Date: June 9, 2012
Venue: Prospect Park /Bandshell (Brooklyn, NY)
Review by Augusta Palmer
Though the weather forecast threatened a downpour, the skies miraculously cleared just as the opening act, Alsarah and the Nubatones, took the stage at Prospect Park last Saturday for the second show in the 2012 Celebrate Brooklyn Season. Alsarah is a Sudanese-born singer, songwriter, and ethnomusicologist with a gorgeous, velvet- toned voice. Alsarah and the Nubatones played a selection of Nubian “songs of return” from the 1970s as well as original material and traditional music from central Sudan. The band, which also includes Karine Fleurima on vocals, Haig Manoukian on oud, Rami El Aasser on percussion, and Mawuena Kodjovi on bass, got the crowd moving with their beautiful vocal duets, lyrical oud, and infectious beat.
