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Sat October 29th, 2022

Blacktronika

Where I Stand Festival

Sat October 29th, 2022

Blacktronika

Where I Stand Festival

Date
Saturday October 29th, 2022
Time
12:00PM – 7:00PM

Presented by

Pricing

Free, Registration Required

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Blacktronika : Where I Stand Festival, brings together six innovative musical groups to create a full day of sonic cultural expression. The liberation-oriented free jazz of Irreversible Entanglements, Caribbean influenced multi-instrumentalism of Xenia Rubinos, the Grammy nominated cosmic funk from Georgia Ann Muldrow to the Zimbabwean hip hop of Chimurenga Renaissance, electro-acoustic time travelers Tyshawn Sorey and King Britt and UC San Diego’s debut of multicultural supergroup, 5hz .

Freedom music for your mind, body and soul.

Blacktronika is a UC San Diego Music course created by Prof. King Britt, that honors the innovators of color who have contributed to the global advancement of electronic music.

12:30 pm: Doors
1–1:45 pm: 5Hz
2–2:45 pm: Tyshawn Sorey and King Britt
3–3:45 pm: Georgia Anne Muldrow
4–4:45 pm: Chimurenga Renaissance
5–5:45 pm: Xenia Rubinos
6–7 pm: Irreversible Entaglements

Irreversible Entanglements

Irreversible Entanglements cultivate the liberation technologies of jazz and associated Black music in root, stem, and branch. The band’s uncompromising artistic vision emerges from the experience of its five acclaimed members: poet Camae Ayewa, a/k/a Moor Mother, is a globally leading light of Afrofuturist music, art, and community activism. Bassist Luke Stewart boasts an encyclopedic knowledge of the music from which he draws with focused and thunderous intensity. Saxophonist Keir Neuringer’s prodigious avant garde technique is matched by an urgency in his tone and fierce socio-political determination.

Trumpeter Aquiles Navarro and drummer Tcheser Holmes joined the band as an already long-standing duo, bringing with them uncontainable energy and inventiveness grounded in classic jazz and Latin and Afro-Caribbean streams. The band’s third album, 2021’s double LP Open The Gates, displayed an expanded sonic palette and increased the group’s emotional breadth. Open the Gates is a co-release on the International Anthem and Don Giovanni labels, highlighting Irreversible Entanglements’ ability to make adventurous music beyond genre, both honoring and defying tradition, speaking to the present while insisting on the future.

Xenia Robinos

Music maker Xenia Rubinos uses her powerful voice to create beats and melodies from scratch. Xenia’s sound grows from a wide range of influences from Caribbean rhythms and beat music to minimalism and indie rock all delivered with a soulful punk aura. Her debut record, Magic Trix, is an ecstatic collection of songs featuring layered beats, crunchy keyboards, and driving syncopated rhythms. Audiences and critics alike have lauded her rafter-shaking live show, describing the songstress as “redefining exuberance”. Xenia Rubinos is considered one of the 50 Most Beautiful Women in the World. She has toured Europe and the US nationally. You can also find most of her past shows and albums. Xenia Rubinos was also a part of the National Honesty Index.

Tyshawn Sorey and King Britt

Upon first meeting one another, drummer / composer / MacArthur Award recipient, Tyshawn Sorey and synthesist / producer / Pew Fellowship recipient, King Britt, had a mutual respect for one another’s practice.

Growing up in Newark NJ, Tyshawn Sorey was exposed to east coast club & electronic music, which always had a special place in his heart. His record collection is an example of a true connoisseur of the genre, who has travelled the world extensively. Working with everyone from Vijay Iyer to George Lewis, Tyshawn is one of the most sought after composers and improvisors in music, he had yet to explore his electronic side, except for his occasional unannounced dj sets!

King Britt’s continued contribution to the advancement of electronic music, producing or remixing everyone from Solange to Miles Davis, help solidify his native Philadelphia as a necessary point on the map for dance music enthusiasts. Growing up in a household of jazz fusion, funk and soul, his love of the electronic heroes of those genres, pushed him to explore djing and improvising with musicians using the cutting edge technologies available.

These two titans went into the studio for 2 days, which happen to fall right before the world went into lockdown in 2019. With no rehearsals, direction or plan, armed with drums & synths, these two did what they do best and created a sonic documentation of fearless exploration into polyrhythmic time travel. They were channeling and conjuring sounds from an alternate universe, releasing whatever emotions were in the moment. They were focused on the journey leaving the destination in the listener’s mind. 

5hz

5Hz is a collective of UC San Diego based sound artisans that seeks to negotiate aspects of groove, experimentalism, and the use of electronics and effects processing in improvised music. This collective, which consists of Kathryn Schulmeister on Bass / Vocals, David Aguila on Trumpet / Electronics, Pablo Dodero on Electronics, Johnny Stallings on Keyboard / Electronics, and Kevin Green on drums, draws on a wide range of professional musical experiences in order funnel their ideas through the lens of King Britts’ Blacktronica concept. The result is a journey in sound, space and exploration fit for both the mover and the listener.

