globalFEST at Lincoln Center, January 14th, 2024

10 bands on three stages in one night, at Lincoln Center. Hundreds of listeners got the new year underway with a culturally elevating experience at globalFEST, January 14th. The annual event offers a snapshot of artists catching the ear of co-directors, Bill Bragin, Isabel Soffer, and Shanta Thake. The common ground is music that pushes the limits or bursts  preconceptions. Hearing artists like Lonnie Holley and Bab L' Bluz for the first time was a revelation, it made us want to get to know more about them and wonder how have we not heard this music before? Unfortunately, we could not be in three places at one time so the words accompanying the photos are first impressions.

Giving new meaning to discarded materials is at the root of Lonnie' Holley’s music. It began with the same curiosity as his visual art when Lonnie found a cast-off Casio keyboard in a Birmingham Goodwill store. He first took the keyboard apart to better understand how it worked, then began singing over the top of the sound he made with it. The songs then, as now were about mistreatment of women and people of color, and neglect and abuse of the environment, while remaing hopeful for the future. Lonnie continued making music in solitude for decades, his music was not shared with others until 2012 when a small label in Atlanta released a collection of his recorded music. It was heard and shared, in particular among musicians. Deer Hunter, Animal Collective, Bon Iver, and Callahan, became fans and collaborators. He continues to make music releasing his 6th album “Oh Me Oh My” last year. When Loniie sings a song it is never re-performed. So listeners do not hear songs from his records in concert, the songs are created spontaneously about what’s on his mind at the moment, so when you hear him perform his songs it is created just for his audience on that day. He has a list of ideas that he discusses with his musicians beforehand. At globalFEST, he was joined by Mourning [A] BLKstar and a trio of long-time collaborators Lee Bains, guitar; Dave Nelson, Trombone; and Marlon Patton, drums and bass pedals.

globalFEST Co-founder Bill Bragin introduced Bab L' Bluz (Gateway to the Blues) followed by the sounds of hands clapping out Gnawa rhythmic patterns from a darkened stage, Mehdi Yachou continued the rhythm on krakeb, ushering Yousra Mansour on stage. Yousra plugged in a guembri which appeared to be made of solid wood, setting off a rollicking set. Yousra played at a frenetic pace, the raw earthy bass-like tones from the ancient instrument ignited the crowd, she rocked back and forth shaking her hair with the three strings vibrating during extended runs. 

The Villalobos Brothers, Ernesto, Alberto and Luis are acclaimed musicians from Veracruz, Mexico. Their energetic set effortlessly drew on multiple genres, most prominently local folk traditions, songs which can be found on the 2023 release “Somos”. Although trained in classical music, “Somos” features songs written by the brothers taking on political subjects.

Yasser Tejeda’s music explores a mix of urban and rural Dominican traditional roots music. Rock, jazz, and  funk also percolate throughout his set. The artist calls it Afro-Dominican Roots Fusion, and he has  a devoted following locally in  New York City, drawn to the irresistible energy of the music. In addition to being a composer and guitarist, Tejeda is also a producer and arranger. His latest album album "La Madruga” displays those skills. “La Madruga”is influenced by Bachata and Merengue, and honors Afro-Dominican folkloric rhythms.  "La Verdura" started out with chanting and drumming which summoned to the stage dancer Carmen Morillo, spinning in a circular motion with her white dress held between her thumb and forefingers."La Vereda", introduced a  saradunga dance rhythm found in Bani in the south of the country during an annual devotion to St John the Baptist. As if inspired by the energy of her dancing, Yasser, dropping to his knees, launched into a wicked guitar solo, lifting the music to another plane.

YasserTejeda - guitar, vocals was joined by bandmembers Jonathan "Jblak" Troncoso - percussion, vocals; Edwin Camillo - bass; Othniel Vargas - drums; Mario Castro - tenor sax, keys; and dancer Carmen Morillo.

Coming from Brazil, Bia Ferreira stepped on stage with only an acoustic guitar and needed only it and her voice to held the audience spellbound through a 50 minute set. Her lyrics take on subjects including racism, homophobia, feminism, and love. It was how she started out as a musician, traveling around her country playing anywhere she could. More often these days she plays with her band including for a 2023 Tiny Desk meets globalFEST broadcast for NPR.

