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SAI Music & Movement Series: Faraway Ghost x Sunken Cages w/ Amirah Sackett
Iranian multi-instrumentalist Kamyar Arsani (aka Faraway Ghost) and Indian-born drummer/electronic music producer Ravish Momin (aka Sunken Cages) create their own brand of digital folk music that draws on Sufi mysticism, traditional Persian music and poetry, street rhythms from Mumbai and contemporary electronic music all at once. Momin accompanies Arsani’s vocals and daf (frame-drum) with a masterful blend of electronic and acoustic percussion, including live-looping via his unique drum-loop performance system. The ensemble's international tour coincides with a new release on the global-music label from France, Akuphone Records. For their Chicago engagement and rounding out the SAI "Music and Movement" series, the duo will be joined by Muslim-American dancer Amirah Sackett with choreographed movements, drawing inspiration from HipHop and Middle-Eastern dance styles. As Muslim-American composers, dancers and performers are largely under-represented in experimental/global music in the US, we look forward to time for a ‘Meet the Composer’ Q/A session with the artists and audience for some community engagement following the performance.
Faraway Ghost x Sunken Cages with Amirah Sackett Bios:
Kamyar Arsani, aka Faraway Ghost, is an Iranian multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter and poet based in Washington DC. Through his solo work and numerous collaborations, Arsani creates music across an array of styles, ranging from classical Persian music to genre-defying electronic experimentation. A teacher, performer and scholar of the daf (the Iranian frame drum). Arsani has been a featured artist at the Kennedy Center, the Library of Congress, Voice of America, Georgetown University and numerous other stages throughout the region. "Along with his solo work and collaborations, Arsani is also the singer and lyricist of Shadow Riot, a Washington D.C punk band.”
Sunken Cages is the moniker of drummer/electronic music producer Ravish Momin, who studied with US Jazz master-drummer Andrew Cyrille. He has worked as a sideman with a wide array of musicians including US avant-Jazz legend Kalaparush Maurice McIntyre (AACM/Chicago.) In addition, he has also led his own Jazz/global group Tarana on international stages for the past 14 years. Under his Sunken Cages moniker, Momin plays electronic and acoustic drums. He layers loops while manipulating them in real-time to blur the lines between composition and improvisation. While rooted in Indian and Black Music traditions, he is also influenced by the street sounds of underground dance music from Sao Paulo to Durban to Mumbai and beyond.
An internationally recognized hip-hop dancer, choreographer, and teacher, Amirah Sackett explores and embodies her Muslim American identity through combining hip-hop movement and Islamic themes. She is widely known for her creation of the choreography and performance group known as, “We’re Muslim, Don’t Panic”, which reached viral video fame after being featured on POPSUGAR Celebrity, The Huffington Post, AJ+, and Upworthy. Sackett was honored to be a TEDx speaker, guest lecturer at Harvard University, and a cultural diplomat with the U.S. State Department in Bangladesh and Malaysia.
Event Links
Tickets: https://go.evvnt.com/2724825-0
Website: https://go.evvnt.com/2724825-2
