Taking a look back at 2022, programming returned to normal, more or less, and we had the opportunity to see some of our locally and regionally based artists. Hopefully travel restricttions continue to improve allowing more international artists to plan tours in the coming year.

In January we were lucky enough to pass by Barbes a few times to hear Stephane Wrembel as he was gearing up for Django Agogo, the annual celebration of Django Reinhardt’s music. He has a weekly Sunday night gig at the Brooklyn hangout. Wrembel brought the warmth of Django’s music to rapt audiences in the backroom space. He knows the work intimately and he took time between songs to share his insights into the music, focusing on the 17 known preludes composed by Reinhardt. The preludes, he said are “a mighty repertoire, the most unknown repertoire and the one that is closest to his essence, that tells the most about his total vision of music.” Before playing Improvisation #2, for example, he cited Debussy’s influence in the floating tonality. Wrembel spent 4 years on a deep dive into the music transcribing, recording and performing the preludes which resulted in a book “Django L’Impressionniste”.

NIYAZ is beguiling vocalist Azam Ali and Co-leader Loga Ramin Torkian orchestrating a global trance experience, seamlessly blending rich, acoustic instrumentation, modern electronics, with the poetry and folk songs from the duo's native Iran and surrounding countries, enhanced by atmospheric lighting and stunning dance from Tara Pendaya.

Italian Doc Remix (L-R) Doug Wieselman, clarinets; Roberto Schiano, trombone; Jim Pugliese, drums; Francisco Peligrino, vocals; Ken Filiano, bass; and Marco Cappelli, guitar. IDR started their US tour featuring music from "Pandemonium" their debut album at a new club, The Atlantic BKLN May 15th 2022.

“From Bamako to Birmingham” paired Amadou and Miriam and The Blind Boys of Alabama on a US tour that stopped in NYC, May 3rd. Featuring Jimmy Carter – singer, Ricky McKinnie – singer, Benjamin Moore Jr – singer,
Joey Williams – singer/guitar and Amadou Bagayoko – singer / guitar, Mariam Doumbia – singer with Sam Dickey – bass, Yves Abady – drums

Niyaz is Azam Ali - Voice, Loga Ramin Torkian - Kamaan, Lafta, Sinan Cem Eroglu - Kaval, Kopuz, Ravi Naimpally- Tabla, Gabrile Vinuela - Keyboards, Programming Tara Pandeya dancer and Jesse Gilbert- Visuals

Jesse Gilbert’s boldly atmospheric lighting played over the stage and audience. It was a powerful effect. Ali’s vocals ascended over layers of keyboard and electronic beats programmed by Gabrile Vinuela punctuated by the complex rhythmic structure of Persian poetry played on the acoustic instruments by Loga Ramin Torkian on Kamaan and Lafta, Sinan Cem Eroglu on Kaval and Kopuz, with Ravi Naimpally on Tabla.

Lakou Mizik is propelled by the seemingly endless variety of rhythms found in Haitian tradition music. Since forming after the 2010 Earthquake in Port au Prince, Lakou (the Haitian Creole word for community) has toured widely. We saw the band twice in NYC and in Lafayette Louisiana in 2022. Bandleader Steeve Valcourt made an instant connection to musicians in Louisiana, which we witnessed at Festival International. The Lost Bayou Ramblers were performing at the Blue Moon Cafe in 2017 when Lakou members walked in making their way through the audience carrying Kone horns and percussion instruments. The musicians had never met, but Steeve knew what he heard at that moment. It was the  nago  rhythm found in the contradance music of Haiti. They joined the Cajun artists and the music continued uninterrupted. The drummer shifted from the contradance rhythm to a march as the band was introduced, and then segued into a  rara  rhythm, without a pause Lakou broke into a carnival chant bolstered by the kone (horns).

The iconic Malian afro-pop duo  Amadou & Mariam  and the uplifting gospel vocal group The  Blind Boys of Alabama performed together as part of The World Music Institute’s “Origins Series”. The artists figuratively passing the mic during one evening length show that featured, in particular, a collaborative newly released single “Netola”, also Jimmy Carter’s passionate lead vocals on Tom Waits’ “Way Down in the Hole” and the classic “People Get Ready” (Curtis Mayfield). Unfortunately, it was one of Benjamin Moore Jr’s last performances as The Blind Boys member passed away the following week while on tour in New Mexico.

