this week in music

NOCHE UNIDOS: A BALLET HISPÁNICO NIGHT OF DANCE AND UNITY

ballet hispanico

Who: Rita Moreno, Norman Lear, Pacquito D’Rivera, Arturo O’Farrill, Eduardo Vilaro, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Gloria Estefan, more
What: Ballet Hispánico fiftieth anniversary celebration
Where: YouTube, Facebook, Instagram
When: Tuesday, June 30, free with RSVP (donations accepted), 7:30
Why: Founded by Tina Ramirez in 1970, Ballet Hispánico has been “bringing communities together to celebrate and explore Latino cultures through innovative dance productions, transformative dance training, and community engagement” for fifty years, as its mission statement explains. As part of its golden anniversary, the Upper West Side institution is going virtual with “Noche Unidos: A Night of Dance and Unity,” an evening of world premieres by Latinx choreographers along with special celebrity appearances. Debuting new works will be Kiri Avelar, Rodney Hamilton (Punto De Vista with Paulo Hernandez-Farella), Michelle Manzanales (Cautivadx), Andrea Miller (Orilla), Annabelle Lopez Ochoa (Pajarillo Escondido with Dandara Veiga), Pedro Ruiz (Sobre el Siglo de la Luces with Lyvan Verdecia and Melissa Verdecia), Carlos Pons-Guerra (Gazpacho with Omar Rivera and Antonio Cangiano), Gustavo Ramirez Sansano (Lady of Spain with Shelby Colona), Nancy Turano (Mambo for 50 with Lenai Wilkerson), and company artistic director and CEO Eduardo Vilaro (Serenata with Laura Lopez). “Noche Unidos is beyond anything we could have imagined several months ago. This will be a spectacular virtual celebration of Ballet Hispánico with a group of amazing Latinx artists from across the nation coming together to honor the legacy of Tina Ramirez and Ballet Hispánico’s roots while looking forward, beyond our fiftieth anniversary. There is still work to be done, and Ballet Hispánico intends to pave the way and create these opportunities for Latinx voices to be amplified through dance, education, and our communities,” noted Eduardo, who will be hosting the event.

Among others joining in the festivities are EGOT winner Rita Moreno, legendary television producer Norman Lear, Hamilton creator extraordinaire Lin-Manuel Miranda, three-time Grammy winner Gloria Estefan, Cuban sax and clarinet great Paquito D’Rivera, and Afro-Latin Jazz Orchestra artistic director and pianist-composer Arturo O’Farrill. There will also be performances by Ballet Hispánico School of Dance students and Nuestro Futuro scholarship recipients Julienne Rane Buenaventura and Ruby Castillo, choreographed by Hamilton (Ayer y Hoy) and Avelar (Mi Baile en Casa, A Film by Kiri Avelar), respectively. “Now more than ever it is important that we, as artists, learn about the rich history and meaning behind Black/Latinx dance forms, that we no longer whitewash the field and instead celebrate all cultures,” Buenaventura wrote in a letter to the Ballet Hispánico community. For a limited time you can also see the troupe’s previous watch party, Somebrerísimo by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, while the next event will be Edwaard Liang’s El Viaje on July 8, both from last year’s Joyce season and each followed by a “Choreographers & Cocktails” talk led by former company dancer Vilaro.

TIM’S TWITTER LISTENING / WATCH PARTY: 20,000 DAYS ON EARTH WITH LIVE TWEETING

Nick Cave takes a look back at his life and career as only Nick Cave can in imaginative, deeply introspective documentary

Who: Tim Burgess, Iain Forsyth, Jane Pollard
What: Listening/watch party of 20,000 Days on Earth (Iain Forsyth & Jane Pollard, 2014) with live tweeting
Where: Tim’s Twitter Listening Party
When: Sunday, June 28, Twitter free, film rental here, 11:00 pm EST
Why: During the pandemic, Tim Burgess of the Charlatans has been hosting listening and watch parties with live tweeting, highlighting such records as Camper Van Beethoven’s Telephone Free Landslide Victory, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark’s Dazzle Ships, Dexys Midnight Runners’ Searching for the Young Soul Rebels, and Duran Duran’s Rio, with band members chiming in as the album plays. On June 28 at 11:00 pm EST, Burgess goes audiovisual with live tweeting during a watch party of Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard’s 2014 documentary, 20,000 Days on Earth. (You can rent the film here.)