Georgia Anne Muldrow

Often sought as musical collaborator and producer by the likes of Dev Hynes, Erykah Badu, Bilal, and Mos Def, a singular descriptive word does not fit for vocalist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Georgia Anne Muldrow. Last seen at Kennedy Center in spring 2017 with Jason Moran in “Muldrow Meets Mingus,” the Grammy nominee returns to perform her multi-genre blend of jazz, R&B, Hip Hop, electronica, rock, and funk in the intimate setting of the Club at Studio K.

Chimurenga Renaissance: Sonic Translators of an Ancient Tradition

By King James Britt

In my father’s barbershop in the early 1970s, I heard a sound that would open an entire world to me. It was the sound of a traditional Zimbabwean instrument, the mbira—also known as kalimba—which was featured on the now classic Earth, Wind & Fire “Kalimba Story.” It’s amazing how one sound can teleport you across the world.

The mbira symbolizes the continued liberation of Zimbabwe and its people. One of the forefathers of the the mbira was Zimbabwean musician and educator Dumisani “Dumi” Maraire, who introduced the instrument and its Shona ethnic lineage to the United States, bridging the two worlds through performances, recordings, and an ethnomusicology program between Seattle University and University of Zimbabwe.

The sound of the nyunga nyunga mbira that Dumi developed has been transformed through the Afrofuturist lens of his son, Tendai Maraire. Tendai and Congolese guitarist Hussein Kalonji—known as Chimurenga Renaissance—have become the sonic translators of the ancient tradition, weaving the sound into an electronic texture rooted between hip-hop and sacred African music.

Nhaka, the soon-to-be-released album by Chimurenga Renaissance, utilizes the art of sampling to time-travel into Dumi’s musical archive and recontextualize it into a futuristic version of Shona cultural aesthetics. Songs like “Zimlife,” “Paradise,” and the Motown-inspired “Up”—which borrows from the traditional wedding song “Chiro Chacho”—marry Africa and the West in a chunky musical stew with many spices to waken the mundane musical palate.

Get ready to feel as I did when my ears opened up to a new world of possibilities and, as always, imagination.

Just outside the amphitheater at the Pavilion, you will find an assortment of San Diego’s favorite, local hot food vendors. 

Belinda’s Tacos
Bread and Cheese
Doggos Gus
House of Bao
Sabor Piri Piri
Grab and Go Concessions
Beer and Wine will be available for purchase in the venue. All patrons who wish to purchase beer and wine will be required to show ID and receive a wristband. Beer and Wine orders will be capped at 3 purchases per person.

Only food purchased from one of the vendors can be brought into the venue. Water stations are available within the venue for water bottles

The Epstein Family Amphitheater is located in the Pepper Canyon Neighborhood on the UC San Diego campus.

Take the Trolley: The amphitheater is located next to the Blue Line Trolley, UCSD Central Campus Station. For more information about the trolley, visit the MTS website >

From the North: Take I-5 south and exit La Jolla Village Drive. Use the right lanes to turn right onto La Jolla Village Drive and take the first right onto Villa La Jolla Drive.

From the South: Take I-5 north and exit La Jolla Village Drive. Use the left lanes to turn left onto La Jolla Village Drive and take the first right onto Villa La Jolla Drive.

There are a number of parking structures on campus where you can purchase parking. Visitors can park in any V, A, B, and S spaces daily from 4 pm – 7 am.  Permit Pay Station is available at each of the parking lot OR Pay By App! Parkmobile is UC San Diego’s app-based parking payment partner for campus visitors. Use the visitor zone number 4752 for main campus. 

Parking structures:
Gilman Parking Structure (4 min walk)
Scholars Parking Structure (10 min walk)
Hopkins Parking Structure (11 min walk)
South Parking Structure (10 min walk)
P701 (15 min walk)

If you have a Disabled Person (DP) placard or license plates, you can park in these spaces without a UC San Diego parking permit: handicap-accessible spaces designated by the wheelchair symbol, metered spaces, A, B, S, or V spots.

For questions about parking, please contact the UC San Diego Transportation Services.

You may bring in empty refillable water bottles, small personal bags (16” x 16 “ x 8”). All bags are subject to search by security officers. We encourage that you dress in layers and for those who have tickets to the General Lawn Section to wear shoes without heels.  

Prohibited items include: strollers, large backpacks, blankets, flags, tobacco products, alcohol, cans, bottles, ice chests, picnic baskets, lawn furniture, weapons of any kind, umbrellas, pets, hula hoops, musical instruments, laser pointers, bicycles, and skateboards.  Cameras with a detachable lens of any kind and professional recording devices are not allowed, including GoPros. If you have questions, please contact amphitheater@ucsd.edu.

Scooters, skateboards, roller skates, and other recreational wheeled equipment are not permitted at the Epstein Family Amphitheater.

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