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Media contact: Karla at (305) 672-5202 or [email protected] FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Beirut Headlines the 14thTransAtlantic Festival Friday and Saturday, April 8 and 9th, 6pm North Beach Bandshell, 7275 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach 33141 Info: TransAtlanticFestival.com or 305-672-5202 Produced by The Rhythm Foundation Weekend Pass - $50 Miami Beach, FL – January 2016. The TransAtlantic Festival will be re-imagined for its 14th edition, at the North Beach Bandshell April 8- 9, 2016. Headline artists Beirut will set the stage for the long-running music series that brings modern world music to the Bandshell. New this year, the festival celebrates the special alchemy of North Beach and the historic Bandshell that has been the festival’s home since year one. The festival expands this year to spaces surrounding the Bandshell, thanks to a grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to festival producers the Rhythm Foundation. This ambitious programming cements the Rhythm Foundation’s new role as managers of the facility. Some activations will include performances in adjacent Bandshell Park, a visual arts takeover of the LED marquee, video screenings on the North Beach trolley, a sunset raga on the Beatles Mandala, and after parties at neighboring bars and clubs. “Knight Foundation funds artistic endeavors that inform, engage and reflect the rich cultural diversity of our city. The Rhythm Foundation has been at the forefront of bringing world music to Miami since its founding. By expanding the festival into the surrounding North Beach neighborhood, organizers will help bring the excitement of live performance into and experience to an expanded audience,” said Victoria Rogers, vice president for arts at Knight Foundation. Friday April 8th: Alt-folk group Beirut (Florida Debut) Opening sets by Mexican funk septet Troker and Haitian indie-rockers Kazoots Saturday April 9th: Afro-electrobeat group EMEFE, Miami’s beloved boogie funk band Psychic Mirrors and chanteuse Chantil Dukart. Additional artists will be announced soon. Both nights will feature visual arts and performances in the public spaces around the Bandshell, enticing food and craft vendors, and rocking after-show parties. 1 Meet the 2016 TransAtlantans: BEIRUT Beirut, formed in 2006, is an American folk pop band fronted by founder and brainchild Zach Condon. Opting out of high school, Condon traveled through Europe at 16, immersing himself in Balkan folk and Gypsy music. Back home in Albuquerque, Condon crossed paths with fellow New Mexican Jeremy Barnes, formerly of Neutral Milk Hotel. Condon recorded the songs that would make up Gulag Orkestar largely on his own, playing accordion, keyboards, saxophone, clarinet, mandolin, ukulele, horns, glockenspiel, and percussion along with Barnes' drums and Trost's cello and violin. An immediate sensation with next-generation folk-loving indie music fans, Beirut has gone one to release several CDs, accompanied by sold-out tour dates worldwide. When Beirut perform live, their line up consists of Condon on trumpet, flugelhorn and ukelele, and members rounding out the band with accordion, cello, drums, melodica, electric bass, double bass, trombone, sousaphone and glockenspiel. The group’s most recent album, No No No, was released on 4AD in September of 2015. This is their Florida debut concert. http://beirutband.com EMEFE EMEFE has been making people dance uncontrollably since 2010, when the eight-member collective started as a horn driven, instrumental project with heavy afrobeat, funk and jazz influences. Frontman Miles Arntzen (a member of Antibalas) has evolved the group into a more experimental hybrid that opens the project up to exciting collaborations. EMEFE’s beats have been compared to a cross between Fela Kuti and Prince, with vocals reminiscent of the Talking Heads’ candor and the Beach Boys’ lush pop sensibility. The NYC-based group is visiting Miami Beach as part of a tour that kicks off at SXSW. http://www.emefemusic.com TROKER If Salvador Dali ever made a heist movie, then Mexico’s Troker would provide the perfect soundtrack. The six-piece group arose in the frenetic grooves and playful jam sessions of the growing jazz scene of Guadalajara. Their music is a blend of frenetic of the composed and the improvised, where metal riffage merges with powerhouse funk drumming and DJ scratching, and horn lines pull from jazz and the mariachi tradition of the band’s homeland. Troker shined particularly bright in 2014, becoming the first band to play two consecutive years, at the West Holts Stage at the legendary Glastonbury Festival in England. In 2014, they were both SXSW and WOMEX official showcasing artists. They are now touring internationally, as well as developing their own silent film project,The Grey Automobile. http://troker.com.mx PSYCHIC MIRRORS Miami boogie supergroup Psychic Mirrors employs a mountain of synths, keyboards and drum machines in addition to the traditional bass, guitar and vocals set-up. At the center of the group is the one of a kind Mickey de Grand IV, whose love of low-slung boogie and synth-fun was on show at the 2015 edition of the Academy in Tokyo and the Red Bull stage at SONAR in 2 Barcelona. While the adjectives irreverent, imaginative and psychedelic all apply here, the best description of their sound is by the band itself: “On some next level.” http://www.cosmicchronic.com KAZOOTS Indie-Haitian group Kazoots is led by Inez Barlatier, in partnership with Jayan Bertrand. The lifelong friends grew up with Miami’s iconic Haitian voudou music group in the 1980s, led by both of their fathers. Kazoots fuses the two young musicians’ love of indie rock and folk music with the Caribbean roots music of their upbringing. Jayan’s playing style ranges from psychedelic-blues to soukous. His parts weave over and under the roots rhythms, complimented by Inez’s amazing voice – often described as a mix of Tracey Chapman, Joan Armatrading and Adele. http://kazoots.bandcamp.com CHANTIL DUKART Chantil is a young singer who moved to Miami from Alaska, to pursue a music degree at the Frost School of Music at University of Miami. She has been writing music since she was 7 years old, and as her playing morphed through classical music, jazz, and popular music, so did her writing. Presently, her band CHANTIL AND THE DUKES OF ART plays a mix of funk, jazz, mo-town, and r&b. http://www.chantilmusic.com TransAtlantic is produced by The Rhythm Foundation and receives support major support from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. Additional support is received from Atlantic Broadband, the City of Miami Beach Cultural Arts Council, the Miami Dade Department of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Department of State Division of Cultural Affairs. ABOUT THE RHYTHM FOUNDATION The Rhythm Foundation, a Miami Beach-based non-profit cultural organization, is a leading presenter of world music in the US. It was founded in 1988 with the goal of increasing international awareness through live music - concerts, events and festivals by established and innovative artists from around the world. Special focus is given to those cultures connecting to South Florida audiences – music from Brazil, Latin America, Africa, the Caribbean, Asia and Europe. The range of programs covers music at the heart of global culture today to the traditional music of the world. In 2015 the City of Miami Beach awarded management of the North Beach Bandshell to the Rhythm Foundation, who are now creating exciting year-round programming at this architectural gem. http://RhythmFoundation.com Media contact: Karla Arguello at 305-672-5202 or [email protected] 3 .