Mandingo Ambassadors: Best West African Band in NYC?

Tonight we managed to catch the Mandingo Ambassadors for the second time at Barbes, the cozy, world-music venue in Brooklyn's Park Slope neighborhood. Legendary might be a stretch, but everyone here seems to know it as one of the best places to catch great African music and a wide range acts. I first caught the Mandingo Ambassadors at Jalopy Theater in Red Hook, and I was thoroughly blown away by their tight, energetic performance, charismatic vocalist, the cheery tones of their balafon, and the liquid-lightning sound of their guitarist, Mamady Kouyate, a musical god from Guinea who certainly should be legendary here as well. Here is a blurb about the band from the website of Barbes, where the Ambassadors usually have a residency every Wednesday night:

This legendary band was originally formed in Guinea, West Africa, in the late 1960’s by Guitarist Mamady “Djelike” Kouyate and singer Emile Soumah. Their music became some of the most beloved and influential of their generation and their songs were widely imitated. Mamady later went on to perform for many years with Guinea’s most popular group, Bembeya Jazz National. Now based in New York, Mamady Kouyate has decided to revive The Ambassadors. His electrifying guitar-work is supported by the new Mandingo Ambassadors, a crew of Guinean and American musicians who have steeped their glorious sound in classic 60's Guinean mandingo music.

Here is a clip of Mamady and the band at Barbes in 2007:

Chris Thile and Michael Daves at the Living Room

Thile and Daves once again wove their magic as a duo, this time at the Living Room in the Lower East Side. On a Monday night they drew an over-capacity crowd to witness their evolving 'brother harmony' act. I got stuck in the back, where good camera angles were hard as hard to come by as the drinks from the deluged waitress. Nevertheless it was good to see a larger crowd (100+) flocking to see these maestros. And their sound filled the room nicely–I wasn't sure how it would compare to the much more intimate space at the Rockwood.

After the show Michael urged me to stick around for Jim Campilongo's late night set. Campilongo, a virtuoso instrumentalist, even left Michael and Chris shaking their heads in awe as he made tasty musical sparks fly off his gorgeous-sounding '59 Fender Tele. He has a residency at the Living Room every Monday night. Like Thile and Daves, he must be seen to be believed. More pics of Thile and Daves here.

Earth Day - Central Park 2008

A fabulous spring day at Central Park, where Earth Day celebrations included a great free concert by none other than Ricky Skaggs and The Kentucky Thunder. Can't beat free bluegrass in Central Park!

Elsewhere in the park, members of the Central Park Dance Skater Association put on a fine display to the uplifting sounds of disco pumped out through a sound system. No stopping these guys from skating to ecstasy.



More photos here.

Banjo Festival at Banjo Jim's Showcases the Many Voices of this Uniquely American Instrument

An all-star lineup featuring Tony Trischka, Noam Pikelny, Chris Eldridge, and Norris Bennett from the Ebony Hillbillies, among many other talented banjoistas, charmed the enthusiastic yet jam crowd at Banjo Jim's on Avenue C with old time, string band, bluegrass, folk rock, and newgrass music. Trischka, the top draw, was his usual virtuosic self as he unfurled a number of new and bluegrass tunes. Mercifully, the crowd thinned out as Trischka departed, and we were treated to the acoustic fireworks of the young guns Pikelny and Eldridge (guitar), who both play in Chris Thile's new superduper bluegrass brotherhood, the Punch Brothers. Dayna Kurtz sang a sweet set of mournful Gillian-esque old timey folk numbers. Seems she's big in Europe, should be big here too soon. More on the festival here.
Click here for the rest of the photos.

© Murakami Exhibition at Brooklyn Art Museum

On a brisk spring Sunday we experienced Murakami, Inc. Actually, the title of the exhibition was "© Murakami," which properly reflected his philosophy on the seamless convergence of art and commerce. It was one of the most appalling yet fascinating, engaging yet enraging art exhibitions I've ever lived through. The "Superflat" movement founded by Murakami is exemplified by his playfully psychedelic, yet dense and richly-colored paintings. Many of the larger works were painted by a team of artists under his direction at his studio in Queens (we know one of his former apprentices personally; she left due to the sweatshop-like conditions). Some rooms in the exhibition were even decorated from floor to ceiling with his "superflat" motifs of happy flowers and other saccharine/evil images. But Murakami, not one to limit his choices of media, employed sculpture, video and even Louis Vuitton handbags to express his ideas on mass culture and society.


In fact, in the middle of the exhibition you are forced to walk through what seems to be a functioning Louis Vuitton handbag store, complete with sales agents and cash register. It's a shockingly effective piece of performance art perpetuating Murakami's obsession with commerce. I found myself so enraged by such a commercial assault on the sanctity of art, I almost made a scene–I really wanted to castigate the 'sales people' for molesting our right to enjoy art free of commercial intrusion. But then I calmed down and realized it was really a clever provocation on Murakami's part, even if he was making mega-bucks on the side.

Murakami's ability to shock and awe greeted us at the very beginning, when we were exposed to a fiberglass statue of a "Hiropon," a buxom, half-naked woman skipping a rope of milk streaming from her massive breasts. Then we were introduced to "My Lonesome Cowboy" (1998), a fiberglass sculpture of a young man with windswept, blue hair grasping his manhood while spewing a stream of "man milk", or a semen lasso as wikipedia puts it, over his head. Shock, glee, confusion, outrage, sadness, understanding–Murakami's exhibit brings out all of these emotions and more. That's art doing what it's supposed to do. Speaking of shocking, in May 2008, My Lonesome Cowboy sold for $15.2 million.

Murakami links:
On art, otaku and Japanese society: http://www.jca-online.com/murakami.html
WikiMurakami: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takashi_Murakami

More photos from the day...

Cory Seznec and Parrish Ellis at Jalopy Theater

My good friend Cory Seznec, an innovative country blues and old time guitar and banjo player, teamed up with the WIYO's own Parrish Ellis at the downhome Jalopy Theatre in the Red Hook neighborhood in Brooklyn for their first, and hopefully not their last, performance together. Tonight they presented their takes on old field recordings of Tidewater and Virginia blues for fingerstyle guitar, and they rocked. Parrish even made his 'hambone' debut with a southern prison song. Both are leaving the fertile musical bastion of Brooklyn - Cory is embarking on another UK tour with the Groanbox Boys, and Parrish is relocating to Asheville, NC. No doubt these young, like-minded folk and blues wizards will cross paths again. Adding to the magic on stage was a cameo appearance by Seattle-based boogie-woogie blues veteran Del Rey. She's as real as they get.

Click here to see the rest of the pics from the show.