Jake Blount and Mali Obomsawin, Balla Kouyate and Matchume Zango to collaborate in live performances at Providence Public Library
Providence, RI—FirstWorks, a non-profit dedicated to connecting art with audiences, announces two fall concerts pairing renowned musicians and culture bearers at the Providence Public Library in October. The Providence-based multi-instrumentalist Jake Blount, an award-winning interpreter of Black folk music, will be in concert with the genre-defying Wabanaki bassist, composer, and songwriter Mali Obomsawin on Thursday, October 10, 2024 at 6:00 PM. Two African master musicians—balafonist Balla Kouyate and timbila phenomenon Matchume Zango—come together for BALA-BILA, a live concert framed as an intercultural musical conversation on Wednesday, October 23, 2024 at 6:00 PM. Tickets to the FirstWorks concerts are $25, with “pay-what-you-can” option available to the community at firstworks.org.
“FirstWorks’ 20th year of creating unforgettable cultural moments continues this fall with two truly groundbreaking collaborations,” said Kathleen Pletcher, FirstWorks Executive Artistic Director. “Prepare to be captivated as Jake and Mali weave their instruments into a symphony of sounds, whispering truths about our unfolding climate crisis. And witness history in the making as Balla and Matchume blend the rich musical traditions of West and Southeastern Africa—Mali’s balafon and Mozambique’s timbila come together in a never-before-seen musical dialogue.”
On Thursday, October 10, FirstWorks presents Jake Blount (pronounced “blunt”), a multi-instrumentalist who is hailed for his skill as a string band musician and unprecedented Afrofuturist work in sound archives and song collections. In his hands, the banjo, fiddle, electric guitar, and synthesizer become ceremonial objects used to channel the insurgent creativity of his forebears. Mali Obomsawin (Odanak First Nation) is a celebrated composer, bassist, and vocalist in free jazz and experimental music. Obomsawin’s work as a composer and bandleader centers on the imprint of Indigenous music traditions in jazz and “American” genres, using historical, archival, and community research as a spine for improvisation.
On their 2024 Smithsonian Folkways release, “symbiont,” Obomsawin’s and Blount’s “genrequeer” approach to their respective traditions has earned a place in some of the very same archives from which they extract their repertoire. In defiance of genre categories, revisionist histories, and linear time, Blount and Obomsawin have fashioned an Indigenous and Afrofuturist folklore that disintegrates the boundaries between acoustic and electric, artist and medium, and ancestor and progeny.
In addition to the concert, FirstWorks will partner with Community MusicWorks (CMW) for a free panel discussion with the artists on the function of Black and Indigenous music over time at the new Community MusicWorks Center at 1326 Westminster Street, Providence on Wednesday, October 9 from 5:30-6:30 PM. Panelists include Jake Blount, Mali Obomsawin, CMW’s Founder and Artistic Director Sebastian Ruth and CMW resident musician Adrienne Taylor, Director of the Daily Orchestra Program. More details on this free panel talk will be shared on FirstWorks’ website in the coming week.
On Wednesday, October 23, BALA-BILA brings together two African master musicians—Balla Kouyate on balafon, calabash, bass guitar and voice, and Matchume Zango on timbila, mbira, percussion and voice—through a live concert framed as an intercultural musical conversation between the two artists. Kouyate, from the West African country of Mali, and Zango, from the East African country of Mozambique, are leading exponents of their respective principal instruments—BALAfon and timBILA—two world heritage instruments that are played together for the first time.
This living-room-style features Kouyate and Zango as composers and multi-instrumentalists sharing the joy, beauty and complexity of their music but also provides a unique opportunity for the audience to get to know Kouyate and Zango as human beings, artists, ambassadors, and global citizens as they explore their connection to each other, their art, and their cultural patrimony.
Blount and Obomsawin, Kouyate and Zango will also conduct workshops and demonstrations in area high schools in October as part of FirstWorks’ education program. This program aims to help students succeed in school, life, and work by combining the power of the arts with experiential learning serving students, their families, and educators. Learn more at firstworks.org/learn.
FirstWorks’ fall concerts are funded, in part, by the New England States Touring program of the New England Foundation for the Arts, made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts Regional Touring Program and the six New England state arts agencies. The panel discussion is made possible in part through funding support from Rhode Island Humanities, an independent state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. RI Humanities seeds, supports, and strengthens public history, cultural heritage, civic education, and community engagement by and for all Rhode Islanders.
About FirstWorks
FirstWorks is a non-profit based in Providence, Rhode Island whose purpose is to build the cultural, educational and economic vitality of its community by engaging diverse audiences with world-class performing arts and education programs. Now celebrating its 20th year, FirstWorks festivals, performances and programs have attracted more than 1 million participants since its founding in 2004. Across its 2023-24 season, FirstWorks produced 60+ events, employed 100+ artists, and reached 3,300+ Rhode Island youth. FirstWorks is the founding partner of PVDFest and has collaborated with the City of Providence to curate and produce the City’s free, signature arts celebration since 2015. Embracing collaboration, FirstWorks has fostered over 90 community partnerships across business, social service, government, arts and education sectors. Visit firstworks.org to learn more.
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