Bang on a Can Announces OneBeat Marathon - Live Online!

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press contact: Maggie Stapleton, Jensen Artists
646.536.7864 x2, maggie@jensenartists.com 

Bang on a Can Announces 
OneBeat Marathon Live Online!
Sunday, November 15, 2020 from 12pm - 4 pm ET

A Global Music Celebration curated and hosted by Found Sound Nation.  
Four Hours of LIVE Music at live.bangonacan.org

This Fall marks the 10th anniversary of OneBeat, the series of revolutionary international collaborations led by our Found Sound Nation team. This is some of the most noble work we know of - using music to build bridges across geographies and nationalities and cultures, redefining and expanding our artistic family, giving deep and meaningful opportunities to musicians coming from a wide spectrum of disciplines and traditions, underlining the recognition that our communities need to be central to how we all make music together.  In honor of these 10 years, we are excited to showcase some of this groundbreaking work in a 4-hour long live streaming marathon concert.  Please join us! - David Lang, co-founder and co-artistic director

Brooklyn, NY — Bang on a Can is excited to present the OneBeat Marathon – Live Online – on Sunday, November 15, 2020 from 12-4pm ET, curated by Found Sound Nation, its social engagement wing. Over four hours the OneBeat Marathon will feature live-streamed multimedia performances by musicians from 14 countries stretching over five continents to transport audiences to a paradigm-bending sonic universe. 

OneBeat, an initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and produced by Found Sound Nation, is redefining music diplomacy.  For the past decade, OneBeat residency programs have convened young pioneering musicians from across the world to dive into the musical unknown together and build a global network of artists committed to civic discourse. The OneBeat Marathon will begin a year-long celebration of online events and programs to commemorate OneBeat’s 10th anniversary in 2021.

On November 15, former OneBeat fellows will perform 18 sets of surprising, soulful music in solo, duo and trio acts. Opening from the mountainous Lake Baikal region of Siberia, mohin huur player Alexander Arkhincheev will give a stirring performance at 12 pm ET, followed by a kaleidoscopic array of musicians and spoken word artists in Accra, Beijing, Beirut, Berlin, Bogota, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Mumbai, New York City, Sacramento, Seoul, Sulaymaniyah and more.  Hear everything from electronic pop sets to microtonal accordion tunes to improvised experimental trios playing together across continents and timezones. The Marathon closes with a festive duo between longtime Bang on a Can All-Star Mark Stewart and Nigerian guitarist Biodun Kuti, a 2013 OneBeat fellow who went on to play alongside Mark in Paul Simon’s band. Other featured acts include composer, trumpeter and santur player Amir ElSaffar, Indonesian sinden vocalist Peni Candra Rini, South African future folk performer Dumama, superstar pan-Latin group LADAMA, poet, musician, writer and performer Dahlak Brathwaite.  

The OneBeat Marathon will be free to stream and all Marathon performers are compensated.  But an entire ecosystem of composers and performers need our attention, our love, and our financial support!  Please consider purchasing a ticket! Doing so will help Bang on a Can to do more performances, pay more players, and share more music worldwide. 

The full lineup of artists is below. 

OneBeat Marathon, November 15, 2020 featuring: 

Alexander Arkincheev, Amir ElSaffar, Peni Candra Rini, LADAMA, Kyungso Park, Samah Boulmona, Dahlak Brathwaite, Meng Xi, Jess Tsang, Amy Garapic, Jinda Kanjo, Dumama, Kechou, Dylan Greene, Shruti Bhave, Ng Chor Guan, Jay Afrisando, Daniel de Mendoza, Asantewa, Anna RG, Aurora Nealand, Mustelide, Johanna Amayo Conejo, Biodun Kuti, Mark Stewart.

The OneBeat Marathon Includes:

Growing up in rural Siberia and based in Irkutsk, Russia, Alexander Arkhincheev is a renowned diphonic throat singer, a master and teacher of many folk instruments including morin huur (fiddle), ikh huur (bass) and tobshuur (lute), and a tireless advocate of Buryat culture, touring internationally and earning numerous awards in Russia, Mongolia and South Korea. A participant in our OneBeat Russia program in 2016, Alexander will kick off the Marathon with a stirring short set of mohin huur and diphonic throat singing. 

Anna RG is an artist six months into her experience with long-haul covid symptoms, whose artwork moves outward from her immersion in traditional music, having apprenticed with elder masters of banjo and fiddle in rural Kentucky.  Her multi-media collaboration with ballad singer Elizabeth LaPrelle was heralded as “a radical expansion of what folk songs are supposed to do” by the New Yorker. They released three records with Smithsonian Folkways, and have performed at Carnegie Hall, Big Ears Festival, and NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert. For the OneBeat Marathon, Anna has created a video work centered on the experience of living with illness, that explores her own battle with COVID-19 and the very slow and painful path to recovery.

Composer, trumpeter, santur player, and vocalist Amir ElSaffar is an incredibly versatile artist and a critical voice in the age of cross-cultural music making. A participant of our first OneBeat program in 2012, Amir has been described as “uniquely poised to reconcile jazz and Arabic music,” (The Wire) and “one of the most promising figures in jazz today” (Chicago Tribune). Amir will display his diversity of talents and mastery of cross-cultural musical dialogue in this solo set of Maqam vocals, trumpet and santur.

Asantewa is a Ghanaian storyteller. A sensational balance of poetry, music, intellect and wit, she uses storytelling to subvert the mainstream role of artists as entertainers only – by being unapologetic and unwavering in using her voice to question well, observe closely and reaffirm what ought to be. She is also the co-founder of BlackGirlsGlow and the founder of Tampered Press. An alumna of our OneBeat program in 2016, and the sole spoken word OneBeat alumna, Asantewa will offer us a set of insightful and illuminating words.

Bandleader, composer, performer and improviser Aurora Nealand is described by New Orleans Presents as “having a humble nature, coupled with a fiery attack when she plays, and a real fearlessness about taking risks and getting involved. She plays solo performances with a gas mask and an accordion.” She combines “formal education” – a music composition degree from Oberlin Conservatory and training at the Jacques Lecoq School of  Physical Theatre in Paris –  with the “informal”  experience of playing music in the streets and clubs of New Orleans and throughout the northern Hemisphere  Aurora participated in OneBeat 2013 and the Dosti Music Project in 2015, and is now a OneBeat facilitator and collaborating artist.

A very special duo performance between Nigerian-born guitarist Biodun Kuti and Bang on a Can All-Star Mark Stewart. Biodun and Mark met one another at OneBeat 2013, when Biodun was a OneBeat fellow and Mark was a visiting artist. Several years later, Biodun was invited to audition for Paul Simon’s band to replace the late, great Vincent Ngiuni. Over the past two years, Mark and Biodun have shared stages across the globe alongside Paul, delighting audiences and music lovers worldwide.

Dahlak Brathwaite is a hip-hop-rooted performance artist, spoken word poet, actor, musician, and writer. He has toured the United States with his one-man show, Spiritrials, since 2015, first gaining prominence when appearing on HBO's Russell Simmons presents Def Poetry Jam. A OneBeat 2014 fellow, Dahlak is an artist who maximizes his abilities as musician, actor, poet, and educator within the transformational space of the theatre. While in lockdown Dahlak has been working on a number of powerful pieces that address our current times. He will perform some of this new work during the marathon.

Dumama + Kechou featuring Hunterchee is OneBeat 2018 alumni Gugulethu Duma (South Africa), Dylan Greene (U.S.), and Algerian-German producer and multi-instrumentalist Kerim Melik Becker. The group’s textural sound is driven by cyclical song structures and chant making, capturing not only the angst of the modern world but also the potential for regeneration. This trio’s set will reflect their respective individual journeys into the self and society, offering listeners their own moment for contemplation and healing - while being transported into a sonic landscape described as nomadic future folk music rooted in African aesthetics.

Jinda Kanjo is a brilliant vocalist from Kobani, Syria, who is now living in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq. FSN met Jinda in Turkey in 2016, where she participated in OneBeat Istanbul shortly after relocating to Turkey from Syria due to escalating violence. A fervent believer in the power of music to unify, Jinda continues to sing in Turkish, Kurdish and Arabic, and recently became the first-ever winner of the global vocal competition Kurd Idol.

