Music From All Over The Globe is Heading to Joe's Pub This Spring & Summer
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Mar. 02, 2020
Joe's Pub - a program and venue of The Public Theater - brings the world to New York City this spring and summer. Audiences can skip the hassle and headaches of JFK, LaGuardia, and Newark to visit the Middle East (Tarek Yamani Trio, Divahn, Yemen Blues, and Shai Tsabari and the Middle East Groove Masters), Asia (Mai Khoi, AzN Pop!, and Akiko Yano Trio), Europe (Elina Duni, Pierce Turner, Germán López, Sam Lee, and Daniel Norgren), Africa (Michael Olatuja, AJOYO, and AfrotoniX), India (Amaan & Ayaan Ali Bangash, Aditya Prakash Ensemble, Sunny Jain, and Kiran Ahluwalia), and the Americas (Jim Cuddy and Nation Beat). Joe's Pub asks its audiences to leave their passports behind, settle into seats with some of New York City's best views, and sail the skies with better inflight entertainment and food than they'll find on any commercial airline.
See the full schedule below!
TAREK YAMANI TRIO
Wednesday, March 4 at 7:00PM
$15 advance / $20 at the door
Born and raised in Beirut, Tarek Yamani is a Lebanese-American, New York-based pianist who taught himself jazz at the age of 19. He has been dedicated to exploring relationships between African-American Jazz and classical Arabic music which are most evident in his second album Lisan Al Tarab: Jazz Conceptions in Classical Arabic, and in Peninsular which fuses jazz with quarter-tones and the rhythms of the Arabian Peninsula.
A recipient of many prestigious awards such as the Thelonious Monk Jazz Composers Competition, the Baryshnikov Artist-in-Residence, the Huygens Scholarship, the Prins Bernhard Culture fund, and the Abu Dhabi Festival Commission, Tarek has been part of three editions of the International Jazz Day Global Concert and performed in venues such as the Smithsonian (DC), Barcelona Cathedral at La Merce (Spain), Atrium at Lincoln Center (NYC), Boulez Saal (Berlin), MuCEM (Marseille), the UN Assembly Hall (NYC), Melbourne Arts Center, Sejong Center for the Arts (Seoul), and Gran Teatro de la Habana (Cuba).
Tarek is also an educator, author of two self-published music books on rhythm and a film score composer of films screened in 100+ festivals around the world and broadcasted on AMC network, BBC and Sundance TV.
MAI KHOI
Thursday, March 5 at 7:00PM
$15
With a powerful voice that sings, speaks, and screams, and a style that defies genre, Vietnamese pop star-turned protest singer Mai Khoi performs her storytelling song cycle "Just Be Patient." In this performance, she tells her story about blazing trails as an artist-activist living under an authoritarian regime, and shares the risks and rewards of speaking truth to power through music. Drawing on a wide variety of influences, from traditional Vietnamese folk to blues, soul and rock, Mai Khoi has been compared to Pussy Riot and dubbed the Lady Gaga of Vietnam. Though she has had her concerts raided, faced retaliatory eviction from her home, and been detained and interrogated by the police, Mai Khoi continues to use her music and voice to fight censorship and advocate for human rights and freedom of expression in Vietnam and around the world. Songs are performed both in English and in Vietnamese with English translation.
Mai Khoi is the current musician in residence with the Safe Haven Incubator for Music NYC (SHIM:NYC), an artist-at-risk residency program recently launched by Artistic Freedom Initiative and Tamizdat.
DIVAHN
Saturday, March 7 at 7:00PM
$20
Join us for Divahn's long-awaited new album release concert! Iranian-descended singer Galeet Dardashti leads the all-female power-house Middle Eastern Jewish ensemble, Divahn. The New York City-based group has gained an international following with its fresh and fiery renditions of traditional and original Sephardi/Mizrahi Jewish songs: lush string arrangements, eclectic Indian, Middle Eastern, and Latin percussion, and vocals spanning Hebrew, Judeo-Spanish, Persian, Arabic, and Aramaic. "Divahn," a word common to Hebrew, Persian, and Arabic, means a collection of songs or poetry. Through its music, Divahn underscores common ground between diverse Middle Eastern cultures and religions.
YEMEN BLUES
Saturday, March 7 at 11:30PM
$30
Shavua Tov. Come join the great Ravid Kahalani and Yemen Blues perform Yemenite chants with swirls of jazz and rock grooves at a special late night performance at Joe's Pub. Welcome the new week with the uplifting sounds of this amazing band.