Saturday April 9th, Combo Chimbita and Lido Pimiento shared the stage at Bombyx in Northampton, Ma. Tradi-futuristic artists merging Afro Colombian roots (bullerengue and cumbia) with electronica and psych elements.

Combo Chimbita’s music features Carolina Oliveros’ voice, which conjures a deeper otherworldly connection anchored by the psychedelic crunch of the music, a collaboration honed by years of playing together in New York City’s clubs. It was an explosive set drawn primarily from their album “Ahomale”. The band members are Colombian and their shared roots brought them together in New York City and found themselves at the center of an evolving Latinx music community playing roots music at house parties and clubs, Terraza 7 and Barbes.

Barbès celebrated its 20th anniversary on May 15th, 2022 at Le Poisson Rouge in Manhattan. The event was hosted by owner Olivier Conan and showcased the breadth of talent nurtured by the club over the years. Brooklyn-based artists including Mamie Minch, Ethan Lipton and his Orchestra, and Red Baraat performed along with Mexico City’s Son Rompe Pera.

Mamie Minch played an acoustic set inspired by rural blues filtered through her contemporary sensibility. She was joined by Dean Sharenow on drums. Selections included obscure classics such as “Make me a Pallet on the Floor”, a Doc Watson song, “Blues Stay Away From Me” and “Big River Blues” from the Delmore Brothers, “Traveling Woman” a Mattie Delaney song, as well as originals “Wee Midnight Hour” and the title track from her 2020 release “Slow Burn”.

Brooklyn-based Red Baraat straddles two worlds, Bhangra the traditional, dhol drum-driven dance music of Northern India, with contemporary elements of rock, hip-hop, and jazz, as such it is more than a Punjabi party band, Red Baraat is expressing, musically, the immigrant experience and one of the exciting elements of the tapestry of the New York City nightlife. Leader and dhol player Sunny Jain has expressed his particularly angst-filled experience as an immigrant adopting to a new culture and succeeds in harnessing the energy of his heritage with the goal of “manifesting joy and unity in all people”.

We recently listened to “Dimedi” Natu Camara’s debut for the first time in a while, it reminded us what a special record it is, but also how the music has evolved over the past few years. The pandemic sank her touring dates but her band Oscar Debe Drums, Matthew Albeck guitar, Electric Guitar, Djibril Touré bass, Gianni Mano percussions, Marius Van Den Brink keys/piano, and Lindsey Wilson (backing vocals) stayed together and have done extensive touring since (as well as local gigs, we have seen them a few times in the past year).

Ceferina Banquez, “Queen of the Bullerengue”, Colombia’s Afro-Caribbean traditional music that features call and response vocals between the leader and a chorus of musicians playing drums and percussion instruments, at Lincoln Center Atrium.

Lincoln Center presented “Celebrating Greg Tate: More Than Posthuman: Rise of the Burnt Sugar Arkestra Mojosexual Cotillion” July 17th, 2022, a concert and exhibition honoring the late founder of the band.

Hearts of Steel’s roots are in Trinidad but is also a link to a quickly fading Brooklyn culture. Leader Mike Demas describes Hearts as playing Flatbush music, as it is strongly linked to place and community. At one time, steel pan music was a common sound on summer evenings, in Flatbush, as bands set up panyards in empty lots or behind businesses. Unfortunately, rising real estate prices and the corresponding construction projects have displaced many of the Flatbush-based bands.

QWANQWA, from Ethiopia, performing in Brooklyn made their  North American debut in 2022. The band’s members, Endris Hassen on masenqo (one string fiddle), Bubu Teklemariam on bass krar (Ethiopian lyre), Selamnesh Zemene on vocals, Misale Legesse on kebero (goat skin drum), and Kaethe Hostetter on 5 string electric violin are masters of the string traditions found in Ethiopia. The and creates an improvisational space to explore paths to further the music while respecting its history. Their tour included major summer festivals from coast to coast.

Berber,  Amizigh, and the sounds of the Magreb percolate through Noura’s vocals and Jeich Ould Chighaly’s guitar. Listening to the guitar and vocals interact is fascinating. She draws on the poetry sung in the griot tradition of her family sung in  Hassaniyya Arabic. Jeich also comes from a Moorish griot family.  The frets of his guitar are customized in a way that allows him to respond to the path of Noura’s vocals with a blast of quarter-tone notes, the sound straddling traditional Arabic and psychedelic rock. As do most musicians in Mauritania, they perform in traditional settings, weddings, and parties.

