About this Event
YONATAN GAT PRESENTS VISUÆLS
featuring
Maalem Hassan Benjafaar & Innov Gnawa
Mamady Kouyate (Bembeya Jazz)
Jaimie Branch
Christopher Pravdica (Swans)
Avishag Cohen Rodrigues
Yonatan Gat
& More special guests
Opening set by William Parker
A new collective Visuæls featuring musicians of diverse traditions with different lineups on the nights of May 22, June 26, July 17 and August 21 set to take place in Bushwick’s Sultan Room.
July 17 Yonatan Gat presents Visuæls, Feat. Eastern Medicine Singers
Featuring:
Eastern Medicine Singers
Oliver Ackermann (A Place to Bury Strangers)
Christopher Pravdica (Swans)
Avishag Cohen Rodrigues
Yonatan Gat
& More special guests
$20 [TICKET LINK]
August 21 Yonatan Gat presents Visuæls, Feat. Ryan Olson (Gayngs)
Featuring
Ryan Olson (Gayngs)
Maalem Hassan Benjafaar (Innov Gnawa)
Greg Fox
Yonatan Gat
& More special guests
$20 [TICKET LINK]
3 SHOW PASS FOR JUNE 26, JULY 17, AUG 21 available for $50
YONATAN GAT left his native Israel after his band Monotonix (called "the most exciting live band in rock 'n' roll" by SPIN) got banned from virtually every venue in their home country setting Gat on a path to a life as an international touring and recording artist, playing over 1,500 concerts in 50 countries and 5 continents in the last decade and a half. These years of travel made an undeniable mark on Gat as he later embarked on a distinguished solo career as guitarist and producer collaborating with musicians from varying backgrounds, leading Rolling Stone editor David Fricke to refer to him as "a citizen of the world," adding "Gat wields his guitar like a universal translator.” His solo work was profiled by The New York Times, UNCUT, Pitchfork, NPR, Vice, The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, The Wire and People Magazine. The Village Voice named him "Best Guitarist in New York, 2013," while The Guardian listed his sophomore solo album Universalists on their top 10 contemporary albums of 2018.
INNOV GNAWA is a New York City-based grammy-nominated music group led by Ma’alem Hassan Ben Jaafer. The title Ma’alem, meaning master, denotes Ben Jaafer’s ancestral heritage of the musical tradition, which was passed down generationally within his family in Morocco. As the spiritual elder of the ensemble, he plays the three-stringed African bass, also known as a guembri. Ben Jaafer is accompanied by Amino Belyamani and Ahmed Jeriouda, along with a brotherhood of guest musicians, all playing the qraqeb, metal castanets whose staccato sound is said to represent the shackles and chains of slaves.
Often referred to as “Sufi Blues,” Gnawa is rooted in Morocco’s ancient history. Over centuries, infectious rhythms and polytheistic spiritual beliefs originating from west African slaves integrated with islam and the indigenous culture of morocco, giving birth to a hybrid spiritual sect and musical community. The lyrics of Gnawa songs are prayers invoking saints and spirits for freedom and liberation. Like blues music from the american south, gnawa is revered and treasured throughout Morocco for its soulfulness.
JAIMIE BRANCH - American avant-garde trumpeter jaimie branch is a forward-thinking performer with a style steeped in free jazz and modern creative improvisation. In addition to releasing her own albums, she is an in-demand session and touring musician in several genres. She leads several bands including FLY or DIE, Anteloper, and the jaimie branch trio and has appeared with Spoon, TV on the Radio, and the Belle Orchestre. Before moving to Brooklyn in 2015, she was an active member of the Chicago and Baltimore creative music scenes as a performer, presenter, and recording engineer. Tonight she will play a rare solo trumpet and electronics solo set.
MAMADY KOUYATE is one of Guinea's better known guitarists. The heir to a long line of griots, Mamady was first taught by his father who was one of the first guinean griots to introduce the guitar. Kouyate senior specialized in transcribing traditional kora and balafon lines for the guitar and his son Mamady first made his mark as an electric guitarist in some of the national bands that were part of president Sékou Touré’s campaign of “Authenticité” - a movement that sought to create an afrocentric popluar sound. Kouyate eventually joined Guinea’s most famous export, The Bembeya Jazz, with whom he toured for years. After some political trouble, Kouyate relocated to the US in the early 2000’s where he founded the Mandingo Ambassadors, a vehicle for his own music that uses the classic 70’s sound of of the best Sylliphone recordings.
WILLIAM PARKER
WEBSITE
SPOTIFY
William Parker is a bassist, improviser, composer, writer, and educator from New York City, heralded by The Village Voice as, “the most consistently brilliant free jazz bassist of all time.”
In addition to recording over 150 albums, he has published six books and taught and mentored hundreds of young musicians and artists.
Parker’s current bands include the Little Huey Creative Music Orchestra, In Order to Survive, Raining on the Moon, Stan’s Hat Flapping in the Wind, and the Cosmic Mountain Quartet with Hamid Drake, Kidd Jordan, and Cooper-Moore. Throughout his career he has performed with Cecil Taylor, Don Cherry, Milford Graves, and David S. Ware, among others.
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This is a mask-optional event. Proof of completed Covid-19 Vaccination required prior to entry.
No refunds or exchanges.
Non-compliance will result in removal from the premises without refund.
All sales are final.
Event Venue & Nearby Stays
The Sultan Room, 234 Starr Street, Brooklyn, United States
USD 20.00 to USD 50.00