THE SWAY MACHINERY: Shows

Sunday, September 5th, 2010

Brigantine Room

The Sway Machinery makes its Canadian debut! See the Ashkenaz website for details!
www.ashkenazfestival.com

Wednesday, September 8th, 2010

City Winery

Hidden Melodies Revealed: A Secret Celebration of Rosh HaShana.

Presented by City Winery and Tablet Magazine.

The Sway Machinery will bring Hidden Melodies Revealed back to New York City after a triumphant 2009 run on the West Coast. This multi-media concert/event celebrates the Jewish New Year and the power of the Cantorial music tradition in a presentation that is part ritual, part rock concert. In a one night only production at the prestigious downtown venue City Winery, Hidden Melodies Revealed will unleash an all-out party that is both joyful and transformative and will include storytelling, animated film, and a hint of mass hysteria.

The Sway Machinery's unique musical vision recontextualizes Ashkenazic Jewish spiritual music in the broader spectrum of the world of music, finding inspiration for new versions of Cantorial classics in African popular music and the blues. The band's powerhouse line-up of New York City greats (featuring members of Balkan Beat Box and Antibalas) brings pure fire to the stage.

For this year's presentation of the concert/event, The Sway Machinery will draw upon its recent experiences in Mali, Africa, where the band spent a month performing and recording with local musicians. On this Rosh HaShana, the group will be joined by Khaira Arby, the "Nightingale of Timbuktu,” one of the leading female vocalists in the contemporary Malian music world. Khaira's ethereal vocal style will bring a new and unexpected perspective on the spiritual experience of the Cantorial canon The Sway Machinery draws from. Her participation in Hidden Melodies Revealed is an exciting new development of this ongoing project.

Last year, The Sway Machinery premiered Hidden Melodies Revealed in Los Angeles and San Francisco to standing room only crowds. The event premiered in 2007 at the Angel Orensanz Foundation, taking a packed house of New Yorkers by storm with its powerful blend of tradition and visceral performance. The event will feature Guggenheim fellow Shawn Atkin's film The Akeidah, which was commissioned especially for these events. The film takes a unique look at the story of the binding of Isaac, one of the traditional Scriptural readings for the New Year.

Thursday, September 23rd, 2010

The Cedar

Global Roots Festival 2010 celebrates the awesome power of collaboration. The Sway Machinery is a New York quintet formed in 2008 by prominent underground musicians from Balkan Beat Box, Arcade Fire, Antibalas and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. The source of their inspiration is Jewish liturgical music, which they fuse with blues, rock and West African grooves. In January they travelled to Mali to play at Festival in the Desert and ended up recording with a number of Tuareg musicians including singer Khaira Arby. Arby and her band will open the show before she joins The Sway Machinery for their set.

Friday, September 24th, 2010

Memorial Union

The Sway Machinery headlines a bill of world music luminaries including our friends from Brooklyn (and Haiti) Djarara!

Saturday, September 25th, 2010

Details to be announced!