Mdou Moctar Featuring: Jake Meginsky, Alexander, DJ Stefan Christensen

Date: 
Tuesday, May 1, 2018 - 8:00pm
Location: 
Lyric Hall
827 Whalley Avenue
New Haven, CT 06515
Description: 
Mdou Moctar Featuring: Jake Meginsky, Alexander, DJ Stefan Christensen Doors 8pm Show 8.30pm  YESSSS! BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND!MDOU MOCTAR IN NEW HAVEN! Last year’s show was sold out, so this time around we are offering advance tickets! Tickets $15.00 MDOU MOCTAR- In the somewhat crowded scene of Tuareg guitarists, Mdou stands apart from his peers. One of the few original singer/songwriters willing to experiment and push the boundaries of the genre, his unconventional styles have won him accolades both in Niger and abroad. Mdou Moctar hails from Abalak, in the Azawagh desert of Niger. He taught himself the guitar at a young age on a homemade instrument. Inspired by returning Ishumar, Mdou traveled the road to Libya where he traveled and worked odd jobs. As chance had, he would meet some of the now famous guitarists and further his musical studies. He returned home with a guitar and a dream. Rising to the status as local celebrity, in 2008 he traveled to Nigeria to record his first album “Anar” – a psychedelic electronic album of Tuareg guitar, became an instant success throughout the mp3 networks of West Africa. “Tahoultine,” one of the standout tracks, was later featured on the compilation “Music from Saharan Cellphones.” In 2013, he released his first international album, “Afelan,” rocking and raw sessions recorded live at his hometown in Niger. This was followed by the 2014 vinyl release of “Anar.” In 2015, he starred in the first ever Tuareg language film, a fictional story of the struggle of a guitarist trying to make it against all odds in Agadez. The film continues to be screened at festivals around the world. Mindblowing clip of Mdou Moctar live in concert Trailer for the cinematic homage to Purple Rain from the Sahel, titled “Akounak” (or “Rain the Color Blue with a Little Red”), starring Mdou and company HERE JAKE MEGINSKY- Electronic Musician, Percussionist and Composer Jake Meginsky has collaborated and performed with such artists as Milford Graves, Alvin Lucier, Joan Labarbara, Kim Gordon, Vic Rawlings, Greg Kelley, Bhob Rainey, Joe McPhee, Thurston Moore, William Parker, Daniel Carter, Paul Flaherty, Arthur Brooks, Bill Nace, and John Truscinski. Music critic David Keenan called Meginsky’s 2014 solo record, L’appel Du Vide, “a hallucinatory electro percussion masterpiece” and in the WIRE Magazine review of the album, Nick Cain wrote, “the album uses little more than a couple of sounds, extracting often head spinning complexity from a minimum of means.” Art In America Magazine says, “Meginsky’s digital concrète takes percussion to outer extremes.” His new solo release, Seven Psychotropic Sinewave Palindromes, was recently listed in FACT Magazine’s top 25 albums of 2016. Meginsky frequently collaborates with choreographers and has worked with Cori Olinghouse, Paul Matteson, Jen Nugent, Susan Sgorbati, Katie Martin, and Nora Chipaumire. He has a longstanding artistic relationship with Gwen Welliver, and recently composed the score for her new work,“What a Horse”.  In 2017, Meginsky and Welliver will debut a new work at the Gibney in NYC. His sound installations have been shown internationally including CONTEXT ART in Miami, Duolun Museum of Modern Art in Shanghai, CONTEXT ART in New York, The Mead Art Museum, Usdan Gallery, the Beijing Today Museum, APE Gallery and the Jinse Gallery in Chongqing. His recordings can be found on NNA (Burlington, VT), Mantile (London, UK), Second Sleep (Milan, Italy), Feeding Tube Records (Northampton, MA), Rel Records (Providence, RI), Open Mouth Records (Northampton, MA), Hells Half Halo (Seattle, WA), Wooden Finger Records (Belgium), Ultra Eczema Records (Belgium), and Ecstatic Peace Records (Northampton, MA). He recently remixed Body/Head’s (Kim Gordon & Bill Nace) “Last Mistress” for Matador Records (NYC).
ALEXANDER-Alexander is the solo guitar music made by New Haven, CT native David Shapiro (who also performs with Kath Bloom, in Headroom, and in Nagual). Drawing from a wide range of guitar traditions, Alexander live sets vary from fingerstyle acoustic guitar music to psychedelic feedback-oriented improvised electric guitar excursions. Equally influenced by the melodic stylings of Robbie Basho and John Fahey, the guitar-damage of Alvarius B, and the electric echoes of Keiji Haino, Alexander offers a unique synthesis of guitar vocabulary imbued with a deep emotionality. He has shared bills with Kath Bloom, Daniel Bachman, Sarah Louise, Loren Connors, Kate Village (Major Stars), and more. His self-released debut LP is distributed by Forced Exposure. DJ STEFAN CHRISTENSEN- Stefan spins jamz on vinyl before, between, and after the artists perform!