1. Red Baraat w. Gato Loco, My Pet Dragon

Date: Monday, November 28, 2011
Time: 8pm
Venue: BROOKLYN BOWL (61 Wythe Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11211, 718-963-3369)
Ticket: $5
Genre: Bhangara/New Orleans Jazz

In just over two short years, the pioneering Brooklyn dhol and brass party juggernaut RED BARAAT have become known as one of the best live bands playing anywhere. Led by dhol player Sunny Jain, the nine piece (comprised of dhol ((double-sided barrel shaped North Indian drum slung over one shoulder)) drumset, percussion, sousaphone, and 5 horns melds the infectious North Indian rhythm Bhangra with a host of sounds, namely funk, go-go, latin, and jazz.

Check out Sunny Jain’s interview in DooBeeDoo Read More

Yesterday, we learned that drummer, bandleader, and composer Paul Motian had died. Yesterday writer Larry Blumenfeld talked about Paul Motian today on John Schaefer’s “Soundcheck” on WNYC-FM. Available streaming of the radio show:
http://www.wnyc.org/shows/soundcheck/2011/nov/23/remembering-paul-motian/

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Text by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi

Caricature by Felix Wagner of the old, old Samba Jazz Group back in Berlin in the late 80s, with Felix Wagner, piano; Guilherme Castro, bass: and Zito Ferreira, drums.

Today I would like to introduce you to Hendrik Meurkens who is from my hometown Hamburg, Germany but now based in New York. I met him in spring at MICHIKO STUDIOS’ when I was the studio manager there. Because we had a cat in the studio and Meurkens was allergic to cats, I  always gave him the “cat free” studio upstairs.

Meurkens was first a two-mallet player in the tradition of Milt Jackson and Bobby Hutcherson, but when he heard Toots Thielemans’ harmonica, he changed to this instrument which he taught himself. He’s also a composer whose compositions have been recorded by other artists and featured in the Hollywood movie “Dolores Claiborne”.

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This is an audio/visual montage dedicated to the true patriots involved in the Occupy movement.
Lyrics by William Peck.
Music: “Nightsticks” by Moe Shinola

Text by by Dawoud Kringle

Last night (as if this writing, on November 17th, 2011), I attended a performance by Meshell Ndegeocello at Highline Ballroom in New York City. If memory serves me, this is the fifth time I have heard her live. The group played mostly music from her newest release Weather. Meshell almost never plays her old catalog. The night’s exception was when she offered a ballad – like reworking of her classic “Shooting Up and Getting High.”

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Will be updated every day!

1. Azam Ali

Date: Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Time: 7pm
Venue: The Graduate Center The Graduate Center Elebash Hall  (365 Fifth Ave., NY, NY 10016, Ph: 212.817.8215)
Ticket: $25
Genre: oriental music

The Iranian-born, Indian-raised Azam Ali has one of the most seductive and effortlessly disciplined contemporary voices. Sublimely interpreted through ultra-modern beats and ambient drones, the traditional and contemporary songs of this unique vocalist smolder with dreamy longing and express the grief of exiles. They also soar with a keen edge of hope. She has already recorded three solo albums. Her new CD, From Night to the Edge of Day (released by Six Degrees Records), explores Iranian, Turkish, Lebanese, and Kurdish lullabies. As lead singer with Niyaz, an Iranian musical trio, she collaborates in creating acoustic electronic music for the 21st century. She has also worked with, among others, the percussionist Mickey Hart, and the rock bands System of a Down, Nine Inch Nails, and King Crimson. For the Live@365 concert, she is accompanied by Ramin Loga Torkian on lafta, a Turkish lute, and kamaan, a bowed lute; Nasser Musa Janinion on the oud, a plucked lute; MISSING NAME on percussion; and Sheila Hanigin on cello. This event is part of the new world music series Live@365.

2. DAWOUD

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  Artist: Sia Tolno
Title: My Life
Label: Lusafrica
Genre: Afropop

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Date: Monday, November 7, 2011
Venue: Lucky Cheng (NY)
Reviewed by Matt Cole

On Monday, the 7th of November, Butch Morris led his newest project, the Lucky Cheng Orchestra, in a two-set conducted musical adventure at Lucky Cheng’s (the current residence of Nublu) in Lower Manhattan, the latest in a weekly residency, which started in early September, and will last until the end of November. This night’s players included Tom Swafford on violin, Nicole Federici on viola, Meaghan Burke on cello, Areni Agbabian on voice, Christoph Knoche on bass clarinet, flute, and harmonica, Doug Wieselman on clarinet, Stephanie Richards on trumpet, Brendan Ross and Octavia Romano on guitar, Tom Zlabinger on double bass, Joe Hertenstein and Kenny Wollesen on percussion, and William MacIntyre on vibraphone. This night’s show was also videotaped by the BBC for a news segment.

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Date: Friday, November 18, 2011
Venue:  Asia Society and Museum (725 Park Avenue at 70th Street, NYC)
Time: 6:45 – 8pm
Tickets: $7 members; $9 students/seniors; $11 nonmembers

Dir. Vijay Singh. India. 2010. 64 min. Digibeta.

Post-screening Q&A with filmmaker moderated by Aseem Chhabra, entertainment writer, Festival Director of New York Indian Film Festival, and board member of South Asian Journalists Association (SAJA)

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Awa Sangho/Daniel Moreno and NSEO with Madina Bah

Date: Friday, November 18, 2011
Time:  7:30pm
Venue: Drom (85 Avenue A, NY, NY 10009, 212- 777-1157)
Ticket: $15
Genre: West African Pops

Awa Sangho was born in 1972 in Bamako, Mali. She spent her childhood in Dire in Mali, raised by her grandmother. She joined her family in Abidjan, the capital of the Ivory Coast, in 1980 and quickly became immersed in its music scene, absorbing the Bete influences. In 1988, she joined L’Ensemble Koteba D’Abidjan, and toured around the world, mastering the band’s theatrical style of chants and dance. Soon after, she formed the renowned female band Les Go De Koteba, where she tapped into her roots of authentic, modern African music. Her extraordinary voice lent itself well to interpreting the moving Sahelien lyrics and polyphonies of the countryside. Sangho continues to flourish and gain musical maturity as she carries on the traditions of L’Ensemble Koteba D’Abidjan. Read More