Category Archives: Musicians

FlamenKora

FlamenKora Live in New York: A Night of Ancestral Crossings and New‑World Fire

For the first time in New York City, FlamenKora steps onto the stage carrying the breath of three distant homelands—Senegal, Brazil/Spain, and finally New York—woven into one luminous musical current. This is music shaped by migration, memory, and the ancient pathways between continents.

Ali Boulo Santo Cissoko (Senegal) – Kora, Vocals
Roberto Monteiro (Brazil/Spain) – Flamenco Guitar
Volker Goetze (USA/Germany) – Trumpet, Flugelhorn

From Dakar, Paris‑based griot Ali Boulo Santo Cissoko brings the shimmering pulse of the kora and the ancestral voice of the Cissoko lineage, a family whose music has carried stories across centuries. From Brazil by way of Madrid, flamenco virtuoso Roberto Monteiro channels the duende of Andalucía through a South American heart—his guitar a bridge between Iberian fire and the rhythmic soul of the Atlantic. Completing the triangle, German‑born New York trumpeter and composer Volker Goetze summons the open‑sky imagination of jazz, shaped by decades of deep apprenticeship within West Africa’s Mande tradition.

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Michael Harrison Remembered

Text by Dawoud Kringle

Michael HarrisIt is with deep sadness that the members of MFM acknowledge the passing of Michael Harrison. Michael died in New York City on April 17, 2026, at the age of 67. The cause of death was complications from pancreatic cancer.

Who Are Free Design (1967-1972)?

Text by Bruce  Gallanter  (Downtown Music Gallery, August 22, 2024)

“The Hook” by Free Design . From their reunion album, Cosmic Peekaboo (released in 2001)

All the pretty young singers with their popular songs
Kind of short on meaning but the beat goes on
You really have to love them – but not for very long
They’d like to thank their managers
And fans, and friends and yawn…

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Cross-Cultural Connection (CCC) Presents “Jazz in the Park”

Text by Glenn Hoagland

Ray BlueOn Sunday, August 11 from 1 PM to 7 PM, jazz saxophonist and MFM member Ray Blue‘s nonprofit Cross-Cultural Connection (CCC) will present its 6th Annual Jazz Festival on the beautiful Peekskill waterfront. Jazz in the Park is a free concert SUPPORTED BY VARIOUS SPONSORS. It is accessible by both Metro North train and car. It is held in Peekskill Riverfront Park, Hudson Ave., Peekskill NY, on the banks of the Hudson River.

Top-level jazz performers at this year’s event include trombonist Clifton Anderson, The Kristina Koller Band, Ray Blue Quintet, and The Carl Allen Band.

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