Bang on a Can
BOMB Magazine & The Jewish Museum
PRESENT
a Live Performance by
Laraaji
Plus Laraaji and L’Rain in Conversation
Bang on a Can’s LIVE.BANGONACAN.ORG is proud to announce two online engagements to be presented collaboratively with the Jewish Museum, marking the seventh year of the Jewish Museum and Bang on a Can’s partnership. Originally conceived and programmed for Bang on a Can’s Long Play festival, scheduled for May 1-3, 2020 but postponed due to the pandemic, these events will comprise a diverse roster of artists performing live-streamed concerts, as well as artist conversations in the spirit of BOMB interviews.
The first program on Thursday, February 4, 2021 at 7:30pm EST features musicians Laraaji and L’Rain. This bill showcases a pair of artists, both long champions of NYC’s DIY music scene, who represent two distinct voices in the evolution of ambient music. Bang on a Can and BOMB Magazine will present a live concert performance by Laraaji from his home studio in New York City, and L’Rain and Laraaji in conversation.
The next event’s date and performers will be announced soon. Both programs will be fully live and streamed on Bang on a Can’s new online venue-website, live.bangonacan.org. These events will be free to stream and the featured artists are being compensated by Bang on a Can, but please consider purchasing a ticket. Doing so will help Bang on a Can to do more performances, pay more players, commission more composers, and share more music worldwide.
About L’Rain: Brooklyn native Taja Cheek is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and vocalist who often performs under the mononym, L’Rain. She is interested in exploring the complex interwovenness of grief and joy, using voice memos and other manipulated samples recorded in her hometown as inspiration and source material. Since the release of her self-titled debut in 2017, her work has been featured in publications including The New York Times, The New Yorker, Pitchfork, and Hyperallergic, and she has performed at institutions and venues including The Whitney, The Getty, and The Kitchen, along with festivals including Basilica Soundscape and FORM Arcosanti.
About Laraaji: A 77 year-young American multi-instrumentalist Laraaji, is one of the pioneers of the new-age and ambient philosophies. In the early 70s, Laraaji lived in New York, admired Eastern mysticism, and performed in parks playing a vintage stringed instrument called “zither.” In 1978 Brian Eno saw one of Laraaji’s street performances and helped him record and release an album called “Ambient 3: Day of Radiance.” The release introduced this American musician to a wide audience, and his next 40 albums made him a true legend of meditative music. His most recent record release is a three album project of solo piano improvisation entitled “SUN PIANO”, “MOON PIANO” and “THROUGH LUMINOUS EYES” on ALL SAINTS RECORDS available online at laraajimusic.bandcamp.com. Laraaji also has traveled the world guiding therapeutic laughter release playshops and deep listening celestial music sessions.
This performance is a continuation of Bang on a Can’s online offerings during the pandemic shutdown. On our four six-hour live online Bang on a Can Marathons so far this year (May 3, June 14, August 16 and October 18), Bang on a Can has presented over 75 performances including 23 new commissions and dozens of composers and performers. The Marathons feature interviews with the composers in between each performance, offering insights into their music, work, and life during this time. Most recently, our OneBeat Marathon on November 15 was a HUGE hit, featuring musicians from around the world who have taken part in our groundbreaking OneBeat international cultural exchange program
Don’t miss the next shows this year: February 21 will be an ALL-COMMISSIONS Marathon; every First Friday will be a lunchtime concert with Bang on a Can All-Star Robert Black. And look for more shows and another 1Beat Marathon!
