Pastorius Park’s summer concert series ends on Wednesday in August with Worldtown Soundsystem.
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Pastorius Park’s summer concert series ends on Wednesday in August with Worldtown Soundsystem.
The summer series has been shorter this year, returning from a pandemic hiatus on July 14 with Andrew Lipke and the Azrael string quartet, providing poignant acoustic versions of Lipke’s romantic originals. Then Meghan Cary and Analog Gypsies brought a more folk-rock sound. The July 28 exhibit was Jack Saint Clair’s jazz big band, with a brass segment echoing on the park lawn. The short season was eventful: Lipke’s set was interrupted for ten minutes due to a power outage, allowing him to demonstrate his amplification by making a July 21 cary broadcast moved indoors at the last minute, first due to an orange air quality alert from the Pacific Northwest fires. , and then because of the violent typhoon that swept the domain that purged the air by knocking down trees and force marks the region. The more intimate setting turned out to be equally suitable for Cary. Clair had a better time.
It’s Worldtown’s return to Pastorius after a concert in July 2017, a combination of house, afrobeat, funk and dancehall that adjusts the course fluidly, as if someone in the band had just had a new concept and others approved of it. feeling is an organization of independent artists who come in combination to spend the night because they love others and have a great time, which can be as exciting to watch as it is to pay attention to them.
DJs Oluwafemi and Ben Arsenal met after school while travelling for world music and were introduced. “Without delay we sympathize,” said Arsenal (offstage, Ben Schneible). Vermont Arsenal, Nigeria’s Oluwafemi. O went to Temple University, but not at the same time. Or they were enthusiasts of Fela Kuti, the Nigerian singer-songwriter. They started DJing together. Soon after, a mutual friend asked them to be the music administrators of a party he planned called Worldtown.
“We played at the party and it was a resounding success,” Arsenal said. “What’s lovely is that there were other people from all over the world who appreciated the diversity of the music we brought. So we made the decision to continue and celebrated our first official party in Worldtown in 2011. »
They started coming up with musicians and singers. Julian Hinson on bass and Gary Dann on drums; Pablo Batista on percussion and Anessa LaRae on vocals. There are nine normal members (including the Arsenal live sequencing) and a diversity of guests. A giant organization means many moving parts. ” They all have various projects going on,” Arsenal said. the members are full-time musicians and there are scheduling conflicts. “(Pierre Nix will update Pablo Batista in Pastorius; Batista is hiking with ELLA).
“It’s attractive because I do a lot of collaborations outside the band, in the studio, which translates into collaborations with bands. The variety and flexibility of being a DJ maker is helping a lot, so I can say, “Hey, could you be interested in collaborating. “From the studio, they may just seem on stage.
In addition to being a DJ and artistic director, Oluwafemi is a visual artist. Last spring, she presented a public art proposal at Maplewood Mall as part of the city’s One Percent for Art program (under her full name, Femi Olatunji) with Eric Okdeh.
On October 9 they will celebrate their tenth anniversary with the album “X” with 10 tracks, adding “Water”, a collaboration with GBL VLLG. They are held in Reading on October 1st or are paid attention at World Café Live in November. 6º Music, video and occasions in world. town.
Worldtown Soundsystem concert is through Merrill Lynch – Nottingham, Walsh, Goodman