Janka Nabay & the Bubu Gang's upcoming performance at Arab American National this Friday, September 21st (7pm). This show kicks off a tour out west after dates with Omar Souleyman and a stellar show at the MOMA in support of their En Yay Sah LP, available now on Luaka Bop.
Sierra Leonean native Ahmed Janka Nabay single-handedly radicalized bubu, a frantically-paced electronic dance music with ancient, magical origins. As civil war raged in Freetown, his cassettes sold in the hundreds of thousands and kids followed him through the streets. Despite his efforts to make peace, Janka became a target. He was able to escape, and now resides in DC, joined by members of Gang Gang Dance/Highlife, Skeletons, Zs and Saadi. Together they've become the first Bubu band ever in America, releasing their An Letah EP (True Panther), and now En Yay Sah.
Check the rest of the schedule below
Detroit-area debuts, new
music highlighted in 2012 Fall lineup
Frantic dance music by an
African superstar with a new CD on David Byrne’s Luaka Bop label opens the 2012
Fall Season of Global Fridays, formerly Global Thursdays, at the Arab
American National Museum (AANM).
Janka Nabay – king of the traditional bubu
music from his native Sierra Leone – brings his U.S. posse the Bubu Gang
to Global Fridays for their Detroit debut at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 21,
featuring cuts from full-length CD, En Yay Sah, released this month by
the Luaka Bop label. Then, on the heels of their blistering set at the
20th Concert of Colors last month and their brand-new EP, MND:
Music Never Dies, M.A.K.U. Sound System returns to Detroit for
another dizzying trip that begins with traditional Afro-Colombian rhythms and
ends somewhere in the punk-jazz stratosphere on Friday, Oct.
19.
In the midst of her first North American tour, Jordanian
songstress Macadi Nahhas spins traditional Arabic melodies from her new
CD, The Collection, backed by members of the Michigan Arab
Orchestra, on Friday, Nov. 16. The 2012 Fall Season closes Friday,
Dec. 7, with a concert to benefit youth in Armenia featuring southeast
Michigan’s leading Armenian musicians, Sean Blackman (2010’s In
Transit) and 2012 Kresge Artist Ara Topouzian, and New York vocalist
Hooshere Bezdikian.
Since 2005, this multicultural performance series – a sister
series to the annual summer Concert
of Colors world music festival in Midtown Detroit – has offered
high-quality musical and spoken-word presentations for fans of traditional and
world music and those with adventurous cultural tastes.
“By moving the series to Friday nights, we hope to make these
artists – many of whom have never played in our area – more accessible to a
larger audience,” says Devon Akmon, deputy director of the
AANM.
Enhancing the Global Fridays experience are the Museum’s
intimate 156-seat Auditorium and the after-show artist “meet and greets” and
CD signings. The $10/$9 Museum Members ticket price ($20, no Member
discount for Dec. 7 concert) and free, lighted parking makes Global Fridays a
great entertainment value for everyone. For complete Global Fridays information
and to purchase tickets online, visit www.arabamericanmuseum.org. Tickets
are also available at the door.
Read more about this season’s artists below.
Global Fridays is made possible in part by DTE Energy and
Comerica. Artist accommodations are provided by DoubleTree Hotel Detroit
Dearborn.
Global Fridays 2012 Fall Season @ Arab American
National Museum
7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 21
Janka Nabay & the Bubu Gang
Bubu/Afrobeat
Janka Nabay is
the undisputed king of bubu, a frantically paced dance music with
ancient, magical origins in his native Sierra Leone. A superstar there since the
mid 1990s, Nabay saw his music become a political football during a bloody civil
war, so he came to America in 2002. The Bubu Gang is the posse of musical
collaborators Nabay has hooked up with in the U.S. – Doug Shaw (Gang Gang
Dance, Highlife, White Magic), Jason McMahon and Jonathan Leland
(Skeletons), Michael Gallope (Starring) and vocalist Boshra
Al-Saadi – to create a wild, high-octane juggernaut of call-and-response
vocal interplay, juddering dancefloor rhythms, synths and guitars. These
exciting new sounds draw as much from bubu as they do from the sunny
energy of Ghanaian highlife, the extended improvisations of ‘70s Miles Davis,
the hypnotic rhythms of classic Afrobeat and the swirling echoes of ‘60s and
‘70s psychedelia.
The group financed its critically acclaimed 2011
appearance at the South by Southwest Festival with a Kickstarter campaign;
its current national tour stopped at New York’s Museum of Modern Art and the
Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., among other venues. The self-released EP An
Letah was issued last spring; a full-length CD, En Yay
Sah, on David Byrne’s Luaka Bop label, was released this summer. Click
HERE to watch a
video.
“…the music evokes a street parade that keeps
collecting passersby and growing… a delirious wig-out.”
“…tight and fresh, an intoxicating mixture of afropop, electronic music and indy jazz.”
7:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 19
M.A.K.U. Sound System
Latin ska/funk
Comprised of
players hailing mostly from Colombia, M.A.K.U. Sound System makes big music that begins in
traditional Afro-Colombian rhythms and ends somewhere in the punk-jazz
stratosphere. Clarinet, trombone, sax, guitarra and Latin percussion supplement
a rambunctious, driving rock core, creating a sound familiar enough to be
danceable but always surprising. M.A.K.U. was born between the years 2009 and
2010, formed by South American expats living in New York City. They are Liliana
Conde (vocals, percussion); Juan Ospina aka Prodigio Arribetiao (vocals, bass);
Camilo Rodriguez (guitar, gaitas); Robert Stringer (trombone); Pipe Quiroz
(synthesizers); and Andres Jimenez (drums).
