Events

NY: Scored x Jump N Funk Present The AfroBeatles

afrobeatles rich medina jump n funk scored

New York! The king of afrobeat meets the Fab Four in Scored & Jump N Funk‘s upcoming night The AfroBeatles. Join veteran selector Rich Medina — who just cut our latest AIYE mixtape — alongside host/narrator/DJ Mark Hines, drummer/percussionist Swiss Chris and the Afro Mosaic Soul Dance Group for an evening of live scoring with rare footage of Fela Kuti & The Beatles, plus narratives woven from Beatles a capellas and African cinema. You know Okayafrica’s got the hook up for you, see below for a chance to win a pair of tickets!

ENTER TO WIN TICKETS TO THE AFROBEATLES

Scored & Jump N Funk Present The AfroBeatles
Friday, April 6 live at DROM (85 Ave A)
11pm—4am. $10.

Film: When China Met Africa

The Foreign Policy Association will hold a special screening in New York City of When China Met Africa, a film that documents the burgeoning economic relationship between China and Africa. “Through the intimate portrayal of three key players in the economic relationship between China and Zambia, the expanding footprint of a rising global power is laid bare – pointing to a radically different future, not just for Africa, but also for the world.”

Join Okayafrica and FPA Monday March 26 at the Scandinavia House Screening Room @6pm. The screening will be followed by a Q&A session with writer, director and producer Nick Francis. Click here for more information.

 

NYC: Win Tix To Spoek Mathambo’s Father Creeper Launch Party

Celebrate the launch of Spoek Mathambo‘s latest album Father Creeper (Sub Pop) by jumping around with us at SOBs this Thursday March 22. Also on the bill are Marvy Da Pimp, Chief Boima, Muthawit, Iyadede, Suzi Analog & Cerebral Vortex, Ladi Dadi, and CHLLNGR. Doors are at 7:30pm and tix are $15, but we’re giving away 2 pairs of tickets! We’ll announce 2 winners THURSDAY morning so check your emails!

ENTER HERE TO WIN A PAIR OF FREE TICKETS!

NYC: Kehinde Wiley/ The World Stage: Israel

Kehinde Wiley World Stage Series Israel Jewish Museum

It has been nearly two years since Kehinde Wiley traveled to Israel with the intention of creating the fifth installment of his World Stage series, The World Stage: Israel. On March 9, 2012, the show will make its New York debut at the Jewish Museum, running through July 29, 2012. World Stage: Israel features 14 of Wiley’s signature larger- than- life portraits, accompanied by 11 hand-selected papercuts and textiles from the Museum’s private collection, that serve as both historically and culturally referential to Wiley portraits. Rounding out the exhibition is a short film, directed by Dwayne Rodgers (see video below), chronicling Wiley’s process and introducing the mostly brown and black men (primarily self-identified Ethiopian-Israelis) featured in Wiley’s paintings and currently residing in Israel.

Kehinde Wiley Israel Jewish Museum

Throughout the exhibition, Kehinde Wiley’s paintings, both ornate and ambivalent, carry the burden of context straight out of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Lod, onto the walls of the Jewish Museum. His clear intent to contribute to discourses of displacement and marginality is showcased in fair breadth. Topics of globalization and hybridity are underscored by the contrast of the sheer scale of the portraits to their simultaneous envelopment by the abounding backgrounds. Nonetheless, that was just how the works spoke to us… what say it to you?

Kehinde Wiley Israel Jewish Museum

The show is Wiley just being Wiley and is sure to be just as impactful as most of his work to date.  Go check it out. The museum is free to the public every Saturday from 11am -5:45pm. Be sure to also check out Kehinde Wiley’s site where there is a solid selection of paintings from all five of the ‘World Stage’ (China, India/Sri Lanka, Nigeria, Brazil and Israel) collections to date.

NYC: Kalkidan + DJ Spooky At The Jewish Museum

Kalkidan Mashashall Kehinde Wiley artwork

Ethiopian-Israeli hip-hop artist Kalkidan Mashasha and DJ Spooky that Subliminal Kid will perform at The Jewish Museum on March 8 @8pm as part of their new after-hours events called The Wind Up. The show is in conjunction with the new exhibition, Kehinde Wiley The World Stage: Israel. Mashasha is a subject of one of Kehinde’s paintings in the exhibition (above). Partygoers will also be able to preview the exhibition, which opens to the public on March 9. Go here for more information. Go here to purchase tickets ($12 in advance; $15 day of event).

