Yacine Boularès' A Night in Tunisia

13 Front Street,Frenchtown NJ 08825

15 October, 2022

Description

ArtYard and the Frenchtown Bookshop are excited to announce that “A Night in Tunisia,” a rare collaboration of Tunisia’s best-known musicians led by Yacine Boularès, will appear in concert on Saturday, October 15, 2022 at ArtYard’s McDonnell Theater. “A Night in Tunisia” is a musical journey from the shores of Carthage to the port of New Orleans, by way of West Africa where the rhythms of African-American jazz were born. In this new creation, French-Tunisian composer and saxophonist Yacine Boularès brings together a supergroup of Tunisian artists across indigenous and contemporary musical styles for an energetic and celebratory exploration of the continuum of North African and African American music. “A Night in Tunisia” takes its name from the Dizzy Gillespie standard, “Night in Tunisia.” That song, however, is not based on Tunisian musical styles. For that reason, the Tunis Opera commissioned saxophonist/composer Yacine Boularès to create this new project: An evening re-imaging the Dizzy Gillespie song using the harmonies and melodies of jazz, soul, and funk meeting the pulse and soul of Tunisian rhythms. The evening is a poetic odyssey that celebrates life and the incandescent fury to dance, vibrate, and live to the rhythm of the music. At the forefront of the stage, singer Nessrine Jabeur shares the mic and her poetry with rapper Mehdi WMD, joined by traditional Tunisian percussion, drums, bass, piano/keyboard, guitar, and loutar, with band leader Yacine Boularès on saxophones. Masks are required for this performance. About Yacine Boularès Hailed by Radio France Internationale as “a Tunisian man in N.Y., one of the most talented jazzmen of his generation,” Yacine Boularès is a saxophonist, composer and curator. After graduating from the Paris National Conservatory, he moved to New York on a Fulbright scholarship to attend the New School for Jazz. He has toured with with Fela Kuti's drummer Jojo Kuo and Haitian Kompa legends Tabou Combo. He created the band AJOYO, a brew of African tradition, jazz and soul, which released albums in 2015 and 2020. With the cellist Vincent Segal and drummer Nasheet Waits, he explored the Tunisian Stambeli repertoire as the trio Abu Sadiya, whose 2017 album was hailed by Le Monde as “a glittering instrumental suite, all fluidity and golden colors.” Their US tours included Lincoln Center and the Jazz Gallery in NYC. In 2019, Yacine is selected by Joe’s Pub in New York to develop Ifriqiya, a multimedia performance exploring the Afro Arabic rhythmic traditions through film and composition. This residency led to his creation of the Habibi Festival in New York, the first US music festival dedicated to contemporary Arabic cultures. In 2020, he co-founded Rise up Brooklyn, a live streaming festival showcasing artists whose work is a catalyst for social change. “...The fusion of influences is so perfect that I'm still wondering how it is possible to blend such different genres without loosing their essence..." Alexandre Lemaire Djam La Revue (France)About Night in TunisiaNight In Tunisia is a musical journey that leads from the shores of Carthage to the port of New Orleans via West Africa where the rhythms of African-American jazz were born. In this new creation, French-Tunisian composer and saxophonist Yacine Boulares brings together a supergroup of Tunisian artists across indigenous and contemporary musical styles for an energetic and celebratory exploration of the continuum of North African and African American music. The creation is a re-imagination of the famous Dizzy Gillespie standard, Night in Tunisia, where Boulares invites us to go to the other side of the mirror towards an imaginary musical tale. In this tale, Dizzy would really have spent a night in Tunisia and would have been deeply imbued with its sounds and rhythms. In this project, “Night in Tunisia” is reunited with its native tongue and rhythms - the harmonies and melodies of Jazz, Soul and Funk music meet the rhythms of Mezwed, Stambeli, Chaabi, and Fazzani. Night in Tunisia is a poetic odyssey that celebrates life, the incandescent fury to dance, vibrate, and live to the rhythm of the music. At the forefront of the stage singer Nessrine Jabeur shares the mic and her poetry with rapper Mehdi WMD who are joined by traditional Tunisian percussion, drums, bass, piano/keyboard, guitar, and loutar, and band leader Yacine Boulares on saxophones. "Boulares’ music exudes sophistication, yet responds to a primordial pulse.” James Nadal All About Jazz “His art both appeases and elevates us.” Fara C. L'Humanité (France)Concerts at ArtYardThe concert is part of the opening season of programming at the McDonnell Theater, the heart of ArtYard’s new building at 13 Front St., a welcoming communal resource and vessel channeling the power of art to unsettle, engage, bridge divides, and spark moments of arresting beauty. The 162-seat theater has state-of-the-art projection, lighting, and surround sound and will be the site of music, film screenings, dance, theatre, artist talks, and more. Music at ArtYard is curated by Scott Sheldon, co-owner of the Frenchtown Bookshop and the former presenter of The Sanctuary Concerts in Chatham. Over 15 years, Scott presented more than 300 concerts, including Judy Collins, Suzanne Vega, Marc Cohn, Rosanne Cash, Jimmy Webb, the Roches, Janis Ian, Josh Ritter, and Nick Lowe. The bluegrass/Americana band Nefesh Mountain is among the other upcoming performers set to take the McDonnell stage as part of the partnership. For more information and tickets, please visit www.artyard.org.