LAO DAN is a classically trained Chinese flutist at Shenyang Conservatory of Music (SYCM), Lao Dan sticks to his own vision of and approach to the bamboo flute and its sounds. His playing continues to push the limits of artistic expression on this instrument, exploring the possibilities of free, energetic, and nonconformist ways of sound-making confined by neither Jazz nor traditional Chinese musical conventions. His improvisation often brings to the audience an overwhelming sonic experience in which the East and the West, the ancient and the modern clash dramatically on each other. Bandcamp
JOHN MCCOWEN‘s musical life has become an obsession with discovering a polyphonic language on a historically monophonic instrument – the clarinet. This has led him to a unique acoustic vocabulary that is akin to a shifting soundscape of electronic feedback. John’s multi-phonic approach is based in drones, difference tones, and beating harmonics as a means to showcase the compositional potential within a single, acoustic sound source. His work has been described by The New Yorker as “the sonic equivalent of microscopic life viewed on a slide” and by The Wire as “an astonishing demonstration of pure sound & human will.”
CHARMAINE LEE is a New York-based vocalist. Her music is predominantly improvised, and favors a uniquely personal approach to vocal expressed concerned with spontanaeity, playfulness, and risk-taking. Beyond extended vocal technique, Charmaine uses amplification, feedback, and microphones to augment and distort the voice.
Judy Dunaway (Boston, MA)
“…is primarily known for her numerous works for latex balloons as sound producers, including sculptural sonic performances, sound installations, interactive pieces and acousmatic works. She has presented these works at premier venues, festivals, museums and galleries throughout North America and Europe.” Balloon Music Manifesto
Devin Gray
Devin Gray’s fresh approach to modern drumming has enabled him to play with many of the world’s great jazz musicians. He is interested in a multitude of musical directions and prioritizes sincerity.
Percussionist, drummer and composer Carlo Costa was born and grew up in Rome, Italy. Since 2005 he has been based in New York City. In the past several years he has been making music which is largely improvised and experimental in nature. Through the use of a variety of unusual techniques and added objects Carlo has meticulously developed a distinctive and wide-ranging sonic palette.
Zosha Warpeha is a composer-performer working in a meditative space at the intersection of contemporary improvisation and folk traditions. She performs primarily on Hardanger d’amore, a sympathetic-stringed instrument closely related to the Norwegian Hardanger fiddle, as well as five-string violin. Zosha’s long-form compositions explore transformations of time and tonality.
TILGHMAN GOLDSBOROUGH
Tilghman Alexander Goldsboroughl (b. Richmond, VA, USA, 1991). Poet. His work has appeared in The Mall, the Leveler, and Nomaterialism (vol II). Forthcoming work includes The Western with 1080 press and object 7 ( ,a subject loosely, ,bunded in a frame, ) with Futurepoem. He lives in Brooklyn, NY.
MORE EAZE
more eaze is the project of composer/multi-instrumentalist mari maurice. her work touches upon myriad genres and often explores themes of gender, intimacy, identity, perception, and the mundane. resident advisor categorizes maurice’s work as “accomplished ambient pop” and the quietus has said that her work “unearths a raw poignancy in what can often be a coldly academic field.”
7:30pm doors 8pm music, full dinner menu available, seating is first come first-served
Brooklyn Maqam presents New York Oud Festival Day 1
The New York Oud Festival is a multi-day, multi-venue music festival that displays the oud and its versatility as it exists in New York’s diverse musical culture.
performing live in the back room
Brandon Terzic has performed with everyone from rising Sudanese pop Diva Alsarah to master composer Henry Threadgill. Drawing on his blues guitar roots, he absorbed the wellspring of Malian griot and Moroccan Gnawa traditions, as well as the downtown NYC improv aesthetic, and forged it into the sonic calligraphy of the Arabic Oud. Alongside cellist Rufus Cappadocia and percussionist Matt Kilmer, Brandon leads the transcendental Trio Xalam.
Adam Good is a Brooklyn-based multi-instrumentalist and composer working with contemporary modal music in the traditional styles of Turkey, Greece and Eastern Europe. His musicianship on guitar, Turkish ud, tanbur, and knowledge of Turkish makam has made Adam a fixture of the Balkan and Middle Eastern music scenes in the US and abroad. He plays with the ensembles Dolunay (Turkish music), Brenna MacCrimmon, Greek Judas (heavy metal Greek rebetika), Pontic Firebird (Greek Pontic), and with clarinet master Souren Baronian’s ensemble Taksim.
