{"id":18567,"date":"2019-01-08T16:40:32","date_gmt":"2019-01-08T16:40:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/2019\/01\/08\/no-translations-needed-at-globalfest-2019\/"},"modified":"2019-01-08T16:40:32","modified_gmt":"2019-01-08T16:40:32","slug":"no-translations-needed-at-globalfest-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/no-translations-needed-at-globalfest-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"No Translations Needed At globalFEST 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Anastasia Tsioulcas<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

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\n Clockwise from upper left: Orquesta Akok\u00e1n, Dakh Daughters, Combo Chimbita, Debashish Bhattacharya, Gato Preto<\/p>\n

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Bob Boilen\/for NPR Music<\/p>\n

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Bob Boilen\/for NPR Music<\/p>\n

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Amidst the constant drumbeat of 2019’s political talk, of raising walls and shutting out opposition \u2014 this year’s globalFEST artists and organizers articulated a very clear vision, one that makes room for bracingly new voices. The one-night festival of global music, held each January in Manhattan, featured a remarkable lineup of musicians from around the world, including India, Cuba, Ukraine, Mozambique, and even New York City itself. Now in its sixteenth year, globalFEST was founded in a post-Sept. 11 era when foreign musicians often struggled<\/a> to tour the U.S., due to what organizers perceived as a time of increasing xenophobia. But securing visas in difficult times is one of the things that makes globalFEST a special event \u2014 the overtly political, Jordanian Palestinian band 47Soul, <\/strong>who performed at this year’s festival,<\/strong> was a shining example of that. They, along with the other artists who performed at Sunday night’s event seemed to find meaning and inspiration in connections to the past while clearly \u2014 and very pointedly \u2014 pushing ahead.<\/p>\n

Three strikingly different acts invited to this year’s globalFEST, which was held this year at the Copacabana nightclub in Midtown, celebrated their respective “futurist” visions. Combo Chimbita, a quartet of first-generation New Yorkers who layer the sounds of Colombia amidst a haze of glittering costumes and roaring vocals, call their style “tropical futurism.” Jeremy Dutcher<\/a>, the Polaris Prize-winning singer, composer and musicologist from Canada, who draws upon his First Nation heritage, talks about infusing his music with the philosophy of “indigenous futurism.” And Gato Preto, a sleek German-based duo who mix a panoply of African styles \u2014 from Mozambique, Angola, Ghana, Senegal and beyond atop four-on-the-floor beats \u2014 call their music “Afrofuturist global bass.” Clearly, the future is now.<\/p>\n