ELINA DUNI
with Rob Luft & Rod Youngs
Thursday, March 12 and Friday, March 13 at 7:00PM
$40 advance / $45 at the door
Albanian singer Elina Duni was born into a highly artistic family in Tirana in 1981 and first sang on stage at the age of five. In 1992 after the fall of the communist regime, she and her mother settled in Geneva. Soon after, she started classical piano lessons and discovered jazz, before going on to study singing and composition in the jazz department at the Hochschule der Künste Bern.
During this time she also developed the Elina Duni Quartet to explore her musical roots, a combination of Balkan folk songs and jazz. The quartet released its ECM debut, Matanë Malit (Beyond the Mountain), a musical homage to Albania, in 2012.
In 2015 her quartet released its second album for ECM, Dallëndyshe (The Swallow). Duni contrasted this with her first quartet recording thus: it has, she said, "a different groove, a different momentum. It's become more rhythmic. Sometimes it's almost a trance-like propulsion." The album received great critical acclaim: "a sheer delight," in the words of UK Vibe's Tim Stenhouse.
Duni has said of her work with the quartet: "We focus all the intensity that the poetry needs. We have tried to convey its essence through our musical interpretation. To me, all improvised music is a jazz state of mind. We feel no obligation to play a song the same way twice."
Her latest album Partir released in 2018 on ECM Records features Elina Duni as a soloist, accompanying herself on piano, acoustic guitar and percussion, marking her most ambitious and intimate work to date.
PIERCE TURNER
Tuesday, March 17 at 7:00PM
$25
Ireland's finest songwriter Pierce Turner, formerly voted Ireland's solo performer of the year, is planning on performing an array of his favorite classic Irish songs for the first time ever. Even though he has been lauded for his inventive contemporary compositions, his roots were actually sown in the soil of Irish folk songs and classical music as a boy soprano. Turner's monologues and storytelling are directly linkable to Ireland's history of yarning, mingling this with classic Irish folk songs will be a natural brew of potent joy, laughter and love. Turner who has performed with Philip Glass, Patty Smith, and Iggy Pop, is sure to delightfully push the envelope. This will be an opportunity to truly enjoy St Patrick's Day with great songs and wit, in the presence of the man the BBC referred to as "Joyce with a Voice."
GERMÁN LÓPEZ
featuring Israel Suarez "Piraña"
Sunday, March 22 at 7:00PM
$20
Germán López returns to Joe's Pub, this time with an all-star ensemble, including Israel Suarez "Piraña", one of the most renowned cajón players in the flamenco world. Germán López is the leading virtuoso of the Canary Island timple -- a five-stringed diminutive guitar, not unlike a ukelele or cavaquiño. Germán López performs original, instrumental music honoring Canary folk music traditions, embracing of Spanish Flamenco, West African rhythms, the flourishing spirit of jazz, and an innovative 21st century approach to creating "island music."
AZN POP! LIVE IN CONCERT!
Wednesday, March 25 at 7:00PM
$15
AzN PoP! is the world's first Asian-American "pop group" from the USA! Join Baby Rice, Quirky Rice, Edgy Rice, and Brown Rice as they kick off their tour by dancing, singing, and rapping about boys, friendship, and systemic racism/oppression! CUTE!
MICHAEL OLATUJA
Friday, March 27 at 7:00PM
$15 advance / $20 at the door
With influences from around the world, Nigerian/British bassist and IMA Award Winner Michael Olatuja's music touches on each spot has lived in, including London, Lagos, Nigeria, and New York. He finds commonalities among the various genres that have shaped his artistry, including Afrobeat, Jazz, R&B/Soul, gospel, and more. His band, Lagos Pepper Soup has recorded a new cinematic-afrobeat album with special guests, Angélique Kidjo, Dianne Reeves, Joe Lovano, Laura Mvula, Regina Carter, Lionel Loueke, Becca Stevens, and many others. This epic album will be released in April 2020.
AMAAN & AYAAN ALI BANGASH
Wednesday, April 1 at 9:30PM
$20
Cultural and musical traditions give life and purpose to the work they bring to the stage. By asking audiences to listen from the heart, sarod virtuosos Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangash break through the troublesome polarities of continuity and change, tradition and innovation. In their sound we encounter technical assuredness bolstered by elegant lyricism and joy-filled dynamism. It is music forged from a unique artistic vision that rests upon a legacy seven generations deep and includes their revered father and grandfather, Maestro Amjad Ali Khan and Maestro Haafiz Ali Khan. Amaan Ali Bangash and Ayaan Ali Bangash represent the 7th generation of a musical lineage, as sons and disciples of the sarod icon, Amjad Ali Khan. With him they have performed across the globe, including Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Smithsonian, and WOMAD festivals on many continents.