Brooklyn Maqam is a volunteer-run 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in January 2018. Its mission is: to foster community engagement with maqam-based music; presenting & promoting music from Middle Eastern (especially Arabic) musical traditions; preservation of the art form through education & mentorship; and providing performance opportunities for both established masters & emerging talents.
Full dinner menu available, seating is first-come first-served
performing live in the back room
GEORGE CROTTY TRIO
George Crotty has forged his own unique vocabulary on the cello. Expanding outward from the cello’s intrinsic lyricism, his sound introduces plaintive Irish ornamentation, melismatic gestures of Indian classical music, adapted electric guitar manoeuvres, and the bold articulation of jazz bass. He writes and performs for solo cello and small ensembles, and collaborates on film scores, original recordings, and theatrical productions. A member of the Brooklyn Raga Massive, and Detroit-based National Arab Orchestra, he has also worked with Bob Ezrin, Simon Shaheen, Paquito D’Rivera, Anat Cohen, and Darol Anger.
COMPASS TRIO
Compass is a trio that brings an original compositional voice to the three musicians’ collective experience and expertise – Indian raga and tala, the art of flamenco, jazz harmony, and deep groove. The rhythmic form of North Indian music known as theka is a uniquely sophisticated container for exploring time and polyrhythm. Separated by hundreds of years and countless migrations of the Gitano diaspora throughout present day Middle East and Europe we find the same concepts in new forms through the Spanish compas. This musical connection through history and culture is referenced in the name Compass; both a tool to find one’s way home as well as that which structures time in music, another form of finding “home”. Compass Trio is comprised of guitar and effects (James Labrosse), tabla (Tripp Dudley), and sitar (Galen Passen)
Brooklyn Raga Massive is an adventurous nonprofit musicians’ collective that creates cross-cultural understanding through the lens of South Asian classical music by providing direct support to artists, fostering collaboration through our iconic concerts and jam sessions, facilitating cultural exchange through educational initiatives, and producing transcendent, and often massive, performances, festivals, and one-of-a-kind albums. BRM’s original ensembles have performed across the country at venues such as Lincoln Center, Fotografiska NY, Yerba Buena Gardens Festival, Pioneer Works, The Rubin Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Kennedy Center, and more. Through the curation of our signature series, festivals, and educational programs, we have brought raga into conversation with musical traditions coming from Iraq, Cuba, Morocco, Japan and more.This practice of cross-cultural collaboration both reflects the current global landscape and enables BRM to serve as an incubator of expansive, innovative, new genres of music indigenous to Brooklyn.
7pm doors 8pm music, full dinner menu available, table seating first-come first-served
improvisational painting in dialogue with improvisational music
Watercolour Society is a community art project that includes freeform drawing meetups, pop-up exhibitions, and an ethos of skill-sharing. The project brings people together in the spirit of making—born out of friends getting together to draw.
Full dinner menu available; seating is first come, first served
HEAVY FLORALS is a series that creates space for a community of POC musicians & their allies to exhale, curated by Shara Lunon
performing live in the back room
ALIYA & JAVEN
Aliya Ultan (she/her/hers) is a cellist, singer, and composer-improviser from Brooklyn based in New York. Growing up in a car with her mother and sister, Aliya’s music channels the energies one might associate with escape via catharsis or witchcraft. Throughout her time in NYC, Aliya has become deeply involved in the experimental music scene as both a performer and facilitator of creative happenings. The Wham Jam series in Redhook is one of her ongoing projects as well as an upcoming rooftop series starting May. With a passion for collaboration Aliya plays in three bands; GNR8RZ with Simon Hanes, Calvin Weston, and Anthony Coleman, Wicked Bush with Matt Bent and Kevin Eichenberger, and SEVEN which she co-leads with violist-singer songwriter Javen Lara. Aliya also performs on Broadway in Hadestown and with Yoshiko Chuma’s School or Hard Knocks. Come this Fall, Aliya will be releasing multiple records including a debut album with SEVEN produced by Randall Dunn, GNR8RZ produced by Marc Urselli, and a live album of her most recent solo tour across the States. For information about upcoming events and releases please follow @nocturnal_cellist on IG.
