Category Archives: Reviews

CD Review: Ayelet Rose Gottlieb…It is within our power to be as we ought to be

Ayelet Rose Gottlieb CD coverArtist: Ayelet Rose Gottlieb
Title: Roadsides
Label: Arogole Music
Genre: world music/traditional/jazz
Review by Dawoud Kringle

Ayelet Rose Gottlieb’s music blends Jazz, Middle-Eastern & Jewish music, combined with her innovative approach to composition & improvisation. Her history is fascinating.

Gottlieb was born in Jerusalem, to a background of mixed cultures and a musically seasoned family. She was exposed to Oum Kalthoum, J.S. Bach, The Beatles, Andres Segovia, Laurie Anderson, Ella Fitzgerald, Bob Dylan, Thelonious Monk, Fairuz, and many others. In her childhood, she played the classical flute until graduating from the High School For the Arts in Jerusalem.

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Event Review: Brooklyn’s Soapbox Gallery Hosts Fundraiser to Save Underground Railroad Property…“There are things in this world more valuable than a dollar.”

Save Our Brooklyn Abolitionist HomeDate: December 19, 2014
Venue: Soapbox Gallery (NY)

Event review by Dawoud Kringle

New York City has a long and colorful history. While much of it was inspirational, much of it was also ugly. There was a time when New York City was the financial capital of the slave trade in North America. The Underground Railroad was a institution that resisted the industry and social convention of selling human beings as property.

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Event Review: AF THE NAYSAYER’s & Holm.’s “Birds Fly South Tour” sharing the stage with local bands

Venue: The Flat (Brooklyn)
Date: December 3, 2014
Event Review by Dante Mann

On Wednesday December 3rd at The Flat a gathering of musicians/performers (AF THE NAYSAYER, Holm., The Fantastic Plastics, Kidaudra, and The Grand Affair) created an energized yet intimate experience. The sense of community among this budding group of artists was truly inspiring but the most apparent commonality was their pertinent use of electronic assistance.

I decided to contact all of the acts and have a conversation about the utility and function of using electronics such as loop stations (live looping, samplers, midi-controllers, and drum machines) to assist in making a live show happen.

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CD Review: Mehmet Polat Trio (Turkey/Mali)…a spiritual yet adventurous meeting of three masters of their magical instruments (ney, kora and oud)

Mehmet PolatArtist: Mehmet Polat Trio
Title: Next Spring
Label: Homerecords
Genre: world/maqam/kora music

CD review by Dawoud Kringle

Collaborations between musicians of different traditions are a peculiarly modern phenomenon. Sometimes this produces nothing more than a contradictory hybrid. Yet, many times, the masterful and insightful blending of different cultures produces a balanced and complete aggregate greater than the sum of its parts that enriches all culture and the traditions and spiritual vision that emerges from it. The later is exemplified by the work in the Mehmet Polat Trio’s CD Next Spring.

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Concert review: InnoVe Gnawa Band & Faith at Mercury Lounge (NY)

Venue: Mercury Lounge (NY)
Date: November 25, 2014
Concert Review by Dawoud Kringle

On the night of the Ferguson riots, while protests sprang up throughout major cities in the US, InnoVe Gnawa Band took the stage and brought the legendary and magical Gnawa music to NYC’s Mercury Lounge, with Black Rock Coalition mainstay Faith waiting their turn.

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