Bryant Park Picnic Performances: Accordions Around the World
Free
- Diana Burco, accordion
- Suistamon Sähkö
- Ragini Ensemble
This year's festival curated by Ariana Hellerman features women-led projects with Diana Burco's Colombian vallenato, Finland's Suistamon Sähkö, and an all-female Ragini Ensemble in partnership with Brooklyn Raga Massive.
About Diana Burco, accordion
A rising star of the explosive and multidimensional Colombian music scene, Diana Burco is a singer, songwriter, and accordion player. Burco has played and investigated Colombia’s traditional music since she was a child. She has traveled throughout Colombia searching out the country's varied forms and expressions, and has studied and collaborated with the masters that interpret them. This deep cultural fluency and her own wide-ranging contemporary explorations mark Burco as a 21st-century troubadour charting an original path rooted in her country's rich heritage.
Diana Burco has participated in programs and platforms around the world including One Beat Colombia, Ethno World, and MAPAS (Artes Performativas del Atlantico Sur). Her debut U.S. tour in March 2022 featured shows in Albuquerque and Santa Fe NM, Burlington VT, Great Barrington MA, Washington DC, West Palm Beach FL, New York City, and Savannah GA.
https://dianaburco.com/About Suistamon Sähkö
The Arctic Etnotekno Act Suistamon Sähkö from Finland gains momentum gig by gig and cheerfully moves through ethno techno and smoke shack sounds to the world of hip hop like the genