enemy pioneered a variation of rap that was revolutionary. With his powerful, authoritative baritone, co-founder Chuck D rhymed about all kinds of social problems, particularly those plaguing the Black community, often condoning revolutionary tactics and social activism. In the process, he directed hip-hop toward an explicitly self-aware, Pro-Black consciousness. Musically, Public Enemy were just as revolutionary, creating dense soundscapes that relied on avant-garde cut-and-paste techniques, unrecognizable samples, piercing sirens, relentless beats, and deep funk. It was chaotic and invigorating music, made all the more intoxicating by Chuck D’s forceful vocals and the absurdist raps of his comic foil Flavor Flav. Today, PE celebrates the twentieth anniversary of their classic, influential album Fear of A Black Planet.
Ghanaian hip-hop artist Blitz the Ambassador uses rousing horns and clever beats that make him impossible to take lightly. Alongside his band, The Embassy Ensemble, Blitz tests the limits of hip-hop with live instruments and heavily complex, cross-cultural musical exploration.
In an age of disposable, cookie cutter acts, The 7th Octave offers up a different musical and lyrical perspective, combining metal riffs and blistering instrumentation with fiery, socially aware lyrics to provoke the minds of the new millennium generation.
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SummerStage Music
Chrisette Michelle, Mario and Tamia
When: Saturday, August 21, 2010 at 3:00PM
Where: Central Park/Mainstage
Contemporary soul ingénues at the forefront of contemporary R&B.
Presented in Association with WBLS and Globestar Media
Chrisette Michele, a New York native described as a “soulful songbird” by Entertainment Weekly, released her debut album I Am in 2007 to considerable acclaim. Nominated for a BET Award for Best New Artist Release, as well as two Grammys, I Am was both a critical success and a fans’ delight. Her 2009 follow up, Epiphany, went to #1 on the Billboard charts and has produced a slew of jazzy R&B hits, including the title track, “Epiphany,” “Blame It On Me,” “What You Do” and her most recent single “All I Ever Think About.”
Mario Barrett, the Baltimore native better known simply as Mario, has been a staple on the pop and R&B charts from the age of fifteen with his savvy breakout rendition of Biz Markie’s “Just a Friend.” His self-titled debut album featured songs by Alicia Keys and helped launch the career of Ne-Yo, who wrote Mario’s double-platinum international #1 hit “Let Me Love You.” Mario’s most recent album D.N.A. features the charting singles “Break Up” featuring Sean Garrett and Gucci Mane and “Thinkin’ About You.”
Six-time Grammy Award-winning artist and urban R&B chanteuse Tamia has garnered international fame for her hit single “Stranger In My House” and her various collaborations with legends like Babyface and Quincy Jones. A velvet voice and sinuous, sexy tunes accommodate her honest and heartbreakingly real lyrics.
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SummerStage Music
The Specials, Black Joe Lewis and The Honeybears and $mall ¢hange
When: Sunday, August 22, 2010 at 3:00PM
Where: Central Park/Mainstage
UK ska-revivalists The Specials always tear up a party with their irresistible dance-punk grooves.
What better way to salute summer than with a blowout 30th anniversary show with famed rude boys, The Specials? These UK second-wave revivalists, responsible for such hits as “A Message To You, Rudy,” “Ghost Town,” and “Too Much Too Young” will bring their infectious blend of ska-meets-rock steady to Central Park in high, 2 Tone fashion.
Austin, Texas-based Black Joe Lewis and The Honeybears play juke-joint soul with gritty attitude and a greasy groove. With his hipbone swinging, his heart pounding and his mind in the gutter, Louis’ funky, supercharged gutbucket R&B is sure to spark the crowd to life. Bring your dancing shoes and prepare to get a nasty sweat on!
Over the past 15 years $mall ¢hange (a.k.a. James Dier) has done just about every type of DJ gig. From the finest lofts in Manhattan to pirate radio on the burning man playa, from afternoon museum throw-downs to after-hours Brooklyn warehouses, he is fully prepared to rock the house every time, with years of dance floor experience and skills to pay the bills. $mall ¢hange has tens of thousands of records at the ready, spanning the hit singles to the extremely obscure, in every conceivable genre and time period.
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SummerStage Music
Pavement: Sold Out!
When: Tuesday, September 21, 2010 at 7:00PM
Where: Central Park/Mainstage
The pioneers of 90’s underground alternative bring their enchanting lo-fi guitar and cryptic lyrics into the sunshine of Central Park.
Pavement mark the point when post-punk turned into alternative rock. When their first EP, Slay Tracks, was released in 1989, it sparked a back-to-the-garage movement in the American underground. While there were a number of hardcore and punk bands in the U.S. during the late ’80s, Pavement brought guitar pop back into the underground lexicon. Combining ringing guitar hooks with mumbled, cryptic lyrics and a D.I.Y. aesthetic borrowed from post-punk, the band simultaneously sounded traditional and modern. Though there were no overt innovations in their music, Pavement had an identity and sense of purpose that transformed the American underground. Throughout the ’90s, they worked relentlessly, releasing records every year and touring constantly, playing both theaters and backwoods dives. Along the way, they inspired countless bands, from the legions of jangle pop groups in the mid-’90s to scores of alternative pop groups in the ’00s, who admired their slow climb to stardom.
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SummerStage Music
The Music of the Black Sea Roma Festival featuring: Mahala Rai Banda, Selim Sesler The NY Gypsy All-Stars , Técsöi; Banda and The Yuri Yunakov Ensemble
When: Sunday, September 26, 2010 at 3:00PM
Where: Central Park/Mainstage
An exploration of the wild multi-cultural tapestry of Gypsy music from across Europe.
Making its US debut, the wild, twelve-member Roma (Gypsy) band Mahala Rai Banda is comprised of the crème de la crème of musicians from the famed Clejani and Zece Prajini Romanian villages, home of Taraf de Haidouks and Fanfare Ciocarlia respectively. Combining power and finesse, groove and virtuosity, the group’s music is where Balkan brass meets sizzling strings for up-tempo, catchy melodies propelled along by funky brass riffs, accordion and cimbalom.
The great Turkish Rom (Gypsy) clarinetist Selim Sesler, “The Coltrane of the Clarinet” (Guardian) is famed for his masterful improvisations, funk-driven wedding songs and dance melodies and will be joined on stage by the NY Gypsy All-Stars.
Técsöi; Banda, a raucous family fiddle band making its US debut, provides a rollicking ride through the Carpathians. Stars of the recent film The Last Kolomeyka, Técsöi serves up a multi-ethnic mix of spinning dance tunes, magical improvisations and haunting shepherds’ laments.
Ranging from the intensely personal sound of a Gypsy sax solo to the dizzying polyrhythmic beat of Bulgarian wedding music, the Yuri Yunakov Ensemble is one of the leading bands on the world music scene.
Presented in association with World Music Institute, The Center for Traditional Music and Dance, and NY Gypsy Festival
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YUP, THAT’S A SUMMER OF ACTION AND ADVENTURE. WE HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE.
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