Afromondo Showcase 2025

Nelida Karr, Glen David Andrews, British Dependency, Alioune Guisse, Talie Cerin, Moh! Kouyate, and Banning Eyre. The Afromondo Showcase, in its 7th year, kicked off a weekend of APAP showcases with an evening of music that brought attention to the musical connection between Africa and diaspora.

The performance by Glen David Andrews was transcendent - and stood out as a highlight of the Afromondo festival. His band took the stage, and launched into a blues, soon Glen David’s voice, part Tom Waits growl, part Louis Amstrong rasp, rose from the back of the room. “When I Go Away” he cried out, a song from his newest allbum “Le Treme Carnaval” Instead of getting on stage Glen roamed amongst the audience, performing soulful call and response vocals, using his trombone to embellish and perform solos, even whistling a melody at one point, with full audience participation, singing and hand clapping. He inverted the concept of the performance - the audience became one with the band. He found Nelida Karr, the Equatorial Guinean singer who had just finished her set, in the audience. Nelida joined him in song - back and forth call and response demonstrating how his New Orleans Soul and Funk reached across borders. Highlighting the African roots of his music and the power of music to sweep across the Diaspora and bring people together. The music crescendoed, then built upon itself, and gained momentum, and then progressed into the spiritual. Although the video captures some of the essence, you had to be there to fully feel it and witness it.

The performance cycled between traditional songs including a homage to Louis Armstrong, the party favorite “Iko Iko” and selections from his releases, including the recent release “Le Treme Carnaval.” The band featured Revert Andrews on trombone, Josh Hirst, on bass and Will Carroll on drums providing the bedrock energetic groove backing his throaty vocal delivery. The songs melded into each other in a true showcase with the finale “I Fought The Law."

We spoke to Glen David by phone the afternoon before his Afromondo Showcase performance, asking whether we were going to hear music from his latest album “Le Treme Carnaval”. It which was the first indication that we were in for something special. “I’m from New Orleans” he chided, “I always read the crowd”. It reminded that in the Treme neighborhood of New Orleans, where he was born and still lives, music is played in the streets.

There the connection between African music and New Orleans music predates jazz. He told us he has performed in every slave port the Caribbean and at the 10th and 20th anniversary of the end of apartheid for the King of the Zulus in South Africa. “I am from Treme, the oldest black community in the United States, I grew up a block and a half from Congo Square. I am a direct descendent and can trace my family lineage all the way back to slavery its recorded at the St Augustine church. He says the musical connection is the drum.” 

In person, before the show, Glen David sat talking with bandmates about growing up in Treme. Perhaps so he didn’t have to answer questions he sketched a picture of life growing up in that neighborhood of New Orleans, where he was born and still lives. There, music is played in the streets. He recalled leading second lines with his cousins and listening from the street as the sound of musicians in the neighborhood practicing their instruments could be heard through open windows. His performance personified this, and weaved this respect of the historical perspective into the music.

British Dependency, a hard-hitting reggae quartet from the tiny island of Anguilla reminds us by performing under a government administrative term, that the colonial era hasnt disappeared. They are a long-time favorite and the addition of Edu Mora adds some lightning fast guitar work to the already robust sound. Their approach will squash any preconceptions listeners may have about reggae and Caribbean music. The Trans-Atlantic slave trade shaped music in the Caribbean and surrounding regions from Brazil to New Orleans which in turn inspires African artists to this day. British Dependency continues the conversation, they defy categorization, it’s an emotional music, and each show is unique, expect the unexpected. The band can get manic and unhinged the way good punk music does, but never out of control as Ras Marvin’s bass playing is a steadying presence. One of the highlights from the set was their upcoming single “Missing You”. The only drawback, Thursday, was the showcase format doesn’t suit their style, at their best they set unfolds, building in energy, but it was great to see them on stage again.

