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Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Ensemble Celebrates 20th Anniversary at Brooklyn Museum

The soul-jazz-hip-hop ensemble will celebrate 20 years of Black Power anthems and experimental American diasporan music with live performances and conversation
Burnt Sugar, BK Reader
Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Ensemble. Photo source: Brooklyn Museum

The soul-jazz-hip-hop ensemble Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber will celebrate its 20th anniversary with an evening of Black Power anthems and experimental works at the Brooklyn Museum on Thursday, January 31. 

Following the concert titled NOTHING IS: How Sun Ra, Amiri Baraka, and Octavia Butler Supercharged the Black Arts With Post-Apocalyptic Cosmic Consciousness, Burnt Sugar-leader, author and critic Greg Tate will hold an interactive lecture on the cross-influence of politics and music during the Black Power era.

The evening, organized in conjunction with the museum's exhibition Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power, will conclude with Burnt Sugar performing selections from their recently released Twentieth Anniversary Mixtapes Groiddest Schizznits, Vol. 2 trilogy.

Founded by Tate and co-led with bassist Jared Michael Nickerson since 1999, Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber was originally conceived as a platform for New York's improvisational musicians to compose, record and perform material which reflects the breadth and depth of American diasporan music in the 21st century.

Over the years, Burnt Sugar has moved freely amongst many styles, eras and genres to devise its own exciting hybrids. These hybrids are based on a solid foundation of musical traditions and are inspired by post-modernists American greats such as Duke Ellington, Sun Ra, Parliament Funkadelic and The Art Ensemble of Chicago.

"Burnt Sugar got the nerve to claim Sly Stone, Morton Feldman,  Billie Holiday, Jimi Hendrix and Jean Luc Ponty as progenitors," said Tate. "Our player-ranks include known Irish fiddlers, AACM refugees, Afro-punk rejects, unrepentant beboppers, feminist rappers, jitterbugging doo-woppers, frankly loud funk-a-teers and rodeo stars of the digital divide."

Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber 20th Anniversary

When: Thursday, January 31, 7:00pm

Where: Brooklyn Museum, 200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11238

How much: $16, tickets are available here.




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