People
Multi-instrumentalist, singer, song leader, composer and instrument designer Mark Stewart has been heard around the world performing old and new music. Since 1998 he has recorded, toured and been Musical Director with Paul Simon. A founding member of the Bang on a Can All-Stars and the duo Polygraph Lounge with keyboard & theremin wizard Rob Schwimmer, Mark has also worked with Steve Reich, Sting, Anthony Braxton, Bob Dylan, Wynton Marsalis, Meredith Monk, Stevie Wonder, Phillip Glass, Iva Bittova, Bruce Springsteen, Terry Riley, Ornette Coleman, Edie Brickell, Don Byron, Joan Baez, Hugh Masakela, Paul McCartney, Cecil Taylor, Bill Frisell, Jimmy Cliff, Charles Wourinen, the Everly Brothers, Steve Gadd, Fred Frith, Alison Krauss, David Krakauer & Klezmer Madness, Bobby McFerrin, David Byrne, James Taylor, The Roches, Aaron Neville, Bette Midler, and Marc Ribot. He has worked extensively with composer Elliot Goldenthal on music for the films The Glorias, Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Tempest, Across the Universe, Titus, The Butcher Boy, The Good Thief, In Dreams and Heat. He has designed instruments for Julie Taymor’s Midsummer Nights Dream & Theater For A New Audience’s production of King Lear. He is the inventor of the WhirlyCopter, a bicycle-powered Pythagorean choir of singing tubes and the Big Boing, a 24 ft. sonic banquet table Mbira that seats 30 children playing 490 found objects, and he is a Visiting Lecturer in musical instrument design & performance practice at MIT. Mark is also a curator at MASS MoCA of the immersive Gunnar Schonbeck exhibit of musical instruments and co-founder of SoundstewArt, a company that designs immersive sound environments & community music making experiences. Since 2012, he has been the Artistic Director of Guitar Mash, leading the participatory communal Urban Campfires together with renowned artists sharing their favorite songs and life stories. Mark can be heard on Blue Note, Warner Bros., Sony, Sony Classical, Point/Polygram, Nonesuch, Label Bleu, Resonance Magnetique, Cantaloupe and CRI recordings. He lives in Brooklyn, NY & North Adams, MA, playing, singing & writing popular music, semi-popular music and unpopular music, whilst designing instruments that everyone can play. David Cossin was born and raised in Queens, NY, and studied classical percussion at the Manhattan School of Music. His interest in classical percussion, drum set, non-western hand drumming, composition, and improvisation has led to performances across a broad spectrum of musical and artistic forms. David has recorded and performed internationally with Steve Reich and Musicians, Philip Glass, Yo-Yo Ma, Meredith Monk, Tan Dun, Cecil Taylor, Talujon Percussion Quartet, and the trio Real Quiet, as well as with Sting on his Symphonicity world tour. Theater work includes Blue Man Group, Mabou Mines, and projects with the director Peter Sellars. David was featured as the solo percussionist in Tan Dun’s award-winning score to the film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. As a soloist, he has performed with orchestras throughout the world including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Orchestra Radio France, and more. His sonic installations have been presented in New York, Italy and Germany, and he is also an active composer and instrument inventor, expanding the limits of traditional percussion. David teaches percussion at the Aaron Copland School of Music and the Manhattan School of Music’s Contemporary Performance Program. photo by Peter Serling Amy Sillman (b. 1955, Detroit) is a painter based in New York known for her gestural paintings and active engagement with drawing, animation and writing. Her work is held in many museum collections, including MoMA, The Brooklyn Museum, The Whitney, LA MoCA, the Brandhorst Museum in Munich, the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, and Tate Modern in London. A mid-career survey show in 2013, “one lump or two,” was curated by Helen Molesworth and originated at the ICA Boston in 2013. In 2020 she published a book of writing on art, Faux Pas, published by After 8 Books in Paris. Sillman is represented by Gladstone Gallery/NYC. photo by Calla Kessler Steve Reich has been called “America’s greatest living composer” (Village Voice), “the most original musical thinker of our time” (The New Yorker), and “among the great composers of the century” (The New York Times). His music has influenced composers and mainstream musicians all over the world. Music for 18 Musicians and Different Trains have earned him two Grammy Awards, and in 2009, his Double Sextet won the Pulitzer Prize. Reich’s documentary video opera works—The Cave and Three Tales, done in collaboration with video artist Beryl Korot—have been performed on four continents. His recent work Quartet, for percussionist Colin Currie, sold out two consecutive concerts at Queen Elizabeth Hall in London shortly after tens of thousands at the Glastonbury Festival heard Jonny Greenwood (of Radiohead) perform