The film might sound like a 1950s low-budget sci-fi cult classic you’ve never seen, but actually it’s an unusual and vastly inventive document of the life and times of Australian rocker, poet, novelist, film composer, screenwriter, and all-around bon vivant Nick Cave. In their debut feature, installation artists and curators Forsyth and Pollard collaborated closely with Cave, mixing reality and fantasy as they follow Cave during a rather busy day. “Who knows their own story? Certainly it makes no sense when we are living in the midst of it,” Cave, who is now sixty-two, says in the deeply poetic voiceover narration he wrote specifically for the film. “It’s all just clamor and confusion. It only becomes a story when we tell it, and retell it, our small, precious recollections that we speak again and again to ourselves or to others, first creating the narrative of our lives, and then keeping the story from dissolving into darkness.” Forsyth and Pollard journey with Cave as he delves into religion and his relationship with his father with psychoanalyst Darian Leader, visits with longtime collaborator Warren Ellis (who shares an amazing story about Nina Simone and a piece of gum), drives around as people from his past suddenly appear in his car (friend Ray Winstone, duet partner Kylie Minogue, former bandmate Blixa Bargeld), lays down tracks in the studio (“Give Us a Kiss,” “Higgs Boson Blues,” “Push the Sky Away” with a children’s orchestra), watches television with his twin sons, and goes through his archives of photographs and other ephemera from childhood to the present day.

The film reveals Cave, the leader of cutting-edge groups the Birthday Party, Grinderman, and the Bad Seeds and author of the novels And the Ass Saw the Angel and The Death of Bunny Munro, to be an intelligent, introspective, engaging fellow with a wry, often self-deprecating sense of humor and a hunger to create. “Mostly I write. Tapping and scratching away day and night sometimes,” he says while typing away with two fingers on an old typewriter in his home office. “But if I ever stopped for long enough to question what I’m actually doing? The why of it? Well, I couldn’t really tell you. I don’t know.” The film begins with a barrage of images of Cave and his influences throughout the years, whipping by machine-gun style on multiple monitors, and ends with Cave onstage with the Bad Seeds, becoming the fearless musician that has defined his career. In between, he’s a contemplative husband, father, son, and friend, an artist with a rather unique view of the world and his place in it. (Sadly, in 2015, Cave’s son Arthur died in a tragic accident, something Cave dealt with creatively in the 2016 documentary One More Time with Feeling, about the recording of the album Skeleton Tree.)

On September 20, 2014, I attended a special event at Town Hall in which Cave participated in a postscreening Q&A with Forsyth and Pollard, performed solo songs at the piano (playing what one fan described as a “dream setlist”), and spoke often about “transformation.” In its own way, 20,000 Days on Earth is a transformative documentary, a groundbreaking, unconventional, and thoroughly imaginative portrait of a groundbreaking, unconventional, and thoroughly imaginative artist.

[Note: Tim’s Twitter Listening Party continues with such other albums as the Waterboys’ Fisherman’s Blues, the Soft Boys’ Underwater Moonlight, Superchunk’s Majesty Shredding, Madness’s One Step Beyond, and Joy Division’s Closer.]

FESTIVAL INTERNATIONAL DE JAZZ DE MONTRÉAL

montreal jazz fest

Who: Malika Tirolien, Rafael Zaldivar, Djely Tapa, Clerel, Bïa, Jordan Officer, Mateo, the Marianne Trudel Trio, Morgan Moore, Robbie Kuster, Jeremy Dutcher, Charlotte Cardin, Fredy V. & the Foundation, Carl Mayotte, Jack Broadbent, Elisapie, Jean-Michel Blais, Jacques Kuba Séguin, Naya Ali, Alain Caron, Paul Brochu, John Roney, Dominique Fils-Aimé, the Barr Brothers, Oscar Peterson, Oliver Jones, Jaco Pastorius, Miles Davis, Sarah Vaughan, Pierre Kwenders
What: The Festival International de Jazz de Montréal digital edition
Where: The Festival International de Jazz de Montréal Facebook
When: June 27-30, free with RSVP, 6:00
Why: Several years ago we had an amazing time at the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, wandering among numerous stages seeing bands from a wide range of genres. We’ve been meaning to go back but have not had a chance yet, but with the pandemic lockdown, anyone and everyone can attend this year’s digital edition. From June 27 to 30, the fest will go virtual at 6:00 each night, presenting five live acts, followed by archival festival performances by Oscar Peterson and Oliver Jones, Jaco Pastorius, Miles Davis, and Sarah Vaughan. Among the live standouts from all around the world are Bïa, Charlotte Cardin, Fredy V. & the Foundation, and the Barr Brothers. Below is the complete schedule.

