Can't wait for this night of music from Taktouka band! Bringing Arab folk music together with electronics and western jazz instruments for a unique a modern sound born in NYC.
Taktouka Band
7pm Wednesday September 13th, 2023
Barbes - 376 9th St, Brooklyn, NY 11215
$20 cover
Taktouka Band brings Arab folk music together with electronics and western jazz instruments, creating a mix of old and new sounds and themes. The different legacies of trip-hop, hip hop, and Arabic music enrich and transform each other, bridging cultures, genres, ideas, and communities.
Featuring:
Alia Haju: vocals
Bashar Farran: bass
Daro Behroozi: woodwinds
Rema Hasumi: synth
Jesse Chevan: drums
Taktouka Band's message: Other people's music gives us new ways to understand the world, and to understand ourselves. We learn about how people deal with struggles, with displacement; about how we find meaning; about finding purpose and freedom. This music album illuminates the Arab cascade of catastrophes via old songs and tales: people seeking refuge in other countries, the recent revolutions. What does a refugee need from a country to lead a fulfilling life? How do we grapple with living in two worlds?
The work redefines old Arab folk songs to both extend their cultural reach and to establish new and different interpretations. It is critical for us to carry this cultural music with us from the Arab world to New York, and to reinterpret it in ways that reflect our lives and the lives of those around us. We transformed Arabic folk with new ways of singing and performing; by challenging some misogynistic lyrics; and by bringing them to new audiences: to make them speak for women’s rights and to the lived experience of an oppressed people.