Crossings is an ongoing project exploring connections between traditional African music and 20th-21st century African and Western piano repertoire, featuring collaborations between a diverse array of artists, concerts, lectures and commissions. The project launched on May 25, ‘23 at Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, NY with kora master Malang Jobarteh, with performances of traditional and new West African works for kora alongside piano pieces by John Cage, Nkeiru Okoye, Philip Glass, Joshua Uzoigwe and Fred Onovwerosuoke, and the world premiere of “Passage” for kora and piano by Jobarteh and Randall. The Crossings launch concert was supported by New Music USA’s ‘22-’23 Creator Fund.

Project Launch Concert:
Crossings: Malang Jobarteh, kora and Chelsea Randall, piano
Thursday, May 25, 7pm 2023
Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, 58 7th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11217

Program

Opening remarks

-Salieu Suso

Traditional West African music and original compositions for kora

-Malang Jobarteh, kora

Intermission

Metamorphosis Nos. I, 5 -Philip Glass

Twenty-Four Studies in African Rhythms, Nos. 1, 6, 5, 12 -Fred Onovwerosuoke

Metamorphosis I -John Cage

Ukom, from Talking Drums -Joshua Uzoigwe

Dusk -Nkeiru Okoye

-Chelsea Randall, piano

Passage -Malang Jobarteh and Chelsea Randall

-Jobarteh and Randall

About The Artists

Hailing from a distinguished lineage of Gambia kora players, Malang Jobarteh carries on the tradition as a prolific kora performer and educator based in New York City. He has presented concerts at the Center for African Studies at Rutgers University, Wave Hill, Basilica Hudson, Longwood Arts Gallery, Northside Music Festival, Bronx Heritage Center, and many more. Jobarteh is a recording artist and has been featured on albums with Boubacar Diebate, Bela Fleck and Dialy Kounda, among others, and was awarded an Arts Fund grant from Bronx Council for the Arts. Jobarteh also serves in many cultural functions. As a Djeli he is personally responsible for maintaining an oral history of many generations before him, and he is called upon in countless social settings to bring people together, sometimes to resolve disputes, and other times to help leaders of the noble class make important decisions. His role is a complex one with many layers, with no direct parallel in American society.

Pianist Chelsea Randall is a multifaceted artist who seeks to create dialogues between the old, new and undiscovered as a performer and collaborator. Highlights of Chelsea's 2022-2023 Season include the launch of American Mavericks, a performance and commissioning project dedicated to modern Black American composers, an accompanying US tour, lecture/recitals at Universities including Howard, and a forthcoming EP of newly commissioned works by leading Black women composers. In June 2021, as part of Chelsea's artist residency at the Box Factory in Ridgewood NY, she gave a Juneteenth recital of sonatas by George Walker, and during the pandemic lockdowns presented a series of livestream performances supported by Live From our Living Rooms and Music Talks featuring seldom heard works by Robert Palmer and Ruth Crawford Seeger. She is the co-founder and Director EXTENSITY Concert Series in NY which aims to promote diversity and equity in music.