globalFEST (www.globalfest-ny.org),the preeminent springboard for global music in North America, has been exploring and presenting a deeply rooted, sonically diverse world to influential North American arts professionals and avid music fans for eight years. Keen to find global performers—both veterans and newcomers—perfectly poised for wider notoriety, globalFEST throws one of the year’s best international music parties while expanding the horizons of musicians and audiences alike.
This year’s globalFEST comes to New York City’s Webster Hall (125 E. 11th St.) on January 9, 2011 at 7pm. The one-night festival includes two U.S. debuts and one New York debut. Tickets are $40. ($35 for members of World Music Institute)
This year’s festival line-up & set t imes:
Rhythm of Rajasthan – (India) 7:00-7:45 Kaumakaiwa Kanaka’ole – (Hawai’i) 7:15-8:15 Creole Choir of Cuba – (Cuba) 7:30-8:20 Orquestra Contemporânea de Olinda – (Brazil) 8:05-8:50 Pedrito Martinez Group – (NY/Cuba) 8:35-9:35 Chamber Music: Ballaké Sissoko & Vincent Segal – (Mali/France) 8:40-9:30 RAM – (Haiti) 9:10-9:55 Yoro Ndiaye – (Senegal) 9:50-10:40 Zikrayat – (Egypt/NY) 9:55-10:55 La-33 – (Colombia) 10:15-11:00 Diblo Dibala – (The Congo) 11:00-11:50 Novalima – (Peru) 11:20-12:05 Red Baraat – (NY/India) 11:15-12:15
Though globalFEST often highlights hip and vibrant hybrids emerging from music hotspots—represented this year by Novalima’s Afro-Peruvian electronica, RAM’s interweaving of Haitian vodou spiritual song with rock sensibilities, and Red Baraat’s funky brass band-does-Bollywood extravaganza—this year, organizers Isabel Soffer of World Music Institute, Bill Bragin of Acidophilus: Live and Active Cultures, and Shanta Thake of Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater, noticed something new in the air: a passion for tradition.
“I recently met a presenter who specializes in experimental music,” recounts Bragin. “And even he was more and more interested in traditional music. He said that he was finding a freshness in tradition that felt less homogenized than many of the so-called musical ‘experiments’ he encountered. We’ve seen a similar response to previous globalFEST performers who represented lesser-known musical traditions from global ethnic minorities.”
This freshness pops out of performances by the Creole Choir of Cuba (who have toured previously in the U.S. as Desandann), who for generations have passed down songs in Cuba’s Haitian community with roots going back to the turn of the 19th century. Or in the stunning songs of youthful native Hawaiian artist Kaumakaiwa Kanaka’ole (NY solo debut),whose family has carefully tended the spiritual and sonic heritage of the islands for more than a century.
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