They have also collaborated with guitarist Derek Trucks, of the Allman Brothers Band, Chicago Philharmonic orchestra, Avignon symphony orchestra among others, and established themselves as a duo, carrying forward their musical legacy in sync with both tradition and contemporary times. They performed at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert 2014 in Oslo and recently won the Gold Medal at the Global Music Awards in LA for their new album Peace Worshippers. This year they perform with Moscow State Philharmonic Orchestra and Bronx Arts Ensemble.Sam Lee
with opener Nora Brown
Thursday, April 2 at 9:30PM
$15
Sam Lee plays a unique role in the British music scene-a highly inventive and original singer, folk song interpreter, a passionate conservationist, committed song collector, and a successful creator of live events. Alongside his organization The Nest Collective and fellow collaborators, Sam has shaken up the live music scene breaking the boundaries between folk and contemporary music and the assumed place and way folksong is heard. He's injected a renewed passion into this old material, helping to develop its ecosystem by not only inviting in a new listenership but also interrogating what the messages in these old songs hold for us today. With his forthcoming album, Old Wow, he's summonsed up a truly compelling and emotional album that takes his work to yet another level.
He may not intend to, but Sam Lee always surprises. When he released his first album, Ground Of Its Own, in 2012, he dared to dramatically re-work old songs by matching his direct and rich singing style against an extraordinary backdrop of sound, making use of anything from Jews harps, trumpets, fiddles, banjo, or the drone effects of an Indian Shruti box. This bravely original set made possible by a prestigious Arts Foundation award, set up to 'support artists at a breakthrough moment in their careers' made an immediate impact and the album was short-listed for a Mercury Music Prize. Three years later, Sam's second album The Fade In Time saw him break further new ground and receive accompanying accolades including a Songlines Award for artist of the year. This time the backing included cello, ukulele, Japanese koto, willow flute, and, most startling of all, an exquisite acapella treatment of "Lovely Molly" backed by the massed ranks of the Roundhouse Choir. This song received much attention being performed at the 2016 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards at London's Royal Albert Hall winning Best Traditional Track and subsequently performed on BBC TV's 'Later with Jools', NPR's Tiny Desk sessions, and with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Proms where Sam hosted a Folk Prom alongside Julie Fowlis. But possibly the largest audience Sam found himself being heard by was when Guy Ritchie chose him to write the lead song for his epic Hollywood fantasy King Arthur: Legend of the Sword from which "The Devil and The Huntsman" was born receiving tens of millions of plays internationally.
Nora Brown started learning ukelele at age 6 from the late Shlomo Pestcoe. With a focus on old time music, he laid a foundation of love of music and the community it creates. He instilled in her the lesson that music is meant to be shared. Now 14 years old, Nora plays banjo and sings ballads - She plays solo and also with many of her mentors including her friend, fiddler Stephanie Coleman, as a duet under name Little Leatherwood. Today Nora is being mentored by many of her favorite old time musicians including Alice Gerrard, Lee Sexton, Anna Roberts-Gevalt, Sammy Lind, Mark Simos, KC Groves, Courtney Hartman, Mac Traynham, John Haywood, and Brett Ratliff. One of her most important mentors is the late John Cohen.
Nora has played the Floyd Radio Show in Floyd, VA., the Washington Square Park Folk Festival, Brooklyn Folk Festival, Brooklyn Americana Festival, Oldtone Roots Music Festival, both Summer and Winter Hoots at the Ashokan Center, NYC Trad Fest, and has had multiple month long residencies at famed Barbès in Brooklyn. On Oct 25, Nora released her first record of 11 traditional songs and tunes called Cinnamon Tree produced by Alice Gerrard. The Tribeca Film Festival funded a short documentary by Josh Weinstein about Nora called "Little Nora (the Banjo Prodigy)."
