Gig Alert: BélO at globalFEST
Friday, January 06, 2012
By Monika Fabian
BélO
"Mwen Bouke"
Playing at globalFEST at Webster Hall (125 E. 11th St., East Village, Manhattan)
BélO (Junenoire Mitchel)
The world music jam session known as globalFEST takes over Webster Hall on Sunday night. The musical fete — featuring 12 international acts from Brazil to Yemen performing on three stages over the course of five hours -- is like taking a marathon-length musical trot around the globe.
Now in its ninth year, globalFEST is the biggest showcase of the Association of Performing Arts Presenters Conference (APAP), a massive annual convention where musicians court curators and bookers in hopes of landing gigs for the coming year.
Since many of the APAP showcases are also open to the public, they function as opportunities for the artists to gain exposure to new audiences (oftentimes, beyond their national boundaries). For music fans, globalFEST is a chance to discover new music or catch international favorites passing through.
Among the performers slated for this year’s installment are smoky-voiced French jazz-pop chanteuse Zaz, brass and funk outfit Yemen Blues, and NYC-based Colombian roots crew M.A.K.U. Soundsystem.
Haitian singer-songwriter BélO is also playing on Sunday. The soulful crooner’s music is a blend of reggae, rock, jazz, worldbeat, and rara, a traditional Haitian rhythm. Download his song “Mwen Bouke” (“I Am Tired”), about the struggles of his homeland, above. And below, watch the music video for the song “Ca Chante” by Malian hip-hop group SMOD. These melodic rhymers make their US debut at globalFEST.
01/06/12 >> 
