Global Mashup 3: Mexico Meets Guinea

QPTV’s Roslyn Nieves joins Flushing Town Hall’s Executive and Artistic Director Ellen Kodadek, Deputy Director Sami Abu Shumays, Jazz Producer Clyde Bullard, and Shawn Choi, Director of Marketing and Community Engagement, to bring you Flushing Town Hall’s Global Mashups Series on Queens Public Television's channels. In each Global Mashup concert, two cultures are mashed up on one stage with an open dance floor! First, each band plays a set, then the two meet and jam. The mashup often results in a unique, never-before-heard blend of two different cultures. QPTV captured the entertaining cultural series and now the television programs will cablecast in Queens on Spectrum, RCN, and Verizon Fios for the first time! Global Mashup #3: Mexico meets Guinea Mexico For the past twenty years, Brooklyn residents Oscar Noriega and Jacob Garchik have kept busy in the Jazz and classical world - Oscar is a sax and clarinet player known for his association with Lee Konitz, Paul Motian and Tim Berne; Jacob is an arranger for Kronos Quartet and a freelance trombonist. A few years back, both Oscar and Jacob came to be obsessed with the brass band music of Sinaloa - the Mexican state now better known For El Chapo than its musical output. Oscar, the son of Mexican immigrants, felt a nostalgic connection to the music of his parents. Jacob, who had no prior knowledge of the music, was fascinated by the intricate arrangements, the dexterity of brass players and the astounding virtuosity of its sousaphone players. Realizing that there were no traditional Banda on Brooklyn, they decided to start their own. They wrote new arrangements, Jacob practiced sousaphone and hey enlisted some of their musician friends. Soon, Banda de Los Muertos was attracting an audience made up of Brass aficionados sand Mexican immigrants - as well as kudos from the mother of all Mexican Brass Bands: Banda el Recodo. In Mexico in general, and in Sinaloa in particular, brass bands (bandas) are part of every public celebration. Guinea The Mandingo Ambassadors was founded in New York City by griot-guitarist Mamady Kouyaté in 2005. As a veteran of the great orchestras of the golden age of Guinean dance bands, Mamady is a living library of musical science inherited from his ancestors and from a half century of experience as an arranger, band leader, accompanist and soloist. Mamady Kouyaté carried this heritage with him to New York where he was collaborated with members of the West Africa diaspora and Western musicians to continue the great tradition and sound of Guinean Afro-jazz. Since the summer of 2008 the group has been in residence at Barbed, performing every Wednesday night at this well-known Brooklyn venue. In addition, they have performed at many clubs, events and festivals including Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Celebrate Brooklyn, and the International Festival of Arts and Ideas.