Daymé Arocena, Mike Block/Balla Kouyate Ensemble,Yemen Blues, Solo Dja Kabako, Big Lazy, Pedro Giraudo,

The Brooklyn Folk Festival returned to St Anns Church November 12, 13, presenting locally based musicians in the American folk traditionals and music from immigrant communities in the city. Saturday evening Feral Foster, Radio Jarocho, Jackson Lynch, La Cumbiama NY, and Mamady Kouyate performed. Founded in 2008, its website says “our festival is a celebration of down home music, cultural diversity and memory.” http://brooklynfolkfest.com/history/

A tribute to Cesaria Evora, part of the Ori-Gen festival at Drom in the East Village featured Vocalists Fantcha and Kavita Shah, with Kim Alves, Zerui Depina and Juancho Herrera

Yemen Blues return, June 9th at Drom was dazzling. Leader Ravid Kahalani reached back into Yemenite poetry animating the ancient words with whoops and shrieks. Both the music and the vocals felt highly improvisational with the vocals signaling the direction and Shanir Blumenkranz on bass tracing the path of the vocals or on oud, in counterpoint in the traditional sense. The set highlighted long improvisational jams between band members. Blumenkranz and Kahalani began performing as a Yemen Blues Duo at the beginning of the pandemic in Zurich when the rest of the band could not reach them due to travel restrictions and continue together but on this night they were joined by Edo Gur on trumpet and Itay Morchi drums. invited on stage were Tim Reis, sax, and Moroccan gnawa musician Samir Langus. A night that would have been memorable under any circumstances but in the newly reopened atmosphere was charged both on stage and in the audience.

The Brooklyn-based trio Big Lazy released their latest album “Dear Trouble in December of 2019. The pandemic wiped out a 2020 international tour, however, the band didn’t miss a beat reaching out via a series of live-streamed audienceless shows on Tele-Barbes from the storied Brooklyn venue and were there the weekend the club reopened. The below video is from a June 2021 Operation Gig show. Operation Gig, a response to pandemic restrictions which pairs band with front porches in Ditmas Park Brooklyn and announces the shows via facebook.

Pedro Giraudolast performed the night Barbes closed its doors for the pandemic quarantine, March 14th 2020. Over a year later they returned for their first live gig, the emotion of the moment could be be felt in their playing. Glad both the band and venue made it through the difficult days. This video captures a passing moment when New York City venues were allowed to reopen at reduced capacity.

Stepping onto the stage Estel Mveng transforms from a modest woman to a majestic figure. Every gesture rivets the audience’s attention, and every movement weaves a spell, as can be seen in this clip from the recent Festival de Musique des Femmes in Abidjan. Her voice beckons the crowd with a low whisper that builds into a gut-wrenching wail and floats back down like a feather on a still day. One does not need to understand a word, in fact not knowing may heighten the impact of her stage presence and vocal mastery. Enjoy!

Vivi Makado, in 2019, stepped out of her role as lead singer for the group Bella Mondo to record his first solo album “Ayiyalo” (The Time Has Come in the Dan language. Vivi is Ivorian from Gbatta located in the Tonkpi region and both her parents are singers. “the Tematé Jazz” is what she calls her musical style blending Dan rhythms with afrobeat and words sung in Yacouba a language found in the area she comes from.