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World Music Institute Welcomes Two African Legends to New York Tonight
By: BWW News Desk Sep. 25, 2015
World Music Institute debuts its brand-new series MASTERS OF AFRICAN MUSIC with two legends ORLANDO JULIUS & THE AFRO SOUNDZ at LPR and KASSÉ MADY DIABATÉ at the Met Museum this fall.
From WMI Artistic Director Par Neiburger: "We are very excited to bring Orlando Julius to New York. He is a true legend and was one of the original Afrobeat artists, dating back to the 1960's. His music was very ahead of its time and he is considered to have been a big influence on the funk movement that later developed in America. Kassé Mady Diabaté is one of the most widely celebrated singers in Mali, but he has never had a solo tour of the United States. He is most well-known as the vocalist for the group Afrocubism, an African and Cuban supergroup, that also included members of Buena Vista Social Club (who will play two World Music Institute shows on November 3 & 4 at the Beacon). This is the first time that he will ever perform a solo show in New York, and he will be backed by an incredible group of musicians including Ballaké Sissoko on the kora."
ORLANDO JULIUS
& THE AFRO SOUNDZ
with Underground System
Tonight, September 25, 2015, 7:30 p.m.
Le Poisson Rouge 158 Bleecker Street
Making his World Music Institute debut, Nigerian music legend Orlando Julius plays classic Afrobeat with a psychedelic twist, constantly pushing musical boundaries. Julius is one of the original Afrobeat pioneers, predating even Fela Kuti. Starting in the '60s, he brought together traditional African sounds and rhythms with American pop, soul, and R&B. He spent many years in the United States collaborating with Lamont Dozier, the Crusaders, and Hugh Masekela, and his voice has been an essential part of the invention, development, and popularization of Afro-pop. Julius recently released a widely praised album Jaiyede Afro, which The Guardian called a "rousing new set" and which WMI's Par Neiburger calls "One of the best Afrobeat albums I've ever heard." This year also marks the 50th anniversary of his 1966 release, Super Afro Soul, which made him a national celebrity in Nigeria. The record's dramatic, highly melodic incorporation of soul, pop, and funk was ahead of its time, and arguably shaped the funk movement that swept over the United States in subsequent years.
KASSÉ MADY DIABATÉ
featuring BALLAKÉ SISSOKO
Thursday, October 1, 2015, 7:00 p.m.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium
1000 5th Avenue at East 82nd St.
Presented in collaboration with The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Kassé Mady Diabaté Kassé Mady Diabaté, one of Mali's most celebrated vocalists, makes his first ever solo tour in the United States, with only one performance in New York. Backed by a quartet of some of Africa's finest musicians, including the world-renowned Ballaké Sissoko on kora, this performance highlights songs from his recent album Kirike, which was hailed by The Financial Times as "the perfect setting for Diabaté's voice." Over the past ten years, Kassé Mady has been a star singer alongside fellow Malian kora player Toumani Diabaté, first with the Symmetric Orchestra, and subsequently with the Afrocubism recording project on World Circuit and in live performances. This evening marks the first and possibly the only chance to hear Kassé Mady live in New York.
WMI continues its partnership with The Metropolitan Museum of Art for the second year as part of its MetLiveArts series, and is also part of the Met's Bring the Kids program, which allows for discounted purchase of up to three kids' tickets. Tickets are $35 and are available for purchase online at www.metmuseum.org and include Museum admission.Orlando Julius (www.facebook.com/OrlandoJuliusOfficial) - Few artists have been more crucial to the invention, development, and popularization of Afro-pop than Orlando Julius. Starting in the '60s, Julius was fusing traditional African sounds and rhythms with those of American pop, soul, and R&B. Aside from performing and recording in his native Nigeria, he spent many years in the United States working on collaborations with Lamont Dozier, the Crusaders, and Hugh Masekela. His 1966 effort, Super Afro Soul, made him a national celebrity in Nigeria and even went so far as to influence music in the United States. The record's dramatic, highly melodic incorporation of soul, pop, and funk was very much ahead of its time, and some say that Super Afro Soul helped shape the funk movement that swept over the United States in subsequent years. After Super Afro Soul, Julius released a long list of records exclusively in Nigeria and from them received a great amount of local fame. He went largely unnoticed by the international community until 2000, when Super Afro Soul was re-released on Strut and distributed throughout the world to wide critical acclaim. In 2011, his 1972 album Orlando Julius and the Afro Sounders was reissued by Voodoo Funk, and the artist increased his live activity at home and abroad. In early 2014, the Heliocentrics brought him to their all-analog studio in North London, where they backed him in a series of recordings that featured vintage tunes that had never been recorded as well as new compositions.