Saturday, June 27
Canadian Multiculturalism Day: Live from L’Astral with Malika Tirolien (6:00), Rafael Zaldivar (7:00), Djely Tapa (7:20), Clerel (7:40), Bïa (8:00), and a 2004 performance by Oscar Peterson and Oliver Jones (8:23), and an after-party with Pierre Kwenders (10:00)

Sunday, June 28
Live from L’Astral with Jordan Officer (6:00), Mateo (7:00), the Marianne Trudel Trio featuring Morgan Moore and Robbie Kuster (7:20), Jeremy Dutcher (7:40), Charlotte Cardin (8:00), and a 1982 performance by Jaco Pastorius (8:23)

Monday, June 29
Live from L’Astral with Fredy V. & the Foundation (6:00), Carl Mayotte (7:00), Jack Broadbent (7:20), Elisapie (7:40), Jean-Michel Blais (8:00), and a 1985 performance by Miles Davis (8:23)

Tuesday, June 30
Live from L’Astral with Jacques Kuba Séguin (6:00), Naya Ali (7:00), Alain Caron with his trio featuring Paul Brochu and John Roney (7:20), Dominique Fils-Aimé (7:40), the Barr Brothers (8:00), a 1983 performance by Sarah Vaughan (8:23)

THE 13th ANNUAL ROOTS PICNIC VIRTUAL EXPERIENCE

roots picnic virtual

Who: The Roots, H.E.R., Roddy Ricch, Lil Baby, SZA, Kirk Franklin, Snoh Aalegra, Earthgang, G Herbo, Polo G, D Nice, Musiq Soulchild, Michelle Obama, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Chris Paul, Tom Hanks, Liza Koshy, Kerry Washington, Tracee Ellis Ross, Janelle Monáe, Elaine Welteroth, Deon Cole, Coach K, Wallo267, Ghetto Gastro
What: Thirteenth annual Roots Picnic
Where: The Roots YouTube
When: Saturday, June 27, free with RSVP, 8:00
Why: If you’ve never attended one of the Roots’ annual picnic extravaganzas, now’s your chance. The thirteenth annual party hosted by the Philly hip-hop band founded in 1987 by Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter and Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson goes virtual on June 27 with a stellar lineup chiming in from wherever they are sheltering in place. There will be performances by H.E.R., Roddy Ricch, Lil Baby, SZA, Kirk Franklin, Snoh Aalegra, Earthgang, G Herbo, Polo G, D Nice, and Musiq Soulchild along with appearances by Michelle Obama, Common, Lin Manuel Miranda, Chris Paul, Tom Hanks, Liza Koshy, Kerry Washington, Tracee Ellis Ross, Janelle Monáe, Deon Cole, Coach K, Wallo267, Ghetto Gastro, and Elaine Welteroth. The event is being held in conjunction with When We All Vote, “a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that is on a mission to increase participation in every election and close the race and age voting gap by changing the culture around voting, harnessing grassroots energy, and through strategic partnerships to reach every American.” When We All Vote was founded in 2018 by cochairs Obama, Hanks, Miranda, Monae, Paul, Faith Hill, and Tim McGraw. We all might not be gathering at the Mann at Fairmount Park this year, but we still can have quite a virtual party with some amazing guests, all for a cause that should be close to the heart of all Americans but unfortunately doesn’t appear to be. If you haven’t registered to vote yet, what are you waiting for?

THE HOUSE PARTY WITH EVERYBOOTY

house party 2

Who: Andre J., Tyler Ashley (aka the Dauphine of Bushwick), Raja Feather Kelly, Bill T. Jones, Migguel Anggelo, Bubble_T, DJ Shirine Saad’s Gyal Tings, the House of LaBeija, the Illustrious Blacks, OOPS!, RAGGA NYC, Papi Juice, Switch n’ Play
What: Virtual Pride party
Where: BAM, New York Live Arts
When: Saturday, June 27, free (donations accepted), 8:00
Why: BAM and New York Live Arts will celebrate Pride together with the virtual House Party with Everybooty. The livestreamed event, taking place June 27 at 8:00, was inspired by a creator they have in common: dancer, choreographer, and activist Bill T. Jones, NYLA’s artistic director and whose troupe, the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company, has been performing at BAM for more than three dozen years. The festivities will include music, dance, storytelling, drag, video collages, and more by a diverse group of queer performance artists, musicians, dancers, choreographers, and more. Among the participants in the eighth annual Everybooty are Tyler Ashley (aka the Dauphine of Bushwick), Raja Feather Kelly, Migguel Anggelo, Bubble_T, DJ Shirine Saad’s Gyal Tings, the House of LaBeija, the Illustrious Blacks, and Papi Juice. In addition, beginning June 25, BAM will be streaming twelve archival works by Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company, from Secret Pastures (1984), The Animal Trilogy (1986), A Letter to My Nephew (2017) and Still/Here (1994) to We Set Out Early . . . Visibility Was Poor (1998), The Flight Project (2003), A Rite (2013), and A Quarreling Pair (2008). “BAM and Live Arts stand proud of their LGBTQIA legacies and in solidarity with those fighting to dismantle systemic racism and end violence against Black and brown people,” the two organizations said in a statement. The party is free, but donations will be accepted, with proceeds split between Callen-Lorde Community Health Center, GRIOT Circle, and Black Trans Femmes in the Arts.

