Date: June 20th, 2011
Location: Mears, Michigan
Text by Jim Hoey
This summer in Michigan, something went down around Mears, Michigan, a small town near the Great Lakes and one of the largest area of dunes in the country. An old music festival fairground was reopened, called Val Du Lakes, one which used to host bands like Aerosmith and Metallica back in its heyday.
Bill Cosby: great flow and best footwear at the fest. Photo courtesy of Jim Hoey
Date: August 13, 2011
Venue: Symphony Space (NY)
It was another one of those nights in NYC when I left my place with no expectations, I was simply heading off to hear some African music on the recommendation of a friend. So off to the Symphony Space on the Upper West Side I went. To my surprise, this concert of Sabar music and dancing kicked off with drummers coming in from the back of the theater, and the dancers and singers chanting from backstage until they joined forces at the fore and started to get into their Sabar thing, which is a call and response type dance from Senegal, with drummers beating hard on their skins and interacting and pushing the dancers on and on, improvisationally. From the very start, the drummers cleared the air, prepped the crowd by announcing that this night requires audience energy to be authentic, and then jumped into the opening invocation, getting the crowd to clap in tune with the drum pulse.
Date: August 13, 2011
Venue: Chhandayan Center for Indian Music (NY)
Concert review and video by Sarah Rihani
As you take off your shoes and walk into the Chhandayan room, located on 43rd Street between 5th and 6th Avenue, it is immediately evident you have entered an oasis in the middle of the city. Incense is burning, and everything is serenely quiet. There is a cozy and well lit room that has an oriental rug – a humble home to all visiting Indian musicians who come to play at Chhandayan on a weekly basis – and then about 20 small, but unbelievably comfortable, floor cushions facing the performer’s rug, which is where the audience sits.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
“Where’s Spoek?”, my cousin Alap asked. Nobody knew. We’ve tracked back a few years to when Spoek’s band Playdoe was providing tour-support for Dalek in Europe. It was Playdoe’s first European tour, and apparently the boys had gone a bit wild! “We’d almost considered asking the tour manager to replace them!” Alap joked outside Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Venue: Damrosch Park at Lincoln Center
Concert review by Sarah Rayani
On a very rainy evening, under an awning at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, the Asphalt Orchestra delighted and surprised a group of about 100 soggy New Yorkers. I came to hear about the avant-garde “street” jazz group through Sunny Jain, one of their 3 percussionists. Jain is a Punjabi American-born drummer, dhol player and composer who seamlessly fuses the two styles he grew up listening to — Jazz and Indian music. In addition to being a member of the Asphalt Orchestra and his own Sunnay Jain Quartet, he plays in a Baraat group – traditionally a North Indian wedding processional band – called Red Baraat.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
