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Current Projects
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African Blues (Putumayo), The blues has long been about storytelling, about raising a voice from the margins and edges of American life. As it spread from the Deep South to Chicago and beyond, the blues incorporated a powerful musical groove which has influenced music around the world. Now, musicians are reaching across the Atlantic and finding that they have a common story to tell in shades of blue. 11/02/11 >> go there
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Arieb Azhar, 2012 Center Stage Tour, Singer-songwriter Arieb Azhar learned music playing guitar as a Karachi teenager and found his voice, drifting disillusioned from crumbling Soviet Minsk to the streets of war-torn Zagreb, where he discovered the deep currents of Sufi poetry and songs of Irish resistance and Roma delight. It’s a voice poised to start a meaningful conversation between Americans and Pakistanis. 10/20/11 >> go there
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Auktyon, Top (Geometriya), Russia’s Auktyon is a lost folklore ensemble darting behind an avant jazz collective, hidden inside a hugely popular rock band. It’s Animal Collective tangoing through the salon with The Art Ensemble of Chicago, nodding its Radiohead. A riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma. 12/07/11 >> go there
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BélO, 2012 Center Stage Tour, BélO, Haiti’s outspoken groove innovator, interweaves the Afro-Caribbean depths of Haitian tradition with a progressive voice for social and political transformation. BélO keeps the socially conscious spirit of reggae alive, while drawing on the vibrant sounds of his artsy native town of Croix des Bouquet, and a globally informed, upbeat pan-African vibe. It was there BélO first performed as a shy grade schooler, and recorded his first tape. 10/20/11 >> go there
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Beloved Sacred Arts & Music Festival 2012, The sun rose and the ragas began. After dancing all night to edgy cascades of electronica, a few happy souls sat at daybreak on the edge of Oregon’s Coastal Range. A classical Indian singer’s pure voice rang out. 03/26/12 >> go there
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Caramelo, Ride, Flamenco. It’s not about performing; it’s about distilling life’s passion, pain, and love into a single ornament, into one potent gesture. From kitchens to street corners, it’s at its most powerful when it entwines with life in cities like Sevilla, Spain. 04/03/12 >> go there
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Center Stage 2012 Tours, Sufi-rock bands from Lahore…master Haitian troubadours… puppetry and Hip Hop collectives from Yogyakarta… power-house contemporary dance companies from Port-au-Prince and Padang… Acclaimed at home but little-known to many Americans, performing artists from Pakistan, Haiti, and Indonesia will tour the U.S. from June through December 2012 as part of Center Stage. 10/18/11 >> go there
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Chicha Libre, Canibalismo (Barbès Records), It’s no joke: A Venezuelan, Mexican, two Americans, and two French guys walk into a bar. A bar that had been transformed into a control booth, while the backroom turned into a recording studio, with coils of effects pedal lines, quirky vintage electronics and homegrown synthesizers, a nylon-stringed cuatro, congas and a battery of timbales. 01/26/12 >> go there
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Compagnie de Danse Jean-René Delsoin, 2012 Center Stage Tour, The Compagnie de Danse Jean-René Delsoin, like its founder and mastermind, moves through the many worlds that intersect in Haiti: the rough-edged and vivacious rural dances and ceremonies, the refined social dance of the cities, and the vivid yet stark lines of contemporary global dance. 10/20/11 >> go there
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Drums United, Heartbeat (Tam Tam Records), Sticks dance, palms fly, drums talk. It’s a percussive, stirring statement that sways between lyrical and funky, between full-on boom and perfectly tuned tap, between continents and languages. 02/28/12 >> go there
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Eileen Ivers, 2012 US Tour, Groundbreaking Irish-American fiddler Eileen Ivers can keep up with classical virtuosi while keeping up the warmth of a kitchen party with her group, Immigrant Soul. She can shred, play reels through a cry-baby pedal, inspire with a bittersweet air and with her signature intensity, all while transmitting her deep love for tradition. The audience and stage become one through the interactiveness of the music, the joy of the musicians and the passion with which Ivers shares the stories of these traditions. 08/23/10 >> go there
