Mondo Mundo fest features an eclectic lineup of emerging and established acts including Brooklyn’s Toshi Reagon, a longtime favorite of urban blues fans. More exotic offerings including West African electronica band Burkina Electric and Lebanese singer/songwriter Abaji. Antibalas’ Martin Perna’s and Grupo Fantasma’s Adrian Quesada’s psychedelic Latin-funk project Ocote Soul Sounds rounds out the bill and promise a rousing set in support of their latest album, Coconut Rock.
When: Saturday Jan 9
Time: PM 7:30
Where: Hiro Ballroom (371 W 16th St, 212.242.4300)
Price: $15
About the artists:
Ocote Soul Sounds is the psychedelic Latin-funk project of Antibalas’ Martín Perna and Grupo Fantasma’s Adrian Quesada. If Ocote Soul Sounds’ latest album Coconut Rock wasn’t hot enough, it now gets the deluxe package treatment with five exclusive new remixes, a full digital booklet and a music video added to the original album. The Digital Deluxe Edition of Coconut Rock, came out on the heralded ESL Music label on December 8, 2009.
Toshi Reagon was born in Atlanta, grew up in Washington, D.C., and has been living in Brooklyn, NY, for the past 20 years. Her parents were part of the Freedom Singers, who fought for Civil Rights in the ’60s. Her mother was also a founding member of Sweet Honey in the Rock. Her music is powerfully soulful and clearly rooted in folk, gospel and the blues. Reagon dropped out of college when she was invited to open for Lenny Kravitz on tour. Since then, she’s performed with everyone from Pete Seeger to Chaka Kahn, Dar Williams, Elvis Costello, and Ani DiFranco, whose Righteous Babe label she’s signed too. Toshi also worked on several projects with her mother and Sweet Honey In the Rock.
Burkina Electric is the first electronica band from Burkina Faso, in the deep interior of West Africa. With its main base in the music scene of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso’s capital, it is, at the same time, an international band, with members living in New York, U.S.A. and Düsseldorf, Germany, as well as in Ouaga. In Burkina Electric’s music, the traditions and rhythms of Burkina Faso meet and mingle with contemporary electronic dance culture, making it a trailblazer in electronic world music. They will be releasing their new album, Paspanga, out on January 12, 2010 on Cantaloupe Music.
Rounding out the night is Abaji, the Lebanese-born multi-instrumentalist/singer-songwriter. Abaji re-imagines his lost-and-found trans-Mediterranean roots and draws on a wildly inventive “instrumentarium,” a deep sense of the global blues, and the five languages and traditions that shaped him. His new album, Origine Orients showcases his unique signature sound perfectly.
