04-11-19 | Songs for Listening | Bill Bragin
Programmer and curator Bill Bragin made the playlist at Songs for Listening for Thursday, April 11. Bill is the inaugural executive artistic director of The Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi. Bill brings extensive experience, enormous creativity, and a unique, multidisciplinary vision to programming, he's "known for insightful pairings of far-flung musicians from around the world and for mixing traditions old and new" (NYTimes).
Prior to his stint in Abu Dhabi, Bill served as the director of public programming of Lincoln Center, where he attracted hundreds of thousands of audience to the popular Midsummer Night Swing and Lincoln Center Out of Doors festivals. He also helped set the artistic vision for the free weekly programs at the Rubenstein Atrium, which opened during his tenure. Bill is also active as a co-founding producer of the world music festival and service organization globalFEST. Previous work include serving as director of Joe's Pub at The Public, curator of music programs at Symphony Space, general manager of the NYNO record label & artistic director / executive Producer of SummerStage NYC. Bill has DJed internationally, using the moniker, Acidophilus, as part of GlobeSonic Sound System. Bill is a legendarily capacious listener and an indefatigable champion of music from every corner of the world, I'm delighted to have his selections at Songs for Listening.
Here are Bill's picks with his annotations:
'A Cidade' by Chico Science & Nação Zumbi
"CSNZ changed the way I think about music, heritage, culture, global music as a meeting place of the hyperlocal and hyperglobal. A celebration of all of the contradictions of the place you call home. From Recife, in the Northeast of Brazil, mid-90's birth of the manguebeat movement. RIP Chico."
'M'Pral Dòmi Nan Simityè’ by RAM
"Rara rhythms, searing punk rock guitars, and deep evocations of Haitian vodou culture."
'Moved Around' by 47 Soul
"Liberation as celebration, whether on the dance floor or across walls and borders. When human mobility is under constant threat, music offers moments of community and transcendence. Shamstep from the global Palestinian diaspora."
'Freedom' by Ranky Tanky
"Another call for liberation, steeped in the traditional Gullah culture of the Carolinas. An anthem of resistance from Africa in the Americas. There's a lot more work to do."
'Zero' by Liniker e os Caramelows
"A celebration of self-expression. Black Brazilian trans liberation. Sexy AF. You don't need to speak Portuguese to feel this one deep in your core."
'A Cidade (The City)' by Chico Science & Nação Zumbi from 'Da Lama Ao Caos'
'M'Pral Dòmi Nan Simityè (I Will Sleep in the Cemetery)’ by RAM from 'Gran Bwa'
'Moved Around' by 47 Soul from 'Balfron Promise'
'Freedom' by Ranky Tanky
'Zero' by Liniker e os Caramelows from 'Cru'
