From Epic Poems to Sultry Songs: Live@365 Brings Vintage Grooves, Age-Old Roots, and Fresh Collaborations to the Acousticly Rich Elebash Recital Hall

In the heart of Manhattan is a striking space of acoustic intimacy and brilliance. Where musicians adore the sound and where audiences can experience global music—from powerful voices to delicate jaw harp—with a sonic intensity difficult to find in large halls or clubs designed for amplification.
It’s the Elebash Recital Hall, the 180-seat home of Live@365 (liveat365.org), a world music series presented by the CUNY Graduate Center and curated by Isabel Soffer/Live Sounds. Now in its second season, the series embraces the intersection of deep tradition and contemporary innovation, welcoming veteran performers and crafting new collaborations from across the planet.
The Live@365 2012-2013 season:
September 20: Crossing Boundaries with the jazz-inflected Bulgarian traditional song of Vlada Tomova,  the lush vocals of Haitian songstress Emeline Michel, and Martha Redbone’s stirring, Native American-influenced neo-soul.
October 24: Bachata Legends Unplugged with the cornerstone of the Dominican Republic’s racy, witty acoustic tradition, Edilio Pareles and special guests.
November 27: West African Griot Summit. An extraordinary chance to hear more than a dozen traditional storytellers, musicians, and oral historians from seven countries finding common ground and trading licks.
March 12: Ancient Persia: Songs and Stories (U.S. debut). Celebrate the Persian New Year with masters of the ancient, living art of Naqqalistorytelling and striking Zoorkhaneh percussion, both rarely heard outside Iran. Artists will recite from the Shahnameh (Book of Kings), Iran’s most beloved 11^th-century epic story.
April 9: Budapest Bar (U.S. debut). A new project by Hungarian Gypsy music darlings, the four-member band invokes the spirit of Budapest’s golden age of cabaret, the 1920s-1950s. The wildly popular band will team up with local cabaret singers, swinging between the sultry and the rollicking.
May 7: Hypnotic Chinese Jaw Harp. Wang Li transformed the local jaw harp traditions of his native region in China into a powerful meditation on silence and breath. Though flowing from his years as a contemplative in a French monastery, Wang Li’s music instantly engages with its profound focus and stunning variety.
All performances held at 7 PM at Elebash Recital Hall, CUNY Graduate Center, at 365 5th Ave (at 34th Street). For tickets, see smartix.com or call 212-868-4444.
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“You can hear every nuance of a voice, every stroke of an instrument,” enthuses Live@365 curator Isabel Soffer, describing the Elebash Recital Hall. “It’s a distinctive atmosphere for performers and audience; listeners are engaged with the artists on the stage. My mission is to create shows that work in this particular environment.”
That powerful unifying thread—the unparalleled sound, the intimate experience—allows the series to present diverse artists with multifaceted visions, from different geographical and musical backgrounds—while retaining a strong curatorial vision. Many of this season’s performances—the gathering of New York’s many West African bards on a single stage, the magical performance of sung Persian poetry, the fresh and contemplative jaw harp of Wang Li—are dream concerts for Soffer, who had been longing for an intimate but acoustically superior place to present performers.
Such small concerts with such high-level international artists would have been difficult without the instigation and ongoing support of CUNY Graduate Center Public Programs department, the organization that developed and launched the series. Hoping to bring a wider variety to its unique Midtown venue, the Graduate Center approached Soffer to create a series that would bring global sounds to the Elebash. The collaboration resulted in a series unlike any other in the city: sounds that thrived in the Hall’s rich acoustics, responsive artists, committed audiences.
It fit The Graduate Center’s mission and vision perfectly. “Our combination of great diversity and public education is unique, and that spirit—as well as the spirit of our academic programs via our Music Department—shows in the series,” explains Andrea Jeyaveeran, The Center’s Director of Public Programs.
“Live@365 suits the theater and the audience,” Soffer reflects. “And it also suits these remarkable artists in a way that no other theater in New York does. It results in very intimate experiences for everyone.”
The Graduate Center is the primary doctorate-granting institution of the City University of New York (CUNY). As a cultural and academic hub for music lovers, it offers a wide array of performances, lectures, master classes, and symposia. Home to a distinguished D.M.A program, as well as a world-class ethnomusicology department, it also houses the Barry S. Brook Center for Music Research and Documentation.
The Graduate Center offers more than 30 doctoral programs across the arts and sciences, and a number of master's programs. It accommodates 33 interdisciplinary research centers and institutes, and provides an extensive array of public lectures, exhibitions, and theatrical events. Further information on the Graduate Center may be found at www.gc.cuny.edu.

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All-Access Planet: globalFEST 2012 Opens New Spaces for Traditions Transformed

Malian roots rap and sensually fresh samba. Eerily avant jaw harps and 21^st-century tarantella. Heritage never sounded so cool.

Whether continuing famous musical lineages or pushing forward on new paths, the artists of globalFEST (January 8, 2012 at New York City’sWebster Hall; full info at globalfest.org) show how world music has matured from a quaint, catch-all niche to a meaningful, deeply rooted challenge to the musical status quo. Artists are crafting history into new sounds.

This year’s edition of the annual world music showcase and all-night party includes three U.S. debuts, as well as several fresh programs and approaches from a bevy of respected global performers.

BélO: Haiti’s acoustic innovator and social activist channels his home’s deep and diverse Afro-Caribbean roots with catchy, reggae-inflected songs.

Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino: Southern Italy’s hottest band revitalizes the ancient ritual pizzica tarantata, said to cure the deadly spider’s bite with frenzied trance dances.

Debo Band: Boston-based crew reinvents the Golden Age of Ethiopian and East African funk and jazz.

Diogo Nogueira: Brazil’s red-hot samba (and television) star adds a contemporary twist to the beloved rhythms of Rio.

M.A.K.U. Sound System: Queens, NY-based Afro-Colombian underground band’s roaring guitars, bold brass, and hard-hitting Latin beats and vocals bring down the house.

Mayra Andrade: Golden-voiced Cape Verde-born singer brings a Parisian and Brazilian flair to her island roots with a new acoustic trio.

SMOD (U.S. Debut): Malian folk rappers, featuring the son of Amadou and Mariam, work serious lyrical flow to create Afro-Rap, wrapped in Manu Chao’s signature globe-trotting production.

The Gloaming (U.S. Debut): Irish and American roots supergroup (Martin Hayes, Dennis Cahill, Iarla Ó Lionaird, and Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh with NY’s indie pianist Thomas Bartlett (aka Doveman), marries edgy but harmonious, sparse yet beautiful elements to age-old and new tunes.

The Silk Road Ensemble: An international collective of virtuoso musicians from around the globe, this ensemble carries on the cross-cultural legacy of founder and artistic director Yo-Yo Ma, drawing inspiration from the historical Silk Road and contemporary musical crossroads.

Wang Li (U.S. Debut): France-based Chinese jaw harp master-improviser creates wildly unexpected and deeply meditative melodies, discovering the infinite nuances that breath, tongue, and throat can make.
Yemen Blues: Yemeni-Israeli electrifying singer and his global band make Mediterranean sounds rock and soar.

Zaz: French street sounds meet quirky global influences in young singer's plush bluesy voice.

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Though many of this edition’s artists have taken up the torch from family members or musical mentors, they are reaching into new sonic territory, whether they are funkifying cumbia or transforming the role of the spike fiddle or jaw harp. globalFEST, as America’s vital world music springboard event coinciding with the annual Arts Presenters Conference (APAP), aims to bring musicians to ears and even into venues once closed to global artists.

“In addition to summer rock and folk music festivals, we’ve started to see an embracing of world music throughout the performing arts field, including more traditionally classical venues,” explains festival co-organizer Bill Bragin (Acidophilus: Live and Active Cultures). “Many of this year’s globalFEST artists are performers who would be appropriate in more traditional concert halls, which are responding to the desire to diversify their programs.”

The goal of access has been at the heart of the festival’s mission since it was founded post-9/11, when dedicated global music presenters looked to restart the stalled influx of international music at a crucial moment. globalFEST remains committed to supporting exchange—both cultural and economic—and has emphasized artists of note from Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina, and from Haiti since the earthquake that struck there in 2010.

“globalFEST needs to constantly be aware of its mission,” continues co-organizer Isabel Soffer (Live Sounds). “We spotlight artists we believe presenters will want to book, will be successful in their venues and will bring new audiences. Our curatorial decisions are made with this in mind, and in this way, we feel we can encourage presenters to rethink artists that are on tour.”

2012’s festival promises to indeed be great, filling the multiple, varied performance spaces at Webster Hall with irresistible dance sounds, reflective beauty, and singer-songwriter intensity. globalFEST’s emphasis on access—access to the U.S. market for innovative musicians, continued access to new global music for music fans through reasonable ticket prices supported via globalFEST’s  Kickstarter campaign—now extends beyond good times in the early January cultural doldrums.

With support from the Ford Foundation, the globalFEST Touring Fund is launching to support festival alums on U.S. tours, as well as creating a new program to reimburse festival performers for expenses related to their globalFEST appearances. This, added to ongoing support from founding sponsor, the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, will strengthen the festival’s ability to find uncommonly good, often unheard sounds and bring them to the States.

“Starting this edition, we will be able to offset some of our artists’ expenses, the cost of coming to New York to play a showcase festival,” notes globalFEST co-organizer Shanta Thake (Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater). “It will encourage musicians and expand the pool of artists who can commit to that investment. We are excited about the possibilities these new programs will create to widen globalFEST’s geographical and musical scope.”

“Global citizenry is a priority for France, and for many people worldwide. We support globalFEST in hopes of sharing the multicultural musical heritages of France-based, France-produced and Francophone artists," says Emmanuel Morlet, Director of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, the festival’s on-going supporter since its first edition. “From increasing cultural understanding to the real economic role the festival plays for emerging performers, now more than ever globalFEST plays a great role in connecting people across political boundaries.” And gets them dancing while doing it.

globalFEST, Inc. is a not-for-profit production presented in association withLive Sounds, Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater, Acidophilus: Live & Active Cultures and The Bowery Presents. Support provided by The Ford Foundation and The Cultural Services of the French Embassy with additional support from the French Music Export Office, recognizing France’s pre-eminent role as a hotbed of global music activity. The globalFEST media sponsors are WNYC Radio and NPR.org. Artist visa services are provided courtesy of Tamizdat. Publicity services are provided by rock paper scissors, inc.


Additional Info
 All-Access Planet: globalFEST 2012 Opens New Spaces for ...
 Roadworthy: globalFEST, the Preeminent Global Music Springboard ...