Kassé Mady Diabaté (www.kassemadydiabatemusic.com) - Kassé Mady Diabaté was born in 1949 in the village Kéla. His aunt was the great griotte Siramori Diabaté, while his grandfather was known as 'Jeli Fama', which means 'The Great Griot', thanks to the gripping quality of his voice. When Kassé Mady was 7 years old, the elders of the family, including Siramori, realized that he had inherited his grandfather's vocal genius. He would go on to play a role in the most innovative moments in Malian music over the next five decades, first in his own country and later with landmark international collaborations. In 1970 he became lead singer of the Orchestre Régional Super Mandé de Kangaba. Kassé Mady's remarkable singing won the group the national Biennale music competition in the Malian capital Bamako. In 1988 Kassé Mady left Mali and the Badema National behind and moved to Paris, where he recorded his first solo album for the Senegalese record producer Ibrahima Sylla. He spent the next ten years in Paris, recording Fode, then Kéla Tradition, an acoustic album of Kéla jeli songs. Moving back to Mali in the late 1990s, several collaborations followed, many of which have become landmark recordings: Songhai 2, the album he made with the flamenco group Ketama and Toumani Diabaté, and Koulandjan, on which he collaborated with Taj Mahal and Toumani Diabaté, an album which was famously cited by Barack Obama as one of his favorite albums of all time. Collaborations with Toumani Diabaté continued and he starred in Toumani's Symmetric Orchestra and Afrocubism projects, both recorded by World Circuit. Solo projects over the past decade have included the acoustic album Kassi Kassé, produced in 2002, and Manden Djeli Kan, released in 2009 and garnering 4 and 5 star reviews.
Final concert in the
MASTERS OF AFRICAN MUSIC series:
LADYSMITH BLACK MAMBAZO The Grammy Award-winning South African supergroup
Friday, February, 19, 2015, 8:00 p.m. - The Town Hall
ABOUT WMI (www.worldmusicinstitute.org) - Founded in 1985 as a not-for-profit, World Music Institute has served as the leading presenter of world music and dance within the United States. For the past 30 years, WMI has built the most comprehensive concert series of diverse music and dance performances, presenting the finest in traditional and contemporary music and dance from around the world. WMI encourages cultural exchange between nations and ethnic groups and collaborates with community organizations and academic institutions in fostering greater understanding of the world's cultural traditions. WMI works extensively with community groups and organizations including Indian, Iranian, Chinese, Korean, Middle Eastern, Latin American, Hungarian, Irish, and Central Asian. This has enabled WMI to be at the forefront of presenting the finest ensembles from these countries.
WMI curates a full season of concerts each year in New York City in venues throughout the city, including Carnegie Hall, The Apollo, BAM, 92Y, Symphony Space, Town Hall, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Roulette, The Beacon Theatre, Skirball Performing Arts Center at NYU, New York City Center, Drom, Storm King Art Center, the Rose Theater (Jazz at Lincoln Center), and Le Poisson Rouge. It has presented more than 1,500 concerts and events featuring artists from more than 100 countries including Africa, Asia, Oceania, Europe, the Americas and the Middle East. In addition to its regular programming, WMI has brought many musical, dance and ritual traditions to the New York or U.S. stage for the first time, including Laotian sung poetry, folk music of Khorason and Bushehr (Iran), songs of the Yemenite Jews, Bardic divas of Central Asia, trance ceremonies from Morocco, music from Madagascar, and Theyyams (masked dances) of Kerala, South India. For more WMI events and the complete 30th anniversary season schedule, visit www.worldmusicinstitute.org.
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