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Brooklyn Peter Jay Sharp Building CommunicationsDepartment Academy 30 Lafayette Avenue Sandy Sawotka of Brooklyn NY 11217-1486 Fatima Kafele Music Telephone: 718.636 .4129 Lucy Walters Fax: 718 .857 .2021 Tamara McCaw Christina Norris [email protected] News Release BAM presents Red Hot+ RIOT LIVE! The Music and Spirit of F ela Kuti featuring an all-star line-up including Amadou & Mariam, Cheikh Lo, dead prez, Keziah Jones, Les Nubians, Meshell Ndegeocello, and Yerba Buena-Dec 1 & Dec 2 Additional events include screenings of the documentary Fela! Fresh from Africa and performances in BAMcafe BAM 2006 Next Wave Festival is sponsored by Altria Group, Inc. Red Hot+ RIOT LIVE! Music director Andres Levin Video design by Jan Hartley Visual curator Trevor Schoonmaker Lighting design by Roma Flowers Produced by Yale Evelev & Paul Heck BAM Howard Gilman Opera House (30 Lafayette A venue) Dec 1 (World AIDS Day) & Dec2 at 7:30pm Tickets: $25, 40, 55, 65 Felal Fresh from Africa Dec 1 at 4:30, 6:50, 9: 15pm BAM Rose Cinemas (30 Lafayette A venue) Tickets: $10 per screening ,·.t\ Brooklyn, NY/October 9, 2006---As part of the 2006 Next Wave Festival, BAM presents Red '. Hot + RIOT LIVE! The Music and Spirit of Fe/a Kuti, a two-night, all-star tribute celebrating the music of the late Afrobeat king, Nigerian musician Fela Kuti. The concerts, opening on World l AIDS Day (Dec 1), will replicate the critically acclaimed CD Red Hot+ RIOT, which was released in 2002 to support the AIDS awareness efforts of The Red Hot Organization. BAM2006 NextWave Festival more. .. OCT 3-DEC 16 Sponsored by Altria Group, Inc. Red Hot+ RIOT Live! 2 Red Hot + RIOT LIVE! The Music and Spirit of Fela Kuti will take place in the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House (30 Lafayette Ave .) on Dec 1 & Dec 2 at 7:30pm . Tickets priced at $25, 40, 55, and 65, may be purchasedby callingBAM Ticket Services at 718.636.4100or by visitingwww .BAM.org. Under the musical direction of Andres Levin , Pela ' s music will be reinterpreted by internationally renowned musicians Amadon & Mariam , Cheikh Lo, dead prez , Keziah Jones , Les Nubians , Meshell Ndegeocello , and Yerba Buena . Supporting musicians include Stuart Matthewman (of Sade), John Medeski backing Yerba Buena , and others to be announced. A portion of proceeds from the concerts at BAM will benefit African Services Committee, a community-based organization dedicated to impro ving the health and self-sufficiency of New · York City 's African and Caribbean immigrant communities through the provision of lilV / AIDS care and support services. About Fela Anikulapo Kuti Fela Kuti was born on October 15, 1938 in Abeokuta, Nigeria . His mother was a feminist active in the anti colonial movement and his father was the first president of the Nigerian Union of Teachers. In 1958, he was sent to London by his parents who agreed to support him while he studied to become a doctor . However , within weeks of his arrival he enrolled at Trinity College of Music , where he studied piano and created the group Koola Lobitos. By 1961, he was a regular fixture on the London club scene, calling the music he played Afrobeat , a fusion of James Brown-style funk and West African rhythms. His outspoken lyrics often addressed Nigerian politics and the colonial mentality he found prevalent in Africa. He was arrested more than 200 times , in the process becoming a living symbol of the right of African people to be free of foreign influences and local corruption. A prolific musician , Kuti recorded more than 40 albums including Shakara , Zombie , Coffin for Head of State, and Army Arrangement with his band Afrika 70 (renamed Egypt 80 in 1979). He died of complications due to AIDS on August 2, 1997 . About the artists West African husband and wife duo Amadou & Mariam have moved beyond the categorization of world music artists and have emerged as genuine pop stars. To date , the CD Dimanche a Bamako (2005) has sold over 500,000 copies worldwide. In the beginning of their musical careers the two traveled from Mali to Cote d'Iv oire , where they recorded a series of cassette-only releases for the Nigerian producer Aliyu Maikano Adamu . These early releases, which have recently been re-mastered and re-released, helped make the duo a household name in West Africa and ultimately caught the ear of French producers. After relocating to Paris , Amadon & Mariam released Sou Ni Tile (1999) , Tje Ni Mousso (2000) , and Wati (2003). Their trademark style is a blend of soulful and bluesy Malian sounds tweaked with hints of French folk, Cuban son, reggae , and hip-hop. Chiekh Lowas born in 1955 to Senegalese parents in the small town of Bobo Dioulasso in Burkina Faso . From an early age Chiekh Lo was interested only in music , running away from school to teach