ADITYA PRAKASH ENSEMBLE: DIASPORA KID
Sunday, April 5 at 9:30PM
$20
In 2010, Aditya Prakash founded the Aditya Prakash Ensemble. The roots of the Ensemble's unique collaboration began during the members' Ethnomusicology studies at UCLA, where horizons to cross-cultural musical interaction expanded vastly. The young, imaginative group of musicians, who while bridging seemingly disparate styles of music, create a boldly innovative and powerful mix of the deep-rooted tradition of Indian classical ragas, chants, and rhythms with the modern sounds of brass band arrangement, jazz harmony, and hip hop-infused rhythms. The Ensemble has created an outlet for the Indian classical and jazz aesthetic to shine forth in an accessible, modern, playful yet powerful and dynamic way Aditya Prakash Ensemble has recorded two albums-The Hidden (2012) and MARA (2016) and is in the process of releasing a new two-part album (part-sponsored by Herp Albert School of Music at UCLA), set to release in March 2020 under Ropeadope Records. The Ensemble has performed at notable venues across the globe such as Esplanade Theatres by the Bay, Singapore (2016 and 2018), The New Parks Festival (six-city India tour), The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion (LA), The Ford (Hollywood), The Getty Center, and Kennedy Center Millennium Stage to name a few.
AJOYO: WAR CHANT ALBUM RELEASE PARTY
Thursday, April 9 at 9:30PM
$15 advance / $20 at the door
2019 Joe's Pub Working Group member Yacine Boulares presents AJOYO's War Chant album release party. Hailed as "one of the most interesting new bands in the New York Afro-rooted world music scene" by Word Music Central, AJOYO is a mystic brew blending Jazz, African traditions and Soul. AJOYO features the voice of Sarah Elizabeth Charles and celebrates life, love, and justice through music: music for the heart, the mind and the body, the kind that is both soulful, sophisticated and makes crowds dancing.
SUNNY JAIN'S WILD WILD EAST
Wednesday, April 22 at 9:30PM
$15 advance / $20 at the door
Sunny Jain's Wild Wild East encompasses myriad facets of Jain's identity both as a first-generation South Asian-American and as a global musician, from his own family's immigration story to his eclectic musical upbringing. In recasting the immigrant-steeped in the courage to leave a familiar homeland for a new beginning-as the modern-day cowboy and cowgirl, Jain sources musical inspiration from the scores of Bollywood classics and Spaghetti Westerns, Indian folk traditions, jazz improvisation, and rollicking psychedelic and surf guitar styles. Sunny Jain's Wild Wild East is rooted in the contemporary American soundscape, singing in a new voice, "I am large, I contain multitudes."
Jim Cuddy OF BLUE RODEO
Saturday, April 25 at 7:00PM
$25
As one half of one of Blue Rodeo's songwriting partnership, Jim Cuddy has one of the most recognizable voices in Canadian music thanks to omnipresent hits such as "Try," "5 Days In May," and "Bad Timing." As a group Blue Rodeo has sold over 5 million records world-wide, won countless JUNO Awards, been inducted in to the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, received a star on Canada's Walk of Fame, and Jim (along with songwriting partner Greg Keelor) was invested as Officers of the Order of Canada.
KIRAN AHLUWALIA
Saturday, April 25 at 9:30PM
$20 advance / $25 at the door
Kiran Ahluwalia is a modern exponent of the vocal traditions of India and Pakistan, which she both honors and departs from in masterful, myriad ways. Her original compositions embody her Indian heritage, while embracing influences from West African blues, contemporary jazz, and more. Her discography, now seven albums deep, has established Ms. Ahluwalia as one of global music's most compelling adventures, and have featured striking collaborations with world renowned musicians from the Celtic and Fado traditions, as well as the legendary Malian group Tinariwen. Their video, reworking the classic Qawwali tune "Mustt Mustt," has garnered more than 2 million views online to date. And the inspiration that drove her to create it, continues to inform her music today.
Together with her crack 6 piece band, led by artistic partner Rez Abbasi (whose accolades include multiple appearances in Downbeat Magazine critics' polls), Kiran creates an unforgettable and uniquely immersive live experience, filled with intricate grooves, precise harmonies and first and foremost, her stunning, soaring voice. Kiran has won two JUNO Awards (Canada's Grammys), two Canadian Folk Music Awards, and a Songlines Award in the UK. She has topped multiple World Music charts and garnered glowing praise from critics around the world: "Ahluwalia is busy honing a transnational sound as fresh as tomorrow," says the Seattle Times and fRoots Magazine proclaimed, "Hers is a voice destined to enchant more than one generation."
Always seeking new inspirations, Ahluwalia continues to move her art forward. Her latest album, 7 Billion, explores themes as wide as cultural intolerance, and as personal as the civil wars we fight within ourselves, and the struggle to fully embrace our desires by throwing away shame. By exploring her muse, regardless of where it might take her, she is truly an artist for our times.