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Everyone Orchestra, Brooklyn Sessions (Harmonized Records), One part fiery conductor, one part sonic ringleader, he wields a whiteboard, flying fingers, and a knowing, joyful grin. His gestures, expressions, hints, and jotted words get music flowing like electricity through a live wire, uniting musical strangers with an uncanny sense for spontaneous songcraft. 03/15/12 >> go there
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globalFEST at Bonnaroo, Manchester, TN, Since it began nine years ago, globalFEST has become North America's most influential showcase and festival of global music, centered around its annual multi-stage event in New York each January. But now it’s taking the show—and its distinctive curatorial vision—on the road to Bonnaroo. 09/21/11 >> go there
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Harmonia, Hidden Legacy (FolkSounds Records), Can you keep a secret? There’s a party going on you’ve never heard about, every weekend. Behind unmarked doors and down basement stairs, dancers dressed to the nines whip around in joyful circles, shout for more when the tune stops, and teenagers trade centuries-old dance steps all night long. 03/29/12 >> go there
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Henry Cole & the Afro-Beat Collective, Roots Before Branches, Quicksilver Puerto Rican drummer Henry Cole knows how Wayne Shorter might have jammed with Fela Kuti. Or what Miles would have done if only he’d gone Afro-Caribbean with his rock-jazz hybrids. He hears how jazz can grab the rootsy sounds of bomba, plena, and Cuban rumba, and sparkle with electro sheen and rock energy. 11/10/11 >> go there
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Ibrahim Maalouf, Diagnostic (Mi'ster Productions), Composer and masterful trumpet player Ibrahim Maalouf was in the mountains of Lebanon, in his backyard. “I was taking sticks and hitting these big metal things that were in the garden, left there for ages,” Maalouf explains. “And suddenly, it appeared to me that I needed strong drums. Stronger than samples, or a regular drum set.” So, in Paris, he recruited Zalindê, a 17-member, all-female, Brazilian-style batucada ensemble to blast out potent rhythm tracks. 04/25/12 >> go there
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Imani Uzuri, The Gypsy Diaries, The mysterious figure on the moonlit railway platform, the passerby on the dusty road are not strangers; they are friends and fellow travelers. And to stunning vocalist and thoughtful, globally-inspired composer Imani Uzuri, they spark melodies and musical connections. 04/11/12 >> go there
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Jogja Hip Hop Foundation, 2012 Center Stage Tour, There’s a place where 18th-century spells and mantras slip organically into glittering breakbeats. Where the gamelan flutes and roundly resonant percussion swirl around a crisp rap flow. Where time-honored literature is bumpin’ and where the musically inclined intonation and punctuated rhythm of poetry turns tradition inside out. 10/20/11 >> go there
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Kabbalah, 2012 US Tour, The siren in the red dress, brandishing a bow and a bullhorn, whispers sweet nothings in your ear while an MC raps in a sadly neglected, vividly colorful language. The vintage-toned melodies, trip-hop vibes, and hard-hitting trance-inducing African rhythms swirl through the Marseilles night. 05/14/12 >> go there
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KG Omulo, Ayah Ye! Moving Train, Singer, songwriter, and dance-floor instigator KG Omulo can do anything. He regularly packs American clubs with gritty calls for justice and hard-hitting Afrofunk. He has moved sold-out arenas with his baritone voice in his native Kenya. He takes on the dark ironies of politics, with anger in the groove, reveling in the potential to shake things up while shaking your thing. 08/12/11 >> go there
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Khaira Arby, 2012 Tour, Returning to the U.S. for a whirlwind April-May tour, Khaira Arby promises to mesmerize audiences with an intensity that flows from her home and from her unique spirit. Cities include Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Montreal, New York, San Diego, SF Bay Area, and Toronto, as well as the Festival International in Lafayette, LA and the Joshua Tree Festival in Joshua Tree, CA. 06/10/10 >> go there
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Ljuba Davis Ladino Ensemble, East and West, Singer Ljuba Davis walked into a courtyard in the old section of Barcelona—and knew she had been there before.