MAKE MUSIC NEW YORK 2020

make music new york

Who: Amateur and professional musicians from around the world
What: Annual Make Music New York festival
Where: Make Music New York online
When: Sunday, June 21, free, 7:00 am – 11:00 pm
Why: “Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there,” Sufi poet Rumi wrote. His words ring true now more than ever, with so much of the city still in lockdown mode because of the Covid-19 pandemic. With clubs, theaters, bars, and restaurants closed for live entertainment, the fourteenth annual Make Music New York festival, in which hundreds of free performances are held throughout the five boroughs in celebration of the longest day of the year, had to reinvent itself, so it has gone virtual, with shows being streamed online from wherever people are sheltering in place, with a few unique outdoor concerts as well, but not open to crowds. The list of performers is long and varied; here are just some of the participants: Janice Brown, Regina Opera Company, Andrea Frisch-Hara, Allan Harris, James Nyoraku Schlefer, Cheryl Grau, Vignesh Ravichandran, Brittany Santacroce, Leah Shaw, Muswell Hillbillies, Al Barcelon, Ensemble Ipse, Blair McMillen, Eleonor Sandresky, Robin Greenstein, Axiom Addicts, Mischief Boys, Melody Loveless, Wild Turkey Surprise, Murphy’s Big Idea, Rachel Lee Walsh, Jackson Dempsey, Ella Kronman, Ethan Liang, Emily Tong, gamin, Natie, Robin Rich & Willie Allen, Garrin Benfield, Social Robot, Peace of Heart Choir, Gwendolyn Fitz, Maurice Cobb, Salvo, R.E.D, Jared Lamenzo with Eddie Barbash, Renaissance Street Singers, Kate Theis, iSZ, PartyOwl, Airee, DECOSTER, It’s Just Another Pleasant Valley Monday, Adele & Felipe, Inner Gypsy, Carolyn Enger, and Sopio Murusidze.

Below are 2020’s special projects, a few of which are participatory not only online but, yes, in person.

#MySongIsYourSong, global song swap with Aaron Banes, Annie Nirschel, Barry Kay, Chris Oledude, Deborah Anne Karpel, Elaine Akins, Gary Newton, Hasani Arthur, Jascha Hoffman, Joel Landy, John Plenge, Jonny Leal, Kama Linden, Kenneth Murphy, Laela Giovanna, Rew Starr, Russ Stone, Stephanie Jeannot, Steven Blane, others, 7:00 am – 10:00 pm

#MusicMeAndMyKid, livestreamed home concerts by children, 7:00 am – 10:00 pm

Live from Home, with Tower of Power, Adryana Ribeiro, Becky Buller, Fiona Ross, Gloria Stanley, Isabella Manfredi, Josh Pyke, Laurence Juber, Lee Oskar, Lenka Kripac, Michael Barnum, Roberto Kuelho, Van-Anh Nguyen, Zachary Castille, Zuill Bailey, more, 7:00 am – 10:00 pm

Global Livestream, music from as many as 120 countries, 9:00 am – 11:00 pm

25 x 12: Live Online Lessons, for twenty-five instruments, including banjo, bassoon, cello, drum, flute, and voice, 10:00 am – 10:00 pm

Young Composers Contest, winning pieces set to William Carlos Williams’s poem, “By the road to the contagious hospital,” performed by the Make Music Quarantet, 10:00 am – 10:00 pm

Harold O’Neal: Virtual Performance at the New York Botanical Garden, 11:00 am

Flowerpot Music, performances from around the world using flowerpots, score by Elliot Cole, directed by Peter Ferry, 11:00 am – 8:00 pm

Mozart’s Requiem, third annual group performance, Requiem, K626, conducted by Douglas Anderson, noon – 1:00

Sounds from Scotland, with Jamie McGeechan, Alan Frew, Craig Weir Gleadhraich, Colin Hunter, John Rush, Laura McGhee, and Mike Nisbet, noon – 4:30