himself drums and guitar on borrowed instruments. Chiekh 's first offering was the cassette Doxandeme (Immigrants) in 1990; his second release , Ne La Thiass (1997), was released internationally on World Circuit Records. He then released Bamabay Gueej (2000), and most recently Lamp Fall (2006), a deeply spiritual CD incorporating Brazilian rhythms, Senagalese grooves, and a sense of warmth and fun that is distinctly Cheikh Lo. In the tradition of Public Enemy, KRS-One , and X-Clan , dead prez represents the culturally aware rap artist , speaking out against racism and social injustice. First introduced on Loud Records '97 mixed tape , "Food, Clothes and Shelter" duo M-1 and stic.man have since released Let's Get Free (2000)-which features the critically acclaimed single "Hip-Hop"-Turn off the Radio: The Mixtape Vol. (2002) , Turn off the Radio: The Mixtape Vol. 2: Get Free or Die Trying (2003), and Revolutionary but Gangsta (2004). dead prez was most recently featured in the film Dave Chappelle's Block Party. more. .. Red Hot + RIOT Live! 3 Nigerian singer/guitarist Keziah Jones describes his musical style as "blufunk:" which is a fusion between raw blues elements and hard, edgy funk. The son of a Y oruban chief and a successful industrialist, Keziah spent the majority of his younger years in the city of Lagos, followed by schooling in London. Going against his father's wishes and family tradition he began to teach himself how to play and write songs. Famous for his live shows and his guitar playing, Jones gained a following in the clubs and cafes in London's Covent Garden and Portobello Road districts, rising to fame with his debut album Blufunk Is A Fact (1992). His subsequent albums include African Space Craft (1995), Liquid Sunshine (1999), and Black Orpheus (2003). Hailing from Cameroon and Bordeaux, France, Les Nubians call their music "Afropean." The duo blends American soul, African rhythms, and a European smoothness to present thoroughly modem music that has its own imprint. The music of the two sisters (Helene and Celia Faussart) has been likened to the funk of Erykah Badu and the rhymes of MC Solaar. They burst onto the scene in 1999 with their debut album Princesses Nubiennes and the international hit single "Makeda," and have since released One Step Forward (2003) and Chapter One-Nubian Voyager (2005). Born in Germany and raised in Washington, DC, singer, songwriter, and bass player Meshell Ndegeocello (her surname is Swahili for "free as a bird") blurs musical genres with her sophisticated mix of sweet, raucous, and deeply personal rock, jazz, funk, and soul. Her first album, Plantation Lullabies, debuted in 1994 to critical acclaim and earned her three Grammy Award nominations. With Plantation Lullabies and her subsequent release Peace Beyond Passion (1996), Ndegeocello presented brutally honest and piercing lyrics concerning race, religion, and sexuality, prompting the Los Angeles Times to note, "she aspires to embrace the essence of what it's like to live as a target, to be forced to battle for self-respect and individuality." Her latest CD is Dance of the Infidel (2005). This genre-defying artist cites musicians such as Joan Armatrading, Richie Havens, Jimi Hendrix, Joni Mitchell, and Prince as influences. The brainchild of acclaimed producer Andres Levin, New York's Latin-funk collective Yerba Buena came together as an outgrowth of Levin's extensive discography, including work as principal producer of Red Hot+ Riot. The group's super-infectious live-band party feel totally changed everyone's idea of new Latin groove with a mind-bendingly original, Afro-Cuban/Afrobeat/hip-hop attack. The collective's CD includes its Grammy-nominated debut album Planet Alien (2003), and the critically acclaimed Island Life (2005). Core band members include Andres Levin (guitar, electronics), CuCu Diamantes (vocals), Xiomara Laugart (vocals), Pedro Martinez (percussion, vocals), El Chino (vocals), Terreon Gully (drums), and Skoots Warner (drums). About the film Friday, Dec 1 at 4:30, 6:50, 9:15pm Fela! Fresh from Africa Nigeria/USA (2006), 90min Fela! Fresh from Africa guides viewers through Fela Kuti's triumphant return to New York City in 1986 following his release from prison in Nigeria. Returning to New York after 17 years, Fela prepares to participate in Amnesty Intemational's concert of hope and an anti-apartheid rally. The documentary includes interviews with Pela, footage of his homecoming to New York, and concert footage from Giant stadium. General admission tickets to BAM Rose Cinemas are $10. Tickets are $7 for students 25 and under (with valid I.D. Monday-Thursday, except holidays), seniors, children under twelve, and BAM Cinema Club members. Tickets are available at the BAM Rose Cinemas box office, by phone at 718.777.FILM (order by "name of movie" option), or online at www.BAM.org.