A Colombian drummer, percussionist and composer based in Bogotá, Johanna Amaya Conejo is an artist who truly appreciates the depth and intricacy of sound. At OneBeat 2017, held in the Pacific Northwest, Johanna created magical combinations of textures and timbers with her unique percussion set, which fit perfectly with the environment surrounding us. Johanna will immerse listeners in those textures and timbers in a very special solo percussion set.

A masterful composer, performer and improviser of the gayageum, Kyungso Park has made incredible strides in contemporizing the long tradition of this Korean traditional stringed instrument since her debut as a soloist in 2008. She has also expanded her musical vision by incorporating elements of dance, visual art, contemporary classical music, jazz and more. An alumna of our first OneBeat program in 2012, Kyungso will perform a mesmerizing solo gayageum set of original compositions with traditional flavors.

LADAMA is an ensemble of innovative musicians that includes vocalist/Bandola Llanera player Mafer Bandola (Venezuela), vocalist/drummer Lara Klaus (Brazil), vocalist/Tambor Alegre player Daniela Serna (Colombia), vocalist/guitarist Sara Lucas (U.S.) and bassist Pat Swoboda (U.S.). Formed at OneBeat in 2014, during a residency and tour in the Southwest U.S., the group has gone on to become a global sensation, touring the world and releasing two full-length albums. This lively performance will feature songs from their album Oye Mujer, their electrifying 2nd album and a call to women around the world in the face of global crises, which was released this past July to great acclaim.

This experimental trio of synth designer and producer Meng Qi (China), percussionist Jess Tsang (U.S.), and Amy Garapic (U.S.) met during our OneBeat 2019 program in the Southeast U.S., where Meng and Jess were fellows, and Amy was a facilitator. Drawn to similar experimental soundscapes and sound-making techniques, Meng and Jess performed several free improvisations throughout the residency and tour in small clubs, museum spaces, churches, and concert stages. This special trio brings the three experimental sound artists together for the first time, creating live improvised soundscapes in virtual dimensions.

Mustelide is the singer, songwriter and producer Natallia Kunitskaya, born in Belarus. Mustelide mixes styles of electronic and pop music to create a world of peculiar sounds, characters and images, using environmental samples collected from all over the world, analogue synthesizers, drum machines and singing. She designs her own sounds, packaging them in the form of pop music, which often bears quite idiosyncratic results, e.g. a drum section sampled entirely from the cries of owls or flamenco dances. An alumna of OneBeat 2017, Natallia will perform a set of invigorating electronic pop songs.

Peni Candra Rini is an accomplished composer, educator and one of few female contemporary vocalists performing sindhen, a female soloist style of singing found in Indonesian gamelan tradition. She is strongly committed to preserving and sharing the gamelan musical traditions of her country, also working as a lecturer at the Indonesian Arts Institute in Surakarta in Central Java, and has participated in OneBeat in 2014 and the Mosaic Interactive project. For this special performance, Peni will mesmerize with her singular voice, accompanied by solo gamelan.

Samah Boulmona is an accordion player and singer hailing from Aley, Lebanon. A self-taught musician, Samah performs both standard chromatic accordion and custom microtonal accordion, which allows him access to a wide range of scales. He participated in OneBeat in 2018, leading several ensembles, workshops, and roadside jam sessions. For this performance, Samah will perform a set of rousing solo accordion tunes, and will sing some favorites from the wide Arabic repertoire.

Shruti Bhave is a skilled Indian classical violinist and vocalist from Mumbai, India. Born into a musical family and trained from a young age as a singer before taking up the violin, Shruti has a wealth of collaborative experience, both in India and abroad. As a 2019 OneBeat Fellow, Shruti collaborated with artists from Brazil, the United States and Nepal - she will perform a solo set of violin music that traverses the worlds of Indian classical and folk.

A trans-nation free-improvisation group founded by Ng Chor Guan (Malaysia), Daniel de Mendoza (Colombia), and Jay Afrisando (Indonesia), TIGAtrio met during the OneBeat residency at Montalvo Arts Center in Saratoga, CA in October 2015. To compose original improvised works, TIGAtrio uses approaches ranging from electronic manipulation, extended technique on acoustic instruments and “double exposure” recordings (inviting a new improvisation onto a pre-recorded improvisation) to site-specific performances. TIGAtrio will present a live improvised set, streaming from three continents.