Bash the Trash, workshops creating instruments from recycled materials, followed by performances of “Ode to Joy” and/or “Baby Shark,” 1:00 – 3:00

32 for Third, Part 1, Beethoven sonatas performed by students, teachers, and guests of the Third Street Music School Settlement, 1:00 – 3:00

Bedroom Studios (aka Street Studios), with Nathalie Barret-Mas (2:00 – 5:00), Aaron Lazansky (5:00 – 8:00), and DJ Al Medina (8:00 – 11:00)

Vivaldi’s Four Seasons by the Oxford Philharmonic, with Anna-Liisa Bezrodny, Charlotte Scott, Yuri Zhislin, and Natalia Lomeiko, 3:00 – 3:50

Rumi Suite and Livaneli Songs, featuring Zülfü Livaneli, with Demet Sağıroğlu, Henning Schmiedt, Tara Nome Doyle, Tamara Jokic, Ara Dinkjian, Ismal Lumanovski, Engin Kaan Günaydin, Panagiots Andreou, Tamer Pinarbasi, Ahu Güral, and Arda Türegün, 3:00 – 4:00

Mass Appeal Harmonicas, with Jiayi He, beginners at 3:00, advanced at 4:00, everyone at 5:00

Make Music Ditmas, a Neighborhood Porch Music Celebration, 4:00 – 5:00

Songs of Struggle from the Stoop, with Paul Stein, 4:00 – 5:00

Concerts from Cars, by CenterPoint Arts, in front of Brooklyn Crepe & Juice, 274 Flatbush Ave., 4:14-4:45 PM

The World Wide Heart Chant, interactive performance of Pauline Oliveros’s “Heart Chant” with IONE, Claire Chase, and Raquel Acevedo Klein, 5:00 – 6:00

Porch Stomp!, socially distanced singalong in Brooklyn neighborhoods, 6:00 – 7:00

Harmonicas in Solidarity, performers playing the health-care anthem “The Oceans” on balconies surrounding Sasaki Garden by Washington Square, led by Dr. David Schroeder, 6:45 – 7:00

#SummerSolsticeSingalong, “Imagine,” by John Lennon, 6:55 – 7:00

Songs for Our City, finale, 8:00 pm

Touchy Subjects, by Tilted Axes: Music for Mobile Electric Guitars, by Patrick Grant, 8:00 pm

Joe’s Pub Virtual Block Party, archival performances by Kiah Victoria; Gary Lucas, Feifei Yang, and Jason Candler with special guest Yao Wang; Migguel Anggelo; Treya Lam; Martha Redbone; and AJOYO, 8:00 – 9:00

Track Meet, creative music relay, 9:00 – 11:00

WORLD MUSIC DAY — THAPELO MASITA AT THE MET CLOISTERS

On World Music Day, MetLiveArts will premiere a concert by South African cellist Thapelo Masita recorded earlier this week in the empty Met Cloisters Unicorn Tapestries Room

Who: Thapelo Masita
What: MetLiveArts digital world premiere
Where: Facebook and YouTube
When: Sunday, June 21, free, 7:30
Why: In celebration of World Music Day, the Met will livestream the world premiere of a performance by South African cello virtuoso Thapelo Masita recorded June 15 at the Met Cloisters, in the Unicorn Tapestries Room. “In times of turmoil, we all choose to focus on that which is most essential in our lives. Our species has survived this way for thousands of years. Only once all danger has subsided do we try to heal,” Masita explains on the Met website. “For me, the challenges the world faces today demand that we rethink this process. I believe that it is during this time, while we are in the fiery furnace, that we must transform our thinking so that we might come out better than we were before. The alternative is far too dangerous.” The thirty-minute concert features songs chosen very specifically for these difficult times, amid the coronavirus crisis and national protests decrying police brutality against people of color. Masita adds, “The music you will hear is a meditation on this very idea. A conversation between J. S. Bach, Negro spirituals, South African hymns, and Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson, this program is a metaphor for the kind of transformation we so deeply need. If all this music can work together to create a sound-world full of love, joy, peace, and belonging, then so can we. After all, we wrote it.” Masita will perform “There Is a Balm in Gilead,” Bach’s Solo Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007 (Prelude, Allemande, Courante, Sarabande, Minuet I/II, Gigue), “Ha Le Mpotsa Tshepo Yaka” (“When Asked Wherein My Hope Lies”), “Amazing Grace,” and the Perpetual Motion section of Perkinson’s Black/Folk Song Suite for Solo Cello (“Lamentations”).