Its not officially Summer in Brooklyn until the Celebrate Brooklyn series begins. This year’s events calendar (like every year blissfully enough) is chalk full of a wide variety of amazing artists like Angelique Kidjo, Ghostface Killah, Somi, Trombone Shorty, and the Ballet Hispanico…basically if you even vaguely like art this series will have something for you. As a Brooklynite I’m so excited to attend all these events and even more excited to say that Alsarah & the Nubatones will be performing alongside AfroCubism on June 9th as part of the Celebrate Brooklyn series. So break out your picnic blankets and come enjoy an amazing night under the stars.
So a lot has happened in the last few weeks…the iconic Sudanese/Nubian singer Mohamed Wardi passed away (go to the 00:53 marker), and one of the world’s most soulful and powerful voices, Whitney Houston passed away within a few days of one another. To say it was a cultural low moment for me would be an understatement. So when things like that happen its important to think about the new things. For example, we had our first show in NYC this year at the Delancey (special shout out to sound guru Marco) on Feb 15th, along side herMajesty and had ourselves a grand old time. As a way of saying thank you to all of you who came out and supported please enjoy a free download (below) of “Bilad Aldaheb” featuring two brilliant solos by Haig Manoukian on Oud and Mawuena Kodjovi on Bass. So make sure you grab that and enjoy us on the go.
I am also excited to be continuing my relationship with the folks over at BAC who are always holding it down for folk musicians everywhere and Brooklyn musicians especially. This time Alsarah and the Nubatones will be performing along side Malika Zarra on May 18th at BAM Cafe celebrating women in the African music scene. You know it will be an evening to remember so mark your calendars
Hi Hi New Yorkers…did you miss us? well we missed you. After a wonderful show at the Millennium Stage in Washington D.C. we wanted to bring the goodies home. Thanks to JP of herMajesty, we can. These guys are doing a residency at The Delancey for the next month which will feature many wonderful artists (so make sure you check them out) including… (drum roll)… US! Doors open at 7:30pm and the Nubatones hit the stage at 10pm. However make sure you are there way earlier to catch the wonderful acoustic sounds of herMajesty’s new material, as well as Of the Opera.
Who: Alsarah & the Nubatones, herMajesty, and of the Opera
We are going to be making our Washington D.C. debut on Sunday January 29th at the Kennedy Center and you are all cordially invited as our honorable guests. Show starts at 6pm sharp! on the Millennium Stage and will end at 7pm sharp! And best part of all…its FREE!
So come out and bring your energy, your laughter, your kids and your will to live.
Greetings from NOLA lovely people. I’m going to be performing tomorrow, Wednesday Jan 25th, at this one of a kind book launch party for the collection of poems “The People is Singular” by Andy Young. I will be performing music along with folk/protest singer Tao Rodriguez-Seeger at Cafe Istanbul. Please come by and say hello if you are wandering the french quarters.
MORE INFO
Cafe Istanbul
2372 St Claude Avenue,
New Orleans, LA 70117
(In the New Orleans’ Healing Center) Admission $12.00; $20.00 for book and admission. Followed by a reception with Egyptian sweets and other light fare.
So in November after we had worked so hard on releasing our EP, we packed all our things into the back of Rami’s van and took ourselves on a mini tour to Montreal (by mini we mean one city, one show, one night…boo ya!). We skipped in the crisp winter sun, we gloried at the wonder that is fast food, and we all made it to the hotel without getting lost even once. We had our debut show on Thursday, November 10th, 2011 with the Festival du Monde Arabe at Cabaret du Mile End with a surprise special appearance by our friend Jowee Omicil.
Today is the day! As independent Artists we never take a recording project as a given thing, so when the times comes to release new material we do a little song and dance in celebration (if you come to a show you can see our happy jig). Have a listen, do your own little dance, and buy the music if you like it. If you will be in Montreal on Thursday, Nov 11, 2011 then make sure you join us at Cabaret Du Mil-End for our combo Canadian debut/ CD Release.
We had our San Francisco and East Bay debut on Saturday October 1, 2011. We started with an afternoon show at the 17th Annual Arab Heritage Festival and then quickly packed up and crossed the bridge later that day to La Peña Cultural Center, a gorgeous building that had us running around outside like little kids. We had the pleasure of sharing the stage with the beautiful Naima Shaloub who opened for us.
For those on the west coast that came out and supported us, thank you so much for coming and giving us your energy, and most importantly for dancing and having a good time. Below is a free download from Saturday’s show at La Peña featuring an unplugged arrangement of “Alkoan Kulu” with Haig Manoukian on Oud, Rami El-Aasser on Percussion, Nahid Elgadi on backing vocals, and yours truly on lead vocals. This recording wouldn’t have been possible if it weren’t for Oscar (my new favorite sound engineer of all time second only to Kamilo) and his quiet stealth.
At the beginning of August we decided to put together a small recording (commonly known as an EP). 4 tracks, 3 weeks, and 2 natural disasters later (ok so the hurricane was only a thunderstorm but the subways in NYC were shut down for a full weekend, and if you live here then you know that’s definitely a disaster!) we finally finished recording this little bad boy. It features a brand new song I wrote for the occasion that was arranged by the Nubatones titled Fugu (Shams Alhurria) [Wake up (Freedom's Sun)] as well as traditional pieces and covers we find inspiring. Below you will find a list of tracks and credits, and make sure you check out the photos above of our recording process.
I want to give a big shout out to the band for being the bad ass musicians that they are, and especially to Mawuena Kidjovi for not only playing the bass (among other things) on the recording but for also being an amazing sound engineer and allowing us to use his beautiful studio (Collective Home Studio NY).
We are planning on having a big release party at the end of November with more details to come but until that time comes you can enjoy listening to the songs on here, and here, or you can come to one of our shows and snag one of the very limited edition pre-sale copies we will have (only 100 copies will be made).
Track Listing
+ Fugu (Shams Alhurria) – Wake Up (Freedom’s Sun)
Written by Alsarah, Arranged by the Nubatones
+ Nuba Noutou – Nubians Unite
Written by Fatih Malik, Arranged by the Nubatones
+ Rennat – Droplets of Sounds
Written by Alsarah, Arranged by the Nubatones
+ Yanas Baridou – O People, I want him
Traditional
More info as well as sneak peaks from our debut Ep will be coming over the next few weeks, so stay tuned