Since their
sizzling performance at the 20th Concert of Colors in Midtown Detroit
this summer, M.A.K.U. has been on the road, playing venues including the
Pritzker Pavilion in Chicago’s Millennium Park and The Kennedy Center in
Washington, D.C. They recently completed a new EP, MND: Music Never
Dies, a follow-up to 2011’s Makumbala.
“The
octet's deep, sometimes dubby sound tears through the fabric of tradition with
drums, electronics, horns, and a clarinet that adds a klezmer tinge.”
“This ensemble presents a
show full of pure energy, explosive drumming and Latin American
flavor.”
7:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 16
Macadi Nahhas
Arabic Traditional
FIRST NORTH AMERICAN TOUR
A popular vocalist on the international festival circuit,
this young Jordanian revives traditional, folkloric Arabic music with sparkle
and style. Trained at the Music Conservatory of Beirut, Nahhas gave an early
live performance at the 1997 Jerash Festival and became a regular there. This
year alone, she has appeared at the Festival du Monde Arabe – Montreal; Kuwait’s
Summer Cultural Festival; Live at DRM in Lebanon; the Palestine National
Festival in Ramallah, and Babel Ramadan Nights at Beirut’s Babel Theater, among
other events. Nahhas gives special love to songs of Iraqi origin; her latest CD,
The Collection, a compilation of her best-loved songs and
previously unreleased tracks, came out earlier this year. Click HERE
to watch a video from the new CD or HERE to
visit the artist’s Facebook page.
For this concert, Nahhas will be accompanied by members of
the Michigan Arab
Orchestra.
Media Sponsor: www.ArabAmerica.com
Concertgoers may also enjoy the free opening
reception for the exhibition Little Syria, NY: An Immigrant Community’s Life
& Legacy, prior to the performance.
7:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 7
Hye Harmony: Creating Dreams for Armenian
Children
Armenian Traditional
SPECIAL BENEFIT CONCERT TICKETS $20
Southeast Michigan’s leading Armenian musicians –
charismatic guitarist Sean
Blackman and kanun virtuoso Ara Topouzian – unite with New
York City vocalist Hooshere
Bezdikian for this benefit concert for the children of Armenia, who have
suffered for generations in the wake of the Armenian Genocide of the early
20th century. Hye (which translates as Armenia) Harmony takes
place on the anniversary of the deadly 1988
earthquake in northern Armenia.
Blackman is a master of the acoustic nylon-string guitar,
a composer and a visionary who has drawn top musicians from around the world to
the Motor City. 2012 Kresge Artist Fellow Topouzian plays the kanun – a
76-stringed laptop Middle Eastern harp. He has appeared in solo performances and
with renowned Armenian and world musicians throughout the U.S. Topouzian and
Blackman performed in Blackman’s In Transit, a 19-piece world music
extravaganza that drew a capacity crowd to Detroit’s Orchestra Hall in
2010.
Hooshere Bezdikian is a first generation Armenian American
who creates an inventive, balanced fusion of contemporary and traditional music
– a unique electronica/trip-hop/rock sound, infused with her signature
Armenian/Middle Eastern vibe. She performs regularly on the east and west
coasts; her song Willow won first prize in the 2006 Billboard Song
Contest.
“One could say the world is Blackman’s
oyster.”
“If you are
a fan of Armenian kef (party) music, or most any kind
of party music for that matter, you & yours will enjoy
this…”
“Curtis Mayfield would agree…Hooshere has
soul.”
Ara Topouzian video HERE.
Sean Blackman video HERE.
Hooshere Bezdikian video HERE.
Tickets for this benefit concert are $20 (no Museum
Member discount), with half of all proceeds going to the Armenian Relief Society and
its youth initiatives.
All Global Fridays performances begin at 7:30 p.m. in the
Lower Level Auditorium at the Arab American National Museum, 13624 Michigan Ave.
just west of Schaefer Road in Dearborn. Free, lighted parking is available in
the municipal lot north of the Museum.
Tickets, $10/$9 Museum Members ($20 for the December 7
benefit concert, no Member discount) are available in advance online at www.arabamericanmuseum.org; tickets
also available at the door.
***************
The Arab American National Museum documents, preserves and
presents Arab American history, culture and contributions. It is a
project of ACCESS, a Dearborn, Michigan-based nonprofit human services and
cultural organization. Learn more at www.arabamericanmuseum.org and www.accesscommunity.org.
The Arab American National Museum is a proud Affiliate of the
Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Read about the Affiliations program
at http://affiliations.si.edu.
The Museum is located at 13624 Michigan Avenue, Dearborn, MI,
48126. Hours: 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday; noon-5
p.m. Sunday. Closed Monday, Tuesday; Thanksgiving, Christmas Day and New Year’s
Day. Admission is $6 for adults; $3 for students, seniors and children 6-12;
ages 5 and under, free. Call 313.582.2266 for further
information.
