Starting next week, The French Institute Alliance Française - or FIAF will be presenting World Nomads Morocco: Music.
Held at several venues around Manhattan, these performances give striking insight into the past and present trajectories of Moroccan and Morocco-inspired artists' border-hopping expression.
Opening the festival will be an evening of Judeo-Arab Andalusian music performed by the Orchestra of Fes with Françoise Atlan. Under the direction of conductor Mohamed Briouel and featuring star Sephardic Jewish vocalist Françoise Atlan, this rich musical tradition dates back to Medieval Spain and is loved by Muslims and Jews alike.
Brahim Fribgane, a multi-instrumentalist steeped in Amazigh/Berber tradition, and French-Lebanese pioneer on the quarter-tone trumpet Ibrahim Maalouf team up to explore the free-ranging intersection of jazz, their shared trans-Mediterranean roots, and Arabic sounds.
Fribgane, has played with everyone from Medeski Martin & Wood to Harry Belafonte. Maalouf is similarly open-minded: After learning the quarter-tone trumpet from his father, a horn designed to navigate the complexities of Arabic modes, he has carved a genre-bending career, working with musicians as varied as Marcel Khalife, Amadou & Miriam, and Elvis Costello.
Soultana discovered rap at age 14 but got serious as an MC as a young woman, when she couldn't keep quiet about the frustrations of unemployment, poverty, and discrimination. With two other female friends, she formed Tigresse Flow, a group that swept several major Moroccan festivals, shocked conservative society, and won over thousands of young female fans. In her solo work, Soultana's taught flow and pared-down but solid beats form the perfect backdrop for unabashed, critical lyrics.
Soundwalk: The Passenger translates urban life into aural maps, creating layers of narration, atmospheric sound, and mysterious noises to conjure a location and hint at its history and character. For this commissioned work, the international sound-gathering collective will weave the noises and voices of Fes, Marrakech, and Tangiers into an evocative sense of place live on twelve turntables, and accompanied by striking visuals captured on film.
Master Gnaoua Musicians will give Americans a rare opportunity to hear several revered Gnaoua healers and performers. These musical elders can turn deceptively simple instruments and songs into a trance-inducing, polyrhythmic revelation, drawing on their sub-Saharan roots and profound spiritual commitment. The concert, curated by cross-genre Gnaoua-American innovator Hassan Hakmoun, will show how edgy and fresh long-held tradition can sound.
World Nomads Morocco: Music: Tour Schedule
04/30/2011: Orchestra of Fes with Orchestra of Fes - FIAF, Florence Gould Hall , New York NY
05/05/2011: Brahim Fribgane & Ibrahim Maalouf - Lincoln Center, David Rubenstein Atrium, New York NY
05/06/2011: Soultana - Joe's Pub , New York NY
05/09/2011: Soundwalk: The Passenger - Florence Gould Hall, New York, NY
05/21/2011: Mustapha Bakbou & Mahmoud Guinea - Florence Gould Hall, New York NY
04/27/11
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