NYU Abu Dhabi Arts Center - Performances in November 2015
Tacit Group
The line up of performances at the NYU Abu Dhabi Arts Center for November looks great. I am particularly looking forward to seeing Tacit Group.
Here's the complete line up:
Noise from the Middle East - Featuring Fari Bradley, Yara Mekawei, Mutamassik, and Tashweesh
When: Wednesday, 4th November 2015 at 8pm
Venue: East Plaza, The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi
Spotlighting electronic dance music, hip-hop, trance, and experimental electronica with local influences, Noise from the Middle East is a micro-festival that promotes groundbreaking artists from the region.
This mini-marathon showcases four inventive artists:
Fari Bradley - London-based Iranian musician, sound-artist and broadcaster who recently finished a residency at Tashkeel
Yara Mekawei - Egyptian composer of electronic music and curator who has been part of the 100 Copies electronic music festival
Mutamassik (aka Guilia Loli) - producer/musician/dj/artist/synesthete, mixing Egyptian and Afro-Asiatic Roots with the head-nod of hip-hop and the bass and syncopation of hardstep
Muqata’a and Basel Abbas of Palestinian sound and image collective Tashweesh give a special sound performance
Tacit Group
When: Wednesday and Thursday, 11th and 12th November 2015 at 8pm
Venue: Black Box, The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi
Tacit Group devises improvised algorithmic visual and sound art that is mad, experimental fun for audiences, who both participate in and are enveloped by the action on stage. They focus as much on process as result—combining sources like mathematical code, video game systems, and real-time personal computer interactions live on stage to generate music and video that is viscerally thrilling and full of sly invention.
A new breed of composers with laptops as instruments and a deep sense of play, this motley team’s real-time projection mapping and computer graphics create a unique performance that draws the audience into compelling soundscapes and stunning visual environments for the ultimate interactive concert.
The program will include the world premiere of a work commissioned by The Arts Center: an Arabic alphabet version visualizing Terry Riley’s pioneering minimalist work “In C.”
Les Ambassadeurs - featuring Salif Keita, Cheick Tidiane Seck & Amadou Bagayoko (from Amadou & Mariam)
When: Sunday, 18th November 2015
Venue: East Plaza, The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi
Original members of the Malian supergroup Salif Keita, Cheick Tidiane Seck and Amadou Bagayoko (of Amadou & Mariam) reunite to revisit their pioneering blend of salsa, jazz, soul, rock ’n’ roll and the ancient art of the griots.
From 1970 to 1985, the iconic Malian band Les Ambassadeurs wrote and rewrote the rule book for the Manding pop sound that drove the world music boom of the 1980s and 1990s with a collection of songs forged from the dreams and tensions of post-Independence West Africa: socialism, pan-Africanism, black pride, authenticité.
The reunion of Les Ambassadeurs is a banner headline long dreamt of by Malians, West Africans and lovers of African music the world over. What the band’s surviving singers and instrumentalists are preparing to deliver when they stroll on stage is more than just nostalgia for a time when Mali was young and full of of hope and possibility, more than an excuse to rekindle past friendships and relive old glories, and more than an hour or two of unforgettable Malian orchestral pop. What Les Ambassadeurs will deliver is proof that Malian musicians, given the right conditions and support, can create truly revolutionary music.
Rudresh Mahanthappa and Gamak
When: Saturday, 24th November 2015 at 8pm
Venue: East Plaza, The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi
The dazzlingly inventive composer and alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa delves deep into the hybridization of progressive jazz and South Indian classical.
Taking its name taken from the South Indian term for melodic ornamentation “gamaka” and featuring longtime musical partners Rez Abbasi, Rich Brown, and, Dan Weiss, this quartet exemplifies Mahanthappa’s matchless ability to embody the expansive possibilities of blending his music with his culture. He combines progressive jazz and South Indian classical music in a fluid and forward-looking form reflecting his own experience growing up a second-generation Indian-American.
Just as his personal experience is never wholly lived on one side of the hyphenate or the other, his music speaks in a voice dedicated to forging a brave new path forward. With Gamak, Mahanthappa’s fearless explorations conjure a polyphonic landscape that manages to incorporate Western forms of jazz, progressive rock, heavy metal, country, American folk, go-go, and ambient while simultaneously engaging the rich traditions of Indian, Chinese, African, and Indonesian music. The end result is music that defies category, music that very much fits with the times in which we live.