“I found myself in front of a church. It was like I’d been there before, and it was like the gift store shouldn’t have been there. I’d never been there in my life,” Davis recalls. “It was terrifying. I felt cold and clammy, and couldn’t put finger on what was going on.” 04/25/12 >> go there
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LoCura, Semilla Caminante, Drive down a barely noticed dirt road, in the shadow of Mt. Tamalpais or deep in the hills of gold rush country. Turn right at Granada, left when you hit Havana, and you’ll find there’s a party going on. There’s a bike-powered sound system, a friendly mosh pit, blasts of bright brass, skanking bass, flamenco flourishes, and a big slice of madness that’s simultaneously the musical cure for alienation and loss. 02/13/12 >> go there
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Marcel Khalifé, Fall of the Moon (Nagam Records), The poetry of Palestine, the melodies of Lebanon. Uniting across national, ethnic and religious lines, resounding above the din of bitter politics, rockets, poverty. Singing instead of the shade of grapevines, the bright eyes of loved ones, the heartache of divisions and decline that could be healed, love that could be returned. 11/08/11 >> go there
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Mucca Pazza, Safety Fifth (Electric Cowbell Records), Twisted metal and piles of slag behind them, shish boom bah! Chicago’s Mucca Pazza marches on, from the steel mill parking lots of Chicago across the nation. Wielding homemade headgear amps and shouting surreal algebraic cheers, the dozens-strong band insists on Safety Fifth. 04/03/12 >> go there
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Nan Jombang, 2012 Center Stage Tour, Surrounded by bright green farm fields and dramatic volcanic hillsides, percussive kicks snap while dinner plates gyrate, balanced on turning palms. Bodies become lithe musical instruments, and color and motion express complex bursts of history and longing. Local onlookers gather casually, as the family of dancers and musicians rehearse in the middle of a lush tropical landscape, at the center of some serious cultural evolution. 10/20/11 >> go there
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noori, 2012 Center Stage Tour, noori just wants to rock. That’s all. But they do it in Lahore, Pakistan. They hail from diverse backgrounds, but all feel how music can transform society faster than any political movement. And they sing the intensity of the individual’s inner world to young people caught in the cultural crossfire, a message aimed to get people thinking regardless of their language, culture, country of origin. 10/20/11 >> go there
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Papermoon Puppet Theatre, 2012 Center Stage Tour, Indonesia’s Papermoon Puppet Theatre has transformed puppets the way graphic novels changed comics: Taking a popular form too often dismissed as child’s play and making it intellectually challenging, emotionally chilling, and visually bold. Think Maus, not Muppets. 10/20/11 >> go there
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Sagapool, 2012 Spring Tour, As the accordionist and clarinetist jammed together to The Godfather theme in the halls of the conservatory, they knew exactly what they had to do: Start a klezmer band. But what happened was a completely different story. Joined by a whole family of other instruments, Sagapool went from Balkan and Gypsy-inflected impromptu shows on the summer streets of Old Montreal to crafting acoustic original instrumentals as a six-piece band—one so in synch that it’s no surprise when the guitarist jumps up to join the bassist for a thumping four-handed riff. 12/23/11 >> go there
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Ti-Coca & Wanga-Nègès, 2012 Center Stage Tour, Haiti’s top twoubadou Ti-Coca and his band Wanga-Nègès know that a really good party, like a flitting hummingbird, can swiftly find new places and flourish. 10/20/11 >> go there
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Very Live, 2012 Center Stage Tour, “Half of our job as comedians is deconstructing an idea we find interesting or funny to talk about, and that applies pretty universally,” reflects Saad Haroon, the Pakistani funnyman who put stand-up on the map in his native land. Together with partner-in-laughs Danish Ali and musical mastermind Amin Arif, he brings his keen yet good-natured ability to look straight at foibles and follies, social issues and politics, to the U.S. for the first time as Very Live. 10/20/11 >> go there
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Zeb & Haniya, 2012 Center Stage Tour, Everyone—and every sound—is welcome at Pakistani singer-songwriter duo Zeb & Haniya’s table. Back in their youth, their grandmother’s living room in their native Peshawar would echo with laughter, snatches from cassettes, and rousing sing-a-longs as uncles, aunts, and cousins sat in post-pilaf bliss. 10/20/11 >> go there
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