. . . .Announcing NOLA Reconnect, a virtual visit to New Orleans and Acadiana, Oct. 2-4, 9-11, 16-17, 2020 -- video trailer just uploaded.
NOLA RECONNECT
A VIRTUAL VISIT TO NEW ORLEANS
A POSTMAMBO MUSIC SEMINAR
OCTOBER 2-4, 9-11, 16-17, 2020
INTIMATE, INTERACTIVE VISITS
WITH LIVE SOCIALLY DISTANCED MUSIC BY
(confirmed so far / in alphabetical order)
SHAMARR ALLEN
JAMES ANDREWS
JOHN BOUTTÉ
DAVID GREELY
COREY LEDET
DELFEAYO MARSALIS
LEYLA McCALLA
SOUL CREOLE TRIO
STANTON MOORE TRIO
HERLIN RILEY
SPECIAL GUEST FROM DETROIT
JOHN SINCLAIR w/ MARK BINGHAM
and
JASON BERRY
RICHARD CAMPANELLA
LOLIS ERIC ELIE
INA J. FANDRICH
MICHELLE N. GIBSON, THE ARTIST
LILY KEBER
BLACK FEATHER CHIEF COREY RAYFORD
NED SUBLETTE
MIA X
MORE NAMES TO BE ANNOUNCED
WRITERS, SCHOLARS, CHEFS, CHOREOGRAPHERS, AND MORE
ZOOM Q + A CALLS WITH ALL PRESENTERS / YOU ASK THE QUESTIONS
Produced by Ned Sublette for Postmambo +
Ariana Hall for CubaNOLA Arts Collective
REGISTRATION IS OPEN NOW,
CLOSES SEPTEMBER 30
THERE IS NO WEBSITE. WRITE FOR PRICES AND OTHER INFORMATION: postmambo@gmail.com
* * *
AN OPEN LETTER FROM POSTMAMBO FOUNDER
NED SUBLETTE
September 16, 2020
“We can do it virtual,” said Ariana.
Back in March, the you-know-what forced us to cancel For the Funk of It, our first Postmambo New Orleans Music Seminar. That was a blow to my small company. Fully subscribed with 50 or so travelers, this group trip to New Orleans was gonna be the big one. For five years Postmambo had specialized in immersive, educational musical experiences on the ground in Cuba. This was to be our debut in the great music city of New Orleans.
We reanimated in July, after the initial shock of the pandemic had passed, when our distinguished producer on the ground in New Orleans, Ariana Hall of CubaNOLA Arts Collective, proposed doing a virtual visit instead. When our travelers said they were interested, we raced to make it real. And now we’re offering it to the public.
It’s all taking place over the first three weekends of October -- Oct. 2-4, 9-11, and 16-17 – with sessions in the afternoons and on Friday and Saturday nights. (Since it’s still hurricane season, rain dates are Oct. 23-24.) If you want to come with us, now’s the time to register. Registration closes September 30, so hurry!
* * *
Things are bad for musicians right now in New Orleans, but there’s a lot going on during this lockdown.
This is a time to communicate. This is a time to support NOLA music and culture.
NOLA Reconnect. An interactive immersion in New Orleans, with a side trip to Acadiana. Intimate, shortish sets by major musical figures just for us, followed by Q & A, plus talks and gatherings with socially distanced writers, historians, cultural practitioners, food experts, and choreographers.
We’re still confirming participants, but as of right now we have confirmed (in alphabetical order):
*) performance by
w/ JAMES SINGLETON + DAVID TORKANOWSKY
MORE NAMES TO BE ANNOUNCED!
*) Acadiana with
*) special guest from Detroit JOHN SINCLAIR performing a new poem commissioned for the occasion, accompanied by MARK BINGHAM in Breaux Bridge.
*) interactions with artists, scholars, and practitioners, including
BLACK FEATHER CHIEF COREY RAYFORD
*) cooking with
*) dance with
MICHELLE N. GIBSON, THE ARTIST
MORE NAMES TO BE ANNOUNCED
info: postmambo@gmail.com
Even though we can’t wait to get back to physical travel, we’ve gotten excited about the new possibilities that virtual offers. These are not simply livestreams. It’s not TV. Every event is participatory, with live Q&A. And it’s not anonymous – we’re a group that talks to each other. New Orleans artists are exploring solutions for how to project their culture into the new social distance. Historians will help us frame our understanding of the city’s times and spaces. At night, there’ll be virtual cocktail parties -- we'll coach you on making a Sazerac -- so we can compare notes and hang.
Tired of long hours on the screen? So are we. We’re trying to improve the virtual experience. Concise and dense is our esthetic, and we’ll take long breaks to get the blood moving again.
Until we can travel freely again, Postmambo is a media company. In our first meeting with tech director Chris Butcher, he said (I’m paraphrasing): whatever happens with live music and whatever happens with the pandemic, virtual’s here to stay.
Chris is right. This is only the beginning. The tools are going to keep getting better. We have ideas. After we produce and evaluate this, we’ll announce our next offerings.
Programs are only available with full subscription to the entire eight days. No day passes, no à la cartes. But we’ll have a passworded archive up for three months afterwards so that registered travelers who miss a program can catch up.
Write for prices. I won’t lie, it’s not cheap. It can’t be. This is a live interactive experience custom-produced for our seminar group. We can’t keep giving music away and expect to pay the artists, producers, and support personnel. We’re at an “inflection point” not only in our terrifying present-day politics and social disintegration, but also in affirming that cultural work has value, and that artists deserve to be paid.
Reconnect with New Orleans together with us, virtually. It’s not a large group. We have room for you! Happy to answer any questions.
info: postmambo@gmail.com
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