New Directions in Folk– Music in Collaboration Workshop
With Laki Bali
Greek Traditions In Modern Music
Friday, March 22nd, 2024- 6:30-8:30
Livingston Student Center – Collaborative Learning Center-
84 Joyce Kilmer Ave, Piscataway, New Jersey
Laki Bali’s workshop invites aspiring or current musicians to hear how collaboration can often be a tedious and strenuous venture, but a sense of direction and purpose can lead to the best that music can offer.
About the collaborator:
Laki Bali is a band formed and grown amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Their formation was specifically made for the New Jersey Folk Festival in 2021, despite the interruption of the pandemic on the event. Their musical stylings aim to bring a new twist to traditional Greek work. The four musicians came together just as the world began to close itself off, looking to be a united force in creating music for an increasingly isolated world. Without the ability to meet in person, the group had to learn each other’s mannerisms and presentation preferences within the online communication barriers. Each of their songs has a story associated with its creation, with the songs falling into a timeline structure placing each song chronologically according to the story’s occurrence in a mostly instrumental fashion. Their formation and success continue to be a lesson in perseverance in how music is more than just a finished product, but rather the work of cooperation off the stage in production through writing, practicing and perfecting performance
John Georges – Bouzouki
Nate Curtis – Trumpet, flugelhorn, didgeridoo
John Galitsis – Tupan
Tom Galitsis – Bass
With Medukha
Across Tongues: An Audio-Visual Inquiry Into Third Culture Confusion
Friday February 9th, 2024
Livingston Student Center – Collaborative Learning Center-
84 Joyce Kilmer Ave, Piscataway, New Jersey
In this multimedia workshop by Medukha with VJ Fuzzy Bastard, video artist Daniel Mckleinfeld collaborates with Asia Mieleszko and Max Temnogorod in a semi-improvised live scoring performance, reworking the films of Ukrainian-Armenian director Sergei Parajanov into a new narrative of language acquisition, immigration, and fractured identity.
About the collaborator:
Medukha steeps age-old village melodies in contemporary psych-rock soundscapes. Having sprouted in 2020 with a live-streamed performance for Razom for Ukraine, medukha has gone on to play festivals, basements, and living rooms across the North East. The arrangements, originally consisting of acoustic guitar accompaniments to existing folk songs, have expanded to include synth-and-guitar-led rock instrumentation. While continuing to experiment and evolve, medukha also leads workshops in the traditions of Eastern European vocal polyphony.