Philadelphia based Haitian singer-songrwiter Talie Cerin performed a soulful mix of originals and covers during her set at the Afromondo showcase. She was backed by keyboardist Marcus Lolo, percussionist Fernando Saci and bassist Eric (Blesunas). The music draws on her Haitian heritage as well as the music of her adopted community. “It’s my way of making sense of the world” she told us, and her of giving back to the two communities where she is at home. Talie is connecting the dots in her music finding common ground in the culture of her two seamlessly blending twoubadou, Haitian folk, Philly soul, and jazz.

The night came into focus with a solo acoustic guitar set from Banning Eyre. Conversation quieted as attention turned toward the stage at SOBs. For a few minutes it was just he and his guitar in the spotlight, the artist picking tunes as casual as if he were sitting at home but with the intensity of a seeker.

Banning has many fans for his work as an author and journalist but the music revealed a more peaceful, introspective side of his work. The guitar has been a lifelong companion, but he only recently released "Bare Songs", his debut recording as a solo artist. It’s the fruit of his life journey beginning as a kid with rock and roll dreams, his immersive study of African and American Blues guitar styles, and a lifetime of playing with many of the world’s great musicians.

Each song illuminates a different aspect of that incredible life journey, leaving you in a new place. The music is packed with references that reveal on successive listens. It consist of 14 songs, 13 original compositions and an adaptation of the Mande classic “Lamban". Two influences on his playing stand out, Djelimady Tounkara in Mali, who he studied with in Mali and Thomas Mapfumo of Zimbabwe, who led Banning to learn to play mbira music on guitar. Banning explains “I never believed I would play African styles as convincingly as my teachers. They were extraordinary and I’ve been blessed to learn from them. But in the end, for me, it’s about rhythm and melody, not complex harmony, rock hyperbole or adherence to any one tradition. The real goal is to tap emotions, and these spare compositions, straight from the heart, aim to do just that.”

The intensity of Nelida Karr’s guitar playing took us by surprise at last year’s Afromondo showcase. We eagerly awaited hearing her music again. This year, she brought her band Richard Ndong, Drums; Solomon Ednor, piano; and Simeon Diez, bass. Once again she shined brightly, particularly her guitar playing.

With lightning quick motions her hands moved over the frets of the guitar. With pinpoint precision, chunky chords based on the rhythms found in Equatorial Guinea leapt from the guitar captivating the audience. She draws on local rhythms, from the Bubi ethnic group in particular, At times it recalled the bikutsi rhythms of neighboring Cameroon. While the band churned out these complex rhtyms, her voice reached soaring peaks of seemingly improvised skat-like vocal styling.

Moh! Kouyate from Guinea performed a solo set on guitar.  He grew up in the griot tradition, learning to play guitar at a young age from family members, including his father, grandfather, and uncles.  He began exploring jazz and blues music later in life, and collaborated with the American musician Corey Harris after meeting him in Guinea. That led to Moh! Doing a two months tour in the the US for the first time. The acclaimed international artist Moh! is based in Paris. One of those New York moments occurred when Natu Camara was invited on stage. Minutes earlier she arrived at SOBs, coming straight from the airport, carry on luggage in tow, to support her longtime friend from Conakry. The singer/songwriter and band leader now living in New York, joined Moh! on his song “La Guinée”.

Alioune Guisse, from the northern Senegal, was first introduced to international audiences in 1995 when he toured with his brothers Djiby and Cheikh as Les Freres Guisse. He is now based in Chicago, where he met Lee Carroll, his keyboardist and producer by chance. At SOBs they were joined by Assane Seck on guitar, Babacar Seck on percussion both from Senegal and Kayodi Kuti from Nigeria on bass, and Johnbern Thomas of Haiti on drums Alioune was recently heard at Joe’s Pub in New York with Kavita Shah. 

The weekend concluded with globalFEST at Lincoln Centers David Geffin Hall, where Afromondo fonder Alex Boicel was awarded a lifetime-achievement Pioneer award for his nearly 50 years working in the music industry. Congrats Alex!