Philly: FELA! Opens at the Kimmel Center — Grab Discount Tickets!

Official flyer for FELA! the musical, opening in Philadelphia at The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts
As seen at our Okayplayer main channel, FELA! the musical hits Philly soon:

The award-winning Broadway musical devoted to the life of “Africa’s first rock-star” Fela Anikulapo KutiFELA! is coming to Philly. The Philadelphia run–March 20th through the 25th at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts–represents an odd kind of homecoming for the Afrobeat musical, since it was producers (and Philly natives) Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson and Will “Fresh Prince” Smith who in many ways made its original Broadway run possible.

In case you don’t know what I am talking about, here’s what they said about the musical: “An Ecstatic Phenomenon!” which “Radiates Joy!” And here’s what they said about the man: “He was Afrobeat, he lived Afrobeat and he definitely smoked Afrobeat.” Find full details after the jump and smoke it for yourself.

UPDATE: As a nod to our Okayplayer familia and head honcho Questlove, the people at FELA! are giving Philly audiences a $20 discount if you use promo code “QUEST” when buying tickets online. Grab yours now!

FELA!

In association with The Shubert Organization

Academy of Music

260 S. Broad St., Philadelphia, PA

Box Office: 215.893.1999
Tuesday, March 20 – Sunday, March 25

Dates & Times:
Tuesday, March 20 7:30pm
Wednesday, March 21 7:30pm
Thursday, March 22 7:30pm
Friday, March 23 8pm
Saturday, March 24 2pm
Saturday, March 24 8pm
Sunday, March 25 1pm
Sunday, March 25 6:30pm

Purchase tickets via The Kimmel Center

 

NY: Nomsa Mazwai Live at Drom

Nomsa Mazwai is a 2011 South African Music Award winner (Best Adult Alternative African Music) and Fulbright scholar that plays experimental neo-soul tunes. The Johannesburg transplant will be playing at Drom (85 Ave. A, down the stairs) in NY’s Alphabet City this Friday, and we’ve got the hook up for 2 pairs of free tickets to the show. Stream Nomsa’s previously featured Nomisupasta LP and enter our contest below!

ENTER TO WIN TICKETS TO NOMSA MAZWAI LIVE AT DROM


Win An Invite To The Okayplayer Holiday Jam w/ The Roots

Our 5th Annual Okayplayer Holiday Jam is coming up quick! If you wanna join us and throw down with The Roots and a slew of special guests (trust, you do), we’ll be giving away 50 guest spots, each with a +1, to the party. Complimentary brews from Heineken from 7-8 PM! All’s you gotta do is head here and sign up for the Okayplayer/Okayafrica newsletter — if you already receive our newsletter, just enter your info again (we’ll never spam). Get to it and make sure you’ll be in the New York area Dec. 15!

ENTER TO WIN AN INVITE TO THE 5TH ANNUAL OKAYPLAYER HOLIDAY JAM WITH THE ROOTS

 

NYC: DJ/Rupture Morrocan Radio Show + ‘Transes’ Screening Tonight

What: DJ/Rupture will be showing a selection of his favorite Moroccan music videos, cell phone footage and music on a special live broadcast of his Mudd Up! WFMU radio show. Afterwards, there will be a screening of director Ahmed El Maanoun’s Transes (1981), a documentary which follows Morocco’s maghrebi pioneers, and the country’s most important band to this day, Nass El Ghiwane [stream the group's "Fine Radi Bida Khouya" above].

Where/When: Spectacle Theater, 124 South 3rd St [and Bedford], Brooklyn, NY. All details below!

NYC: Nettle Record Release Party w/ Lamin Fofana

What: DJ/Rupture‘s group Nettle will be performing live in celebration of the release of El Resplandor: The Shining In Dubai — a cello, violin, guembri, guitar, and voice concept album remake of Stanley Kubrick’s famed film (this time set in a luxury hotel in Dubai, U.A.E.). Lamin Fofana will also be spinning.

When/Where: Saturday, December 3rd @ Vaudeville Park in Brooklyn (L to Graham). “Mint tea, dates, and homemade deliciousness will be served.” All details, plus a video of the group performing live with Imanaren below.