Natu Camara realized a long-time goal to bring communities together, October 16th in Harlem’s Marcus Garvey Park with HARLEM MEET AFRICA/ Songs of Hope and Healing which celebrated the cultural bridge between Harlem and Africa.   She performed with her band Oscar Debe (Drums), Matthew Albeck (Electric Guitar), Djibril Touré (bass), Gianni Mano (percussions), Marius Van Den Brink (keys/piano), and Lindsey Wilson (backing vocals).

Bailo Bah, from Guinea, a master of the Fula flute performed at Harlem Meets Africa with Manding singer Missa Saran Diabate. Also performing was Hervé Coeur and group, Lindsey Wilson, The Waiters of Happyness (Jerome Mitchell on vocals and lead guitar. John Adams on vocals and keys. Robert Aaron on sax, Nir Graf on bass, Jamie Ambler on guitar, Lyndsey Wilson on background vocals and Oscar Debé on drums. Featuring Aida Dyer on vocals) and DJ  Stormin' Norman

Awesome Tapes from Africa, the label known for championing under-appreciated and often eclectic music from the continent, teamed with The World Music Institute to present two artists, Ata Kak from Ghana and Ethiopian artist Hailu Mergia, in separate shows on back-to-back weekends at Brooklyn venue Elsewhere.

Lollise opened for Ata Kak at Elsewhere in Brooklyn, September 30th, 2022. Her music is inspired by what she heard growing up in Botswana, including the keyboard driven Bubble Gum and Kwaito.

 The “Songbird of Wasallou” Oumou Sangare graced the stage of the Apollo Theater Saturday, October 29th. It is a special evening when a star from the continent performs on the stage of the renowned Harlem venue. Dressed in a full-length white gown, she looked elegant and relaxed. Oumou introduced songs from her new album “Timbuktu” to a receptive house at the Apollo Theater.

José Luis Pardo on guitars/vocals (Los Crema Paraiso, Los Amigos Invisibles), Neil Ochoa on congas/percussion/electronics (Chicha Libre, Los Crema Paraiso), Joshua Camp on accordion/keyboards/vocals (Chicha Libre, C.A.M.P.O.S., One Ring Zero), Edward Marshall (La Muy Bestia Pop) on bass, and Fernando Valladares on timbales & drums (Guaco). 

Domenica Fossati has worked with many of the icons of the New York downtown scene including Antibalas, Brazilian Girls, Marc Ribot, Dan Auerbach (The Black Keys), and is a Latin Grammy winner for her performance on Flor de Toloache’s 2018 album, “Las Caras Lindas.” But Underground System the band she established with guitarist Peter Matson is where she cuts loose. Underground System is one of the best live bands on the local NY scene, Brooklyn based but embodying the essence of the East Village: punk energy and relentless Afro-Latino heat that never lets up and really makes you move. In their own words “Underground System continues to reinvent their brand of global dance music, remaining a force determined to recreate, redefine, and reconstruct….contextualizing and breathing fresh life into elements of afrobeat, dance punk, disco and electronic music”.

The show at Bombyx concluded Combo Chimita’s pandemic delayed tour for the release of Ahomale, they have since released “Ire” their third album.

One of the more positive developments in 2022 was the launching of the Bombyx Center for Arts and Equity, a live music venue in Northampton Massachusetts. Edo Mor and Laudable Productions (inspired in part by music he heard at Barbes in Brooklyn) found a way to bring the music he loves to Western Massachusetts. Now they have a home base for touring and local artists (upcoming shows in 2023 include Tamikrest, Son Rompe Pera, and Fatoumata Diawara)

Son Rompe Pera, from Mexico City, closed out the Barbes 20th celebration with a manic set of marimba led cumbia-punk. Led by brothers Jesús Ángel and Allan Gama (Kacho and Mongo) on marimbas they blazed into their set with both mastery of the traditionally based tunes and a ferocity that cast them in a new light.

 Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber performers included Vernon Reid - Conduction, Lisala Beatty - Vocals, Shelley Nicole - Vocals & Conduction, Bruce Mack - Vocals/Synthesizer & Conduction, Karma Mayet - Vocals, Abby Dobson - Vocals, Sequoyah Murray - Vocals, Shariff Simmons - Vocals, Latasha N. Nevada Diggs - Vocals/Electronic Soundscapes, Simi Stone - Violin, Satch Hoyt - Flute & Percussion, Lewis “Flip” Barnes - Trumpet, JS Williams - Trumpet, Avram Fefer - Soprano Sax, V. Jeffrey Smith - Tenor Sax, “Moist” Paula Henderson - Bari Sax, Dave “Smoota” Smith - Trombone, Leon Gruenbaum - Keyboards & Samchillian, Ben Tyree - Electric Guitar, Andre Lassalle - Electric Guitar, Jason DiMatteo - Acoustic Bass, Shawn Banks - Congas, LaFrae Sci - Trap Drums & Electronics, Marque Gilmore tha' Inna•Most - Trap Drums & Electronics, Jared Michael Nickerson - Electric Bass & Conduction,

From the LC program: “Gregory Stephen Ionman Tate (1957-2021) was a giant of Black radical thought and creativity, and a conductor of incandescent, community-driven music. Tate's body of writing as an influential critic would be enough to enshrine him as a cultural icon, but he is equally important to a generation of musicians as both the co-founder of the Black Rock Coalition, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to the complete creative freedom of Black artists; and the creator of Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber, a sprawling, omnivorous, and outrageously accomplished improv collective.”

Prospect Park became a gathering spot during the pandemic. Mike loaded his drums into a beat-up van and drove over the Parkside and Ocean Avenue entrance one Sunday in 2020where he met his musicians. It quickly became a joyous weekly community celebration after months of isolation. Hearts were soon joined by others, Kutters, JouvayFest, Black Love Pantonics, and Harmony Steel and the gatherings have continued. 

The Habibi Festival at Joe’s Pub was created with the goal of giving a snapshot of contemporary and traditional musics of the SWANA (South West Asia North Africa) region, Habibi Festival aims to take listeners on a journey of the sounds wafting through the airwaves and living rooms of cities spanning Marrakech to Baghdad to Brooklyn. This new performing arts festival is a collaboration between the Director of Joe's Pub at the Public Theater Alex Knowlton, artist/composer/curator Yacine Boulares, and curator/producer Meera Dugal

Over time the character of tightly written songs have ecome more complex and elastic.  “Momi Hidda” a gently mesmerizing song now expresses the anguish on behalf of underaged girls forced to marry older men in both in the words and the bluesy primal scream that wells up from inside Natu. Her set also includes exceptional new songs “Nehu” and “Fare”

Estonian Neo-Folk duo Puuluup, Ramo Teder and Marko Veisson, at Joe’s Pub September 22nnnd 2022.

Missia Saran Diabaté, a Guinean singer with a powerful voice has two solo albums of Manding music released in France. New York audiences are familiar with her work with Kakande, a locally-based ensemble led by her husband Famoro Dioubaté.

Awesome Tapes From Africa founder Brian Shimkovitz discovered Ata Kak’s 1994 recording “Obaa Sima” in a pile of cassette tapes after returning from Ghana in the early 2000s. Brian’s fascination with that recording, he says, led to the beginning of the blog https://www.awesometapes.com/blog/ The blog shares his African music discoveries

Awesome Tapes relationship with Hailu Mergia began after the Ethio-Jazz legend was rediscovered driving an airport cab in Washington DC. He has since released three albums with the label, “Hailu Mergia & His Classical Instrument: Shemonmuanaye” 2013, “Lala Belu” 2018, and “Yene Mircha” 2020

The swaying rhythms of Wassaoulou music from southwestern Mali, are performed by women traditionally. Oumou is known as the “Songbird of Wassoulou” .

It was an unlikely path that brings Mamadou and his Fantastic Band to New York City stages. Mamadou Mbenge and several of the musicians backing him met years ago in North Carolina. Daniel Yount (drums) Evan Frierson (candombe, talking drum), and Sean Smith (trumpet) were playing music inspired by Benin’s Orchestre Poly Rythmo de Cotonou, Ghanaian Highlife, and Nigerian Afrobeat in A Brand New Life, a Greenpoint band.  Greenpoint for Mamadou Mbengu was a gateway to the US from Senegal. A talking drum player, Mamadou mentored and performed with them until they relocated to New York City and formed the Super Yamba band and he moved to Chicago. They reunited by chance and are now collaborating again.