Kaufman Music Center announced it is hosting the 25th annual New York Guitar Festival – held at KMC’s esteemed venue, Merkin Hall, from June 14-15th, 2024. The festival is co-presented by Kaufman Music Center, World Music Institute, New York Guitar Festival, and New Sounds Live.
Exploring virtually every aspect of the guitar’s personality since 1999, the New York Guitar Festival has presented many of the world’s most influential guitarists at iconic NYC venues large and small. From multi-GRAMMY-winners to emerging artists, the performers include masters of the classical repertoire, blues, jazz, pop, indie, folk, and Americana.
The Kaufman Music Center (KMC) presents music programs for students, performers, and audiences alike with its intimate performance space Merkin Hall and the Special Music School – among other things. It is the premier destination for learning and listening to music in New York City. The center is constantly cultivating and nurturing new generations of artists, inspiring the young and old to learn instruments and turn their passion for music into a career.
Merkin Hall – the Center’s intimate performance venue – provides access to today’s most compelling artists, competitions, and workshops. Other programs, like Artist-in-Residence, give performers resources to develop groundbreaking protects and educational opportunities to mentor and inspire the Special Music School students; New York’s only K-12 public school prioritizing musically-focused education without financial barriers.
The festival, hosted by WNYC’s John Schaefer, includes a wide range of performances across the two days from artists like Marc Ribot & Leyla McCalla, Yasmin Williams, Neel Murgai, Kunal Prakash, Medicine Singers, Lee Ranaldo, Yonatan Gat, Maalem Hassan BenJaafar, Mamady Kouyaté and additional special guests.
Friday, June 14 Programming
The New York Guitar Festival’s 25th Anniversary begins with a typically eclectic event. The unlikely duo of Marc Ribot, the New York guitarist, and Leyla McCalla, the New Orleans cellist and banjo player perform starting at 8 p.m. Ribot is known for his work with Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, his avant-noise trio Ceramic Dog, and much more; McCalla writes songs that draw on the African-American string band tradition, Cajun music, and her Haitian heritage. Ribot was also a student of the Haitian classical guitarist/composer Frantz Casseus, and the two share a strong genre-agnostic streak.
Joining them is Yasmin Williams, who has extended the “tapping” technique when she approaches the guitar -occasionally adding tap shoes and kalimba to the sound and becoming a literal one-woman band. Also performing is sitarist Neel Murgai, co-director of the globally-inspired Brooklyn Raga Massive – accompanied by Jeff The Brotherhood guitarist Kunal Prakash.
Saturday, June 15 Programming
Medicine Singers is the name of an ongoing collaboration between Yonatan Gat, the virtuosic Israeli-born, New York-based guitarist, and the Eastern Medicine Singers – an Eastern Algonquin powwow group from Rhode Island. Now joined by the legendary Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth, they combine ancient trance and spirituality with modern psychedelia and use the similarities – and differences – between the steady pulse of Indigenous American drumming and rock.
Maalem Hassan BenJaafar is the lead singer and Artistic Director of Innov Gnawa – teaching the other members of the band while performing across the world. In November 2017, Maalem Hassan and Innov Gnawa were nominated for a GRAMMY in the Dance/Electronic category. Finally, The Mandingo Ambassadors was founded in New York City by griot-guitarist Mamady Kouyaté, an enriched arranger, band leader, accompanist, and soloist, in 2005. Since 2008 the group has been in residence at Barbes, performing every Wednesday night. In addition, they have performed at many clubs, events, and festivals including Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Celebrate Brooklyn, and the International Festival of Arts and Ideas.
Tickets are on sale now.
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