Catalan folk duo  Tarta Relena, Helena Ros and Marta Torrella, started as an acapella project in 2016.

Karsh Kale led a percussion loaded sextet on largely instrumental compostions, featuring collboraters he has worked with at various points over his career including Max ZT on hammered dulcimer, Chris Buono on guitar, Tony Grey on bass. Classical, electronic and Asian music are woven with an element of improvisation in his musical projects. His collaborations have often broken new musical ground over the course of his continually evolving career.  This set recalled the era of experimental improvisation heard in clubs in New York where he pioneered Asian/electronic fusion in the early 2000’s.

Thandiswa Mazwai first came to our attention as lead singer in the kwaito group Bongo Maffin, and launched a solo career in 2004, releasing"Zabalaza" in 2006. That was the last time she performed live in North America until her globalFEST set at the Wu Tsai Theater at Lincoln Center. The music was drawn from an upcoming release, "Sankofa", a project launched post Covid.

Thandiswa was exposed to a wide swath of music growing up in multicultural Soweto. Some time ago  she had the opportunity to dig into  the archives of ILAM  (International Library of African Music). Reflecting during Covid, it finally made sense to her  what she was going to do with it. Thandiswa starting calling friends to work on some ideas in October of 2021, She drew on her cultural history, focusing on the Xhosa music she found in the archives. In 2022 while working on the new album "Sankofa" (Twi word meaning going back in order to go forward) Thandiswa spoke with journalists Mnisi Wemvula and DJ Sbu of House of Sankofa saying: "I am inserting the information into the new music, using that as the bed that everything is being put on, I am excited about it.  I brought on Meshell Ndegéocello as a producer on three to four songs.  I really want to find joy again in this work even though there are some sad songs, I began with sad songs.” continuing Thandiswa said “Sankofa” was chosen as the title "because of the excavation, and on a personal note a way go back and fetch what has been lost,  all the losses, Hugh Masakela, Mam Busi Mhlongo, and all the losses during Covid, go back and collect the things we lost and build a new garden, its newness, its vitality.  when you go back you pick up a seed and the sed has vitality, it grows it creates more and more life."

Balaklava Blues has the feel of a side project for Mark and Marichka Marczyk, It was formed to express pain and anger in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The performance was gut wrenching, blending Ukrainian folk vocal traditions with raw anger, and punk energy into a multimedia experience. They are the creators of award winning theater production "Counting Sheep" and performed music from their recent release "Let Me Out" which includes music from the production. Balaklava Blues put their theatrical experience to work using pulsating lights flashing graphics, text and images behind them, Two members wore masks over their faces, conveying a sense of conflict.  Mark says: “We want to redesign and remix physical and psychological oppression and question how and why it continues to  inform who we are and what we can become.”

The music of Bomba ensemble El Laberinto del Coco was a fitting way to close the night, the exuberant sounds native  to Puerto Rico had the aisles of the theater filled with dancers.  At its heart, Bomba is an interaction between dancer and drummer. Like the Gwoka tradition of Guadeloupe, the dancer faces the drummers making eye contact with the leader, then calls the rhythm, one of six core rhythms which is recognized by the drummers who respond. On stage. this could be heard in the interaction between bandleader Hector “Coco” Barez, buleador Andres Cruz. and a front line of four female vocalists. The music of El Laberinto,  written by Barez expands on that tradition fusing elements of jazz and dance, reggaeton, rock, and funk into its music. A horn section of 4 echoed the chorus or laid down thick funk lines and rounding out the band was the electric guitar, bass, and drum kit.

Tarta Relena draw on various vocal and folk traditions from the Mediterranian dating back a thousand years. The singers have introduced subtle electronic elements but it doesn’t detract from the feeling that the singers are taking you back centuries.  the vocals and interaction with the material they cover stand out, after a brief listen, for its meditative, spacious calm.

Yousra Mansour, left, and Brice Bottin, right, leaders of Bab L’ Bluz. They met in 2017 at a workshop and wrote the music for their first album, while studying the guembri. They were joined by Mehdi Yachou, percussion and flute and Hafid Zouaoui on drum kit. At Lincoln Center, Yousra dedicated a song “To all women all over the earth especially to ladies in Iraq and Afghanistan, and in all those places where we cannot express ourselves, we do not get dressed the way we want, we cannot even go to school. We are going to keep the fight to our last breath”