SHAI TSABARI AND THE MIDDLE EAST GROOVE MASTERS
Thursday, April 30 at 7:00PM
$25
Shai Tsabari is one of Israel's most loved and popular musicians and a sensational vocalist. He is renowned for his genre-defying music featuring a unique blend of Middle Eastern grooves and melodies, Klezmer elements, and psychedelic rock. Shai's uplifting performances break down the barrier between artist and audience and are bound to leave you on a high.
AFROTRONIX
Thursday, April 30 at 9:30PM
$15
Award-winner producer, singer, and guitarist AfrotroniX was crowned Best Electronic Artist and Best African Act in the Diaspora and Best African DJ at the All African Music Awards.
AfrotroniX is a character that fuses African and Western cultures in a burst of dance and digital arts, fusing electronic music with African rhythms and Touareg blues into a futuristic visual world. The AfrotroniX concept is incarnated on stage by the artist, wearing his Afro-futuristic helmet, and evolves to the rhythm of his creation that mixes electronic and DJing combined with live instruments and Afro-urban choreography in a futuristic visual Art universe.DANIEL NORGREN
Wednesday, May 13 at 9:30PM
$20
For many, Daniel Norgren is a once-a-generation songwriter. To others he might appear to be just another Swede from the country - his look is unique, his hat always stained, standing a full two meters tall on top of basic sneakers. He's likely wearing the same shirt as the last time you saw him. The thing that makes Daniel Norgren a significant messenger of our time is the conviction, soul, unwavering power, and unmatched presence when performing. The songs? Many are good, no, most are absolutely great. This is often the draw at first. Well that, and his voice - finding one song that stands out and quickly draws you near, then quickly discovering there are over seventy others patiently awaiting your time and attention.
Daniel Norgren is a patient man, let this be clear. He's waited more than a decade - after having already released seven albums and built a significant following throughout Europe - to finally make his way to North America. And now he's here, taking his time and doing this the only way that makes sense and is comfortably familiar - slowly and steadily. One song at a time, one show at a time, and always ready and willing to give it his all.
Performing solo in North America for the first time, Daniel Norgren brings his songs, voice, conviction, and powerful presence to the stage. This is an evening with, just Daniel and a piano, delivering more than a decade's worth of songs coming straight from the heart.
AKIKO YANO TRIO
Wednesday, June 10 at 7:00PM
$35
A NYC resident, Japan's beloved pianist/composer/singer-songwriter Akiko Yano and her trio with her longtime musician-friends, Will Lee (bass & vocal) and Chris Parker (drums), are back. Since Akiko recorded her debut album, Japanese Girl (1976) with Lowell George and Little Feet in LA, her musicianship and originality have been acknowledged worldwide. Three albums were released on Nonesuch Records: AKIKO YANO, LOVE LIFE, and PIANO NIGHTLY. Her 27th original album akiko (2008) was produced by T Bone Burnett. Recently, the vinyl of TADAIMA <I'm Home> (1981) was reissued on a French label Wewantsounds. The latest album, a collaboration with Japanese Tsugaru Shamisen player, Hiromitsu Agatsuma, will be out in spring 2020.
NATION BEAT: THE ROYAL CHASE CD RELEASE PARTY
Friday, July 24 at 9:30PM
$15
Nation Beat harnesses the primal sounds of brass instruments mixed with drums and percussion, reinterpreting classics and presenting original songs for curious listeners who thrive on musical pluralism and surprises. Their original compositions blur the lines between genres and bridge the gap between traditional and contemporary music. It is a funky blend of the roots styles of New Orleans and Brazil. NOLA jazz slips and slides around Brazilian baio; insistent maracatu beats push a Second Line sway. It's Dr. John and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band meets Chico Science and Jackson do Pandeiro in New York City.
Nation Beat's live shows are joyous, rocking, affairs, lifting the feet - and the souls - of audiences with the group's singular musical mojo that calls across time and continents with the force that blew through Louis Armstrong and the power that gets Brazilians swinging in the streets for carnival. Forró, Funk, Brass 'n' Sass!TICKETS:
ONLINE joespub.com / PHONE 212-967-7555
IN PERSON The Public Theater Box Office, 425 Lafayette Street, NYC
NOTE There is a $12 food / two (2) drink minimum per person per show, unless otherwise noted.
Comments
Videos