Electric Counterpoint followed by the London Sinfonietta performing his Music for 18 Musicians. In 2012, Reich was awarded the Gold Medal in Music by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He has additionally received the Praemium Imperiale in Tokyo, the Polar Music Prize in Stockholm, the BBVA Award in Madrid, and recently the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale. He has been named Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, and has been awarded honorary doctorates by the Royal College of Music in London, the Juilliard School, the Liszt Academy in Budapest, and the New England Conservatory of Music, among others. “There’s just a handful of living composers who can legitimately claim to have altered the direction of musical history and Steve Reich is one of them,” states The Guardian. photo by Jay Blakesberg
Mark Stewart
Mark Stewart
David Cossin
David Cossin
Amy Sillman
Amy Sillman
Steve Reich
Steve Reich
Supporters
Bang on a Can is grateful for the support of these crucial 2020 Funders:
Bang on a Can’s 2020 programs are made possible with generous lead support from: Amphion Foundation, ASCAP and ASCAP Foundation, Atlantic Records, Daniel Baldini, Stephen A. Block, Bishop Fund, Jeffrey Calman, Charina Endowment Fund, City of New York Department of Cultural Affairs, Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, Alice M. Ditson Fund of Columbia University, Exploring the Arts, Howard Gilman Foundation, Jaffe Family Foundation,, Alan Kifferstein & Joan Finkelstein, Michael Kushner, Leslie Lassiter, Herb Leventer, MAP Fund, Raulee Marcus, MASS MoCA, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, Jeremy Mindich & Amy Smith, Elizabeth Murrell & Gary Haney, National Endowment for the Arts, New Music USA, New York Community Trust, New York State Council on the Arts (with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature), Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Scopia Capital Management, Matthew Sirovich & Meredith Elson, Maria & Robert A. Skirnick, Jane & Dick Stewart, Sandra Tait and Hal Foster, Trust for Mutual Understanding, U.S Department of State, Williamson Foundation for Music, Adam Wolfensohn & Jennifer Small, and Wolfensohn Family Foundation.
Bang on a Can’s Board of Directors: Michael Kushner, president; Sandra Tait, vice-president; Alan Kifferstein, Treasurer; Robert A. Skirnick, secretary. Betto Arcos, Daniel Baldini, Jeffrey Bishop, Stephen Block, Jeffrey Calman, Michael Gordon, Lynette Jaffe, David Lang, Leslie Lassiter, George Lewis, Raulee Marcus, Elizabeth Murrell, Jane Stewart, Julia Wolfe, Adam Wolfensohn
Bang on a Can Staff:
Artistic Directors: Michael Gordon, David Lang, Julia Wolfe
Executive Director: Kenny Savelson
Development Director: Tim Thomas
Project and Summer Festival Manager: Philippa Thompson
Producer: Sruly Lazaros
1Beat Co-Directors: Chris Marianetti, Jeremy Thal, Elena Moon Park
1Beat Managers: Kyla-Rose Smith and Ezra Tenenbaum
Accounts Manager: Brian Petuch
Online Store Manager: Adam Cuthbert
Archive Content Manager: Matt Evans
Assistant Store Manager: Cassie Wieland
Publicity: Jensen Artists
We’ll share all your comments with Laraaji. I know it’s strange to end without sharing glances and comments with one another. But he was so gracious and wanted you all to know how much he enjoyed sharing his inner musical world with you all. Good night and peace! tim
so healing. thank you, once again LARAAJI !
so beautiful
Thank you Laraaji
and thank you Bang On A Can and The Jewish Museum
this was awesome. thank you
I feel like I’ve had a tune-up from a master mechanic. Praises!
om om om
beautiful, thank you
the hanging chimes/bells are mesmerizing
washing over me
<3
Mireya – so soothing
stunning. Thank you Laraaji & Bang on a Can, etc. healing beautiful music–light-filled music
Heaven
Thank you.
beautiful sonority happening
the autoharp is wonderful!
Thank you Claudia Gould, Nelly Benedek, Jenna Weiss, Libby Flores for supporting this gathering! And especially Laraaji and L’Rain for such creativity and thoughtfulness. So wonderful and important for us all to have a chance to share this moment together.
oh my.
this is so beautiful. I am on my way to being relaxed….
Beautiful
I badly needed this today. endless gratitude to you both.
A kalimba! Cool
Nice to see folks from Portugal, Japan, Brazil, Australia, Ireland and many more. For some, it’s breakfast time. Or summer! Or both!
I love the idea of stripping everything away – just down to the self outside of labels and identities.
BOMB is so excited for this!!!
Hello All – this is Kenny Savelson from Bang on a Can here. Super happy to resume our partnership with The Jewish Museum and to bring a new curatorial partner – BOMB Magazine – into the conversation. I wish we could be walking through the gallery exhibitions at TJM together, and we will again sometime soon! Looking forward to this show!
Very excited for this show!
Hello and welcome! Bang on a Can, BOMB Magazine and the Jewish Museum are so glad you’re here!