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About Found Sound Nation: Found Sound Nation (FSN) is a collective of musicians and artists who leverage the unique power of creative sound-making to help build strong, just, and healthy communities. Over the years, FSN has designed project models rooted in a philosophy that values a collaborative process of music-making and an adaptability to the uniqueness of each local environment. These have included short and long-term workshops in schools, juvenile detention centers and hospitals, mobile “Street Studios” in public squares, universities, and at music festivals, and other sound-art projects that remix the stories and issues of a particular community. With an emphasis on collaborative creativity and technological innovation, FSN strives to give voice to underrepresented communities, unlock the creative potential of youth, and build bridges between communities separated by cultures, economic disparities, and geography.

Over the past nine years, FSN has designed and produced OneBeat, an State Department-initiated program that brings together musicians and change-makers from around the globe to collaborate in the creation of new music, and to develop strategies for using arts and music to make positive changes in society. OneBeat has had a number of international spin-off projects, including the launch of “OneBeat Abroad,” with two to three week cultural exchange programs in Turkey, Russia, The Balkans and Colombia. Most recently, FSN produced Mosaic Interactive with support from the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art, a project that brought musicians from Muslim majority-countries to collaborate with U.S. artists on a four-week tour through central Appalachia and culminated in the production of an original multimedia piece at Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, TN. For more information, visit www.foundsoundnation.org.

About Bang on a Can: Bang on a Can is dedicated to making music new. Since its first Marathon concert in 1987, Bang on a Can has been creating an international community dedicated to innovative music, wherever it is found. With adventurous programs, it commissions new composers, performs, presents, and records new work, develops new audiences, and educates the musicians of the future. Bang on a Can is building a world in which powerful new musical ideas flow freely across all genres and borders. Bang on a Can plays “a central role in fostering a new kind of audience that doesn’t concern itself with boundaries. If music is made with originality and integrity, these listeners will come.” (The New York Times)

Bang on a Can has grown from a one-day New York-based Marathon concert (on Mother’s Day in 1987 in a SoHo art gallery) to a multi-faceted performing arts organization with a broad range of year-round international activities. “When we started Bang on a Can, we never imagined that our 12-hour marathon festival of mostly unknown music would morph into a giant international organization dedicated to the support of experimental music, wherever we would find it,” write Bang on a Can Co-Founders Michael Gordon, David Lang and Julia Wolfe. “But it has, and we are so gratified to be still hard at work, all these years later. The reason is really clear to us – we started this organization because we believed that making new music is a utopian act – that people needed to hear this music and they needed to hear it presented in the most persuasive way, with the best players, with the best programs, for the best listeners, in the best context. Our commitment to changing the environment for this music has kept us busy and growing, and we are not done yet.” 

In addition to its festivals LOUD Weekend at MASS MoCA and LONG PLAY, current projects include The People's Commissioning Fund, a membership program to commission emerging composers; the Bang on a Can All-Stars, who tour to major festivals and concert venues around the world every year; recording projects; the Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival at MASS MoCA, a professional development program for young composers and performers led by today’s pioneers of experimental music; Asphalt Orchestra, Bang on a Can’s extreme street band that offers mobile performances re-contextualizing unusual music; Found Sound Nation, a new technology-based musical outreach program now partnering with the State Department of the United States of America to create OneBeat, a revolutionary, post-political residency program that uses music to bridge the gulf between young American musicians and young musicians from developing countries; cross-disciplinary collaborations and projects with DJs, visual artists, choreographers, filmmakers and more. Each new program has evolved to answer specific challenges faced by today’s musicians, composers and audiences, in order to make innovative music widely accessible and wildly received. Bang on a Can’s inventive and aggressive approach to programming and presentation has created a large and vibrant international audience made up of people of all ages who are rediscovering the value of contemporary music. Bang on a Can has also recently launched its new digital archive, CANLAND, an extensive archive of its recordings, videos, posters, program books, and more. Thirty-three years of collected music and associated ephemera have been digitized and archived online and is publicly accessible in its entirety at www.canland.org. For more information about Bang on a Can, please visit www.bangonacan.org.

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