Long-running polyglot label Luaka Bop will curate two weeks of performances at John Zorn's nonprofit improvisational space The Stone, starting on Dec. 15.
The artists and label heads at Luaka Bop would rather you do something unsavory to their elderly relatives than allow Luaka to be referred to as "world music," so let's just say that Bop was formed by renaissance man/Talking Head David Byrne in 1988 to focus on pop music from whatever culture caught his interest.
That spirit is the same as it ever was, and current general manager Mat Hall and self-proclaimed "Deputy Chairman of the Board/Governor/Benefits Manager" Yale Evelev have scheduled a dynamic line-up that includes Boppers Delicate Steve, The Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt! and Javelin, and guest appearances from label friends-slash-musicians from Yeasayer, Gang Gang Dance and Future Islands.
"This series was not really meant to comment on Luaka Bop or even really to reflect what Luaka Bop is now or has been, but of course in some tangential way it does do that to some extent," says Evelev. "We as a label have always been about pop music. Not necessarily popular pop music but music meant to be entertaining and working within pop song structures. Sometimes this music was in languages other then English, sometimes it was from countries other then the U.S. or U.K., but always the goal was to be entertaining even if sometimes it was also challenging."
The full schedule is below and as ever, and you can read Hall and and Evelev thoughts on the line-up here. Unless otherwise noted, all shows are at 8 and 10 p.m. As ever with The Stone, no advance tickets will be available, so show up early.
"Almost all the musicians in this presentation are pop musicians. In other words they play in rock bands or make electronic music in clubs. At times people dance to their music or stand and drink and listen. There are some exceptions of course, the filmmaker Mike Anderson and of course the Javanese gamelan," Evelev says. "However as this is The Stone everyone has been asked to leave their comfort zone to some extent and collaborate with people they might just know socially or to try something a bit different then what they might normally do In most cases we have no idea what the outcome will be."
Thursday, Dec. 15
Gamelan Kusuma Laras Invocation and Metal Tongues
Friday, Dec. 16
Gamelan Kusuma Laras Invocation and Moss of Aura
Saturday, Dec. 17
Gamelan Kusuma Laras Invocation and Kelly Pratt and friends
Sunday, Dec. 18
Gamelan Kusuma Laras Invocation and Lucky Dragons
Tuesday, Dec. 20
George of Langford of Javelin and Anand Wilder of Yeasayer
Wednesday, Dec. 21
The Michael Graves Anderson Cinema
Thursday, Dec. 22
Sleepy Doug Shaw
Friday, Dec. 23
Luaka Bop Presents Dublab Presents
Roberto Carlos Lange, The Present
Tuesday, Dec. 27
Steve Marion 3 Live Crew
Wednesday, Dec. 28
The Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt
Thursday, Dec. 29
Janka Nabay and the Bubu Gang
