City Farm Presents x Boom Collective
Hailu Mergia
Kassa Overall's
"Blue Swamini"
Feat. Brandee Younger /
sinkane dj set
DATE
SATURDAY, JULY 27, 2019
7:30PM Doors / 8:00PM Show
RAIN OR SHINE
TICKETS
$20 ADV / $25 Day of Show
General Admission - Standing
21+
LOCATION
Industry City Courtyard 1-2
(Food Hall Entrance)
238 36th Street,
Brooklyn, NY 11232
Hailu Mergia
Capping several successful years traveling the world performing to audiences big and small, Hailu Mergia released his first new album in over 15 years, Lala Belu, in March 2018. Lala Belu had been a long time coming and builds on Mergia’s remarkable career resurgence over the past few years.
Beginning in 2013 with the reissue of his dreamy Hailu Mergia and His Classical Instrument followed by the enormous success of his seminal Ethio-jazz masterpiece Tche Belew and continuing with 2016’s widely acclaimed Wede Harer Guzo, Mergia has received considerable accolades from listeners and press globally, including The New York Times, Pitchfork and The Wire. His old recordings are cherished revelations for Ethiopian music fans; however, Mergia’s return to the stage has been just as inspiring and electrifying.
Mergia’s vintage recordings are known for an inherently mysterious and worn-in quality, while his new recordings echo his band’s 21st century live show with modern instrumental interpretations of crucial Ethiopian standards and Mergia’s own original compositions.
Margia’s eventual work with Awesome Tapes From Africa introduced his music to a broad audience of young listeners in diverse venues and distant locales, at age 71, Mergia is enjoying his comeback and is not slowing down.
Kassa Overall's "Blue Swamini"
Feat. Brandee Younger
In Hinduism, a swami (Sanskrit: स्वामी svāmī [sʋaːmi}) is an ascetic or yogi who has been initiated into a religious monastic order. The meaning of the Sanskrit root of the word is '[he who is] one with his self.' Kassa Overall channels this philosophy into his latest project, Blue Swamini. He is continuing a lineage of African American musicians with roots in the blues aesthetic who have sought to fuse their creativity with ancient spiritual traditions-- Alice Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, Yusef Lateef, Ahmad Jamal, to name a few.
Overall is returning to this tradition at a crucial moment—musically, politically, and spiritually. Escaping from the divisive forces of social media and individualism, Blue Swamini is a deeply necessary meditation on universal oneness. The evolution of a practice, seeking balance and equality beyond the confines of race, gender, identity and religion.
The combination of harp, vibraphone, acoustic bass, and drums offers a wider sonic palette, an increased dynamic range often leaning towards ambient with tonal and atmospheric quality. With original compositions and new arrangements from the spiritual jazz tradition, the group’s sound carves out a fresh space for itself in this current musical moment.
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Industry City courtyard 1-2
238 36th St. Brooklyn, NY 11232
(Food Hall Entrance)
Subway D N R to 36th Street, Brooklyn