A Musical Chain Letter Travels Back and Forth across the Atlantic and Lands at the Main Library, Roanoke , VA
DJs and turntablists on both sides of the Atlantic speak the same musical language�hip-hop�but in different dialects. The Black Atlantic Project is an innovative, transatlantic artistic exchange that explores black music across two continents and brings the UK and the US closer together through shared musical and cultural experience.
The Black Atlantic Project, presented by Roanoke Public Libraries - as part of the ongoing EMERGING ARTISTS series - and the British Council USA, is an innovative, collaborative sonic art project that explores black culture and music across two continents. Through a one-of-a-kind transatlantic musical dialogue, musicians and producers in the United States and Britain took turns interpreting and remixing an original composition, passing the results from artist to artist like a hip-hop chain letter. Each artist�s mix and the final track, infused with beats from both sides of the Atlantic, will be presented as a music installation at Main Library, Roanoke.
�The Black Atlantic Project is concerned with communication through music and a chance for a group of eclectic producers to work together on a common musical theme,� says Charlie Dark, the London-based sound artist, DJ, and writer who curated the project and composed the initial track, Naima�s Theme, for his newborn daughter. �It�s supposed to inspire and provoke conversations ... I don�t think that music exists without the social consequences and influences.�
Dark sent Naima�s Theme, along with a personal �audio letter,� to Djinji Brown, a musician and DJ based in Miami, for remixing and reinterpretation. In an inspired game of sonic �telephone,� Brown passed his new piece and a new audio letter to vocalist Netsayi in Bristol. The ever-changing track then made its way to DJ King Britt in Philadelphia, musician Martin Iveson (also known as Atjazz) in Derby, American producer and MC Mike Ladd, and innovative Brit-hop and soul producer Tony Campbell (also known as Dobie) in London, before returning to Dark for a final remix.
Through the evolution of The Black Atlantic Project, a simple composition honoring a child's birth became a commentary on cultural links across the Atlantic. The project pays homage to Dr. Paul Gilroy�s book The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double-Consciousness, which theorizes that the black experience can be traced back to the shared history of the slave trade, transcending geography, nationality, culture, and gender. By exploring artistic innovation and exchange through a conversation between communities on both sides of the Atlantic, The Black Atlantic Project highlights contemporary music�s role in deeper conversations about identity and the fertile shared heritages of British and American ideas of �blackness.� And although hip-hop was born in the Bronx, it has a global presence that makes it the perfect medium for an artistic discussion of �black Atlantic� culture.
�I don�t think you realize the power of hip-hop until you travel out of America,� says Dark. �It�s � a huge global force.�
The Black Atlantic Project will be open to the public Saturday, August 4, 4-6 p.m. for an opening reception, including music from Martinsville�s DJ KDUB, and light refreshments by Tastes so Good.
Roanoke Main Library
706 S. Jefferson St, Roanoke
Event is free. Everyone is welcome.
(540) 853-1057