Javen Lara (she/her/hers), also known as Jae, is from Harlem, New York City. She attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School as an instrumental major. Jae has performed at Lincoln Center, Madison Square Garden, Carnegie Hall and more. Graduating from Bard College and Conservatory, Jae was one of two of the first African-American graduates of the Conservatory. Upon her return to New York City, she started “Javen’s House Concert Series: Through the Seasons”, where she hosted a fusion of classical chamber music favorites, improvisations, and original songs. Emma Kato, Christina Jones, Alyssa Yuge, Dharshan Chandrakumar. Gigi Hseuh, Alissa Mori, and Alec Manasse were collaborators playing works by Shostakovich, Tchiakovsky, Mozart. The improvisations were created by Jae and eclectic violinist, Scott Li. And original songs with her Manhattan-based band, The Slippers. Dharshan and Jae also started an improvisatory viola duet, using electronics and voice to expand the capabilities of their instruments. Lastly, Jae is the violist as well as co-lead vocalist with cellist/vocalist/one of Jae’s greatest inspirations, Aliya Ultan, in the Brooklyn based band, SEVEN. They have performed at Public Records, Chaos Computer, and look forward to collaborating with Pioneer works as well as more renowned venues around New York City. This Autumn, the band will be releasing their debut album, produced by Randall Dunn, through Applehead Studios in Woodstock and Circular Ruin Studios in Brooklyn. @sexistential_crisis and @seventimesinfinity on IG
BongoWattZ
Shamar Watt is an experimental multidisciplinary artist born in Kingston, Jamaica, raised in Miami, and based in Miami and New York City. He has worked as a multidisciplinary performer with Nora Chipaumire since 2015. He was nominated as one of the top 25 performers/choreographers to watch for 2019 Dance Magazine. Watt was the recipient of the prestigious Bessie Award for Outstanding Performance 2019. Watt collaborated and worked alongside Matthew Barney in ‘SECONDARY’ premiered in 2023. Watt challenges the way we perceive form through sound and the Body. He interrogates the forms of spiritual entertainment. Watt is currently pursuing an MFA at NYU Tisch in interdisciplinary research.
100% of event profits will be send to Operation Olive
Branch which directly supports families in Gaza
Theory of Change (TOC) is committed to community building through the creation of monthly sound room and music share events. TOC’s priority is to redistribute all event profits directly to local mutual aids and organizations, turning the joy of music into a powerful force for positive change.
Come hang out with us for an unforgettable night of music, great vibes, and a chance to support a meaningful cause through mobilizing funds! 100% of event profits will be redistributed to Operation Olive Branch – which directly supports families in Gaza!
in the booth all night
DEFI
You can catch DEFI (aka Lani) spinning lots of R&B, funk, UKG, some jersey club, house and much much more!
NISHÉVITHA
Nishévitha enjoys playing a melange of house, footwork, juke, hip-hop, Arabic, Afro-Portuguese, and South Asian, and more specifically South, and North Indian music. She likes to include special nods to the South Indian classical and film music that she grew up listening to.
DJ MOONSHINE
My name’s DJ Moonshine. I love spinning music that keeps you boppin your head, including afrobeats, House, R&B, and Bollywood!
CHARBABY
Hi I’m charbaby! I mainly play future beats, edits, rnb, hip hop, amapiano, and house. Excited to vibe with y’all
Multi-instrumentalist Sami Abu Shumays returns to Sisters to perform the music of Umm Kulthum. For this special performance, Sami puts down his violin to sing several classic, full-length compositions that were written for and made famous by the one and only Umm Kulthum.
Featuring: Sami Abu Shumays, vocals Insia Malek, violin Sarah Mueller, violin Gideon Forbes, nay Gabriel Lavin, oud Johnny Farraj, riqq Alber Baseel, tabla
About Sami Abu Shumays: One of the leading Arab violinists in the U.S., Sami Abu Shumays is internationally known as a master of the maqam system. He is co-author of the acclaimed book Inside Arabic Music (Oxford University Press 2019), He has a passion for Maqam – teaching; oral tradition – that include a YouTube series “Maqam Lessons,” and his contributions to Maqam World. Co-founder and director of the NYC-based Arabic music and dance ensemble Zikrayat, Sami has also recently released his first solo album Circles.
A second-generation Palestinian-American, Sami originally studied Western music before traveling to the Arab World to reconnect with his roots. He studied with Alfred Gamil in Cairo; Mohamed Qasas, Abdel-Basit Bakkar, and Abdel-Minaim Senkary in Aleppo; and Simon Shaheen and Yusuf Kassab in New York.
Stick around for the Arabic music jam after the set!
