Afromondo 2020 Artist Showcase/MASA preview
Alex Boicel on stage at the 2019 World Music Fire Showcase
Feature 1
Alex Boicel’s World Music Fire showcase returns to SOBs, Thursday January 9th kicking off the APAP conference weekend that brings so much great music to NYC venues. Featured are artists who will be performing at Abidjan’s MASA Festival in March 7th to 14th. Blandine, Paul Beaubrun, Ideal Castillo, Wesli, Sundub, and Tome will perform.
Alex Boicel has been a link between African and Caribbean artists since he was a teenager in Montreal, as a member of the MASA selection committee spends a good part of the year on the continent and in the diaspora connecting with music professionals and getting a unique overview of the contemporary music scene. He arrived in Montreal from Cayenne French Guiana, joining his father Doudou Boicel and soon opened a club Cafe Creole, which became a gathering spot for the growing Caribbean community and began long standing relationships with the creative artists. Later, with his partner Charly Maiwan, founder of the Festival Mondial De Musique Des Femmes, Alex brought Congolese artists including M'bilia Bel, Diblo Dibala, Lokito, the Soukous Stars to New York city and Colombia for the first time. He shared videos of this year’s featured artists with us for this feature.
Masa 2020 is the11th edition of the premier performing arts festival in West Africa, a bi-enniel survey not only of music but fashion, dance, comedy, theater and storytelling.
SunDub’s stripped down Reggae rhythms and Joanna Teters sublime soul saturated voice is an intoxicating infusion. Perfoming together since 2013 they have honed a distinctive sound aptly described by their name. SunDub is Finnegan Singer (guitar), Josh T Carter (bass), Eric "The General" Toussaint (vocals-key) Joanna ( vocals) and brother Ben Teters (vocals-drums). Their debut album “Burden of Love” released in June 2019 offers nine finely crafted tunes produced by Sidney Mills and includes guests The Chronic Horns and Larry McDonald. Teters, is a New York based singer is also known for her solo work and with Mad Sattas. Sundub appear next at The Mercury Lounge, February 6th.
Paul Beaubrun. click the link for more on his music: https://www.mondolocal.org/paul-beaubrun-at-pioneer-works
Paul Beaubrun at the Port au Prince Jazz Festival in his homeland, Haiti
Mis Blandine performing at the MASA Festival, Abidjan Cote d’Ivoire in 2016
Mis Blandine Canada based singer of Congolese origins returns, she sang at the 2017 globalFEST with L'Orchestre Afrisa International. In addition to leading her own band she has also appeared with Soukous artists including Koffi Olomide and toured with M'bilia Bel quite a resume for an up and coming artist.
Wesli performing at SOBs 2019 World Music Fire showcase
Wesli (Wesley Louissaint) is a Haitian born, Canada based artist and rising star whose righteous grooves have earned him a Jumo and tours worldwide including appearances at Rabat’s Visa For Music (2015) at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC (2018).
TOM’E a young Nigerian Canadian singer based in Toronto, that Alex heard in Montreal at Festival Mondial de Musiques des Femmes. In the past year she has released an album of her songs TÖMES ROOM Chapter 1 and a video single “Kickback”
Ideal Castillo is a US based native of Belize, a pioneering Garifuna musician. When he arrived here He and his band Isanigu Punta Rock Soul-Jahs found an audience in the Bronx, home a of a large Garifuna community. The Garifuna (Garinagu) people are of African descent in Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. Punta rock is an electrified music anchored by traditional punta rhythms. In Punta dancers take turns interacting with musicians on drum, shakers and conch shell, similar to Gwo ka in Guadeloupe.