BAM, Luaka Bop, and Red Bull Music Academy present the US premiere of ATOMIC BOMB! The Music of William Onyeabor, a live celebration of the legendary Nigerian synth-funk artist

Two-night-only (May 2 & 3) event features a supergroup of musicians including David Byrne, Alexis Taylor (Hot Chip), and Devonté Hynes (Blood Orange)

ATOMIC BOMB! The Music of William Onyeabor David Byrne Sinkane Money Mark (Beastie Boys) Pat Mahoney (LCD Soundsystem) Alexis Taylor (Hot Chip) Devonté Hynes (Blood Orange) Luke Jenner (The Rapture) The Lijadu Sisters Joshua Redman More to be announced

BAM Howard Gilman Opera House (30 Lafayette Ave) May 2 & 3 at 8pm Tickets: $35, 45, 55, 65 (on sale Mar 17 for Friends of BAM and Mar 24 to the general public)

Brooklyn, NY/UPDATED April 16, 2014—Mysterious synth-funk pioneer William Onyeabor self-released eight nearly impossible-to-find albums between 1978 and 1985 in south-eastern Nigeria before disappearing from the music scene. Last year, after a five year odyssey to track down Onyeabor and secure his permission to release his music, the Luaka Bop label released World Psychedelic Classics 5: Who is William Onyeabor? The album introduced Onyeabor’s music to a wider audience and was named one of Time magazine’s top 10 albums of the year and Pitchfork’s Best Reissue of the Year 2013. This spring, Alldayeveryday, in association with Luaka Bop, premiered the Onyeabor documentary Fantastic Man, directed by Jake Sumner.

As evidenced by the diverse lineup of tremendously talented musicians set to celebrate Onyeabor on the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House stage May 2 & 3—under the musical direction of Ahmed Gallab (Sinkane) and Money Mark (Beastie Boys)—the elusive artist continues to exert a remarkable and wide-ranging influence. ATOMIC BOMB! The Music of William Onyeabor marks the first chance to hear this legendary artist’s music catalog performed live in the United States, and is a highlight of a month-long, citywide music festival from Red Bull Music Academy. Following the BAM engagement, ATOMIC BOMB! (featuring the same lineup, with the exception of Luke Jenner and Devonté Hynes and the addition of Bloc Party’s Kele Okereke) will travel to The Warfield in San Francisco (May 6) and The Greek Theatre in Los Angeles (May 8). About William Onyeabor Even after the release of Who Is William Onyeabor?, the artist’s life story remains a mystery—and he seems content, perhaps even determined, to keep it that way. Various biographies can be found online. Some say he studied cinematography in the Soviet Union and returned to Nigeria in the mid- 70s to start his own film company, Wilfilms. Some say he was a lawyer with a degree from a university in Great Britain. Others portray him as a businessman who for years worked on government contracts in Enugu, Nigeria. By attempting to ask Onyeabor himself, and by speaking with various others, Luaka Bop tried for 18 months to construct an accurate biography in time for their October 2013 album release—without success. The recently released short documentary Fantastic Man—filmed in New York, London and Nigeria—illuminates the Onyeabor myth via interviews with Western and African artists, record collectors, industry, radio deejays and Luaka Bop’s Yale Evelev and Eric Welles Nystrom. It is available for live streaming at Fantastic Man.

For press information, including press tickets, regarding the BAM engagement, please contact Adriana Leshko at [email protected] or 718.724.8021

For Luaka Bop press information, please contact Blake Zidell (Blake Zidell & Associates) at [email protected] or 718.643.9052.

Credits Bloomberg is the BAM 2014 Winter/Spring Season sponsor.

Viacom is the BAM 2014 Music Sponsor.

Programming in the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House is supported and endowed by The Howard Gilman Foundation.

BAM 2014 Winter/Spring Season supporters: Bank of America; Brooklyn Community Foundation; Con Edison; The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation; Aashish & Dinyar Devitre; The Irene Diamond Fund; Ford Foundation; The Howard Gilman Foundation; Frederick Iseman; Suzie & Bruce Kovner; Leon Levy Foundation; Toby Devan Lewis; McKinsey & Company, Inc.; The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; Mikhail Prokhorov Fund; Stavros Niarchos Foundation; The Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation; Martha A. & Robert S. Rubin; The Fan Fox & Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Inc.; The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation; The SHS Foundation; The Shubert Foundation, Inc.; The Skirball Foundation; Robert L. Turner; Time Warner Inc.; Viacom; The Wall Street Journal; The Winston Foundation, Inc.

In The Raw is the Zero Calorie Sweetener of BAM. Pepsi is the official beverage of BAM. Yamaha is the official piano for BAM.

Your tax dollars make BAM programs possible through funding from the City of New York Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York State Council on the Arts. The BAM facilities are owned by the City of New York and benefit from public funds provided through the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs with support from Mayor Bill De Blasio; the New York City Council including Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, Finance Committee Chair Julissa Ferreras , Cultural Affairs Committee Chair Jimmy Van Bramer, the Brooklyn Delegation of the Council, and Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo; and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams. BAM would like to thank the Brooklyn Delegations of the New York State Assembly, Joseph R. Lentol, Delegation Leader; and New York Senate, Senator Velmanette Montgomery, Delegation Leader.

General Information BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, BAM Rose Cinemas, and BAMcafé are located in the Peter Jay Sharp building at 30 Lafayette Avenue (between St Felix Street and Ashland Place) in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn. BAM Harvey Theater is located two blocks from the main building at 651 Fulton Street (between Ashland and Rockwell Places). Both locations house Greenlight Bookstore at BAM kiosks. BAM Fisher, located at 321 Ashland Place, is the newest addition to the BAM campus and houses the Judith and Alan Fishman Space and Rita K. Hillman Studio. BAM Rose Cinemas is Brooklyn’s only movie house dedicated to first-run independent and foreign film and repertory programming. BAMcafé, operated by Great Performances, offers a bar menu and dinner entrées prior to BAM Howard Gilman Opera House evening performances. BAMcafé also features an eclectic mix of spoken word and live music for BAMcafé Live on Friday and Saturday nights with a drink and small plate menu available starting at 6pm.

Subway: 2, 3, 4, 5, Q, B to Atlantic Avenue – Barclays Center (2, 3, 4, 5 to Nevins St for Harvey Theater) D, N, R to Pacific Street; G to Fulton Street; C to Lafayette Avenue Train: Long Island Railroad to Atlantic Terminal – Barclays Center Bus: B25, B26, B41, B45, B52, B63, B67 all stop within three blocks of BAM Car: Commercial parking lots are located adjacent to BAM

For ticket information, call BAM Ticket Services at 718.636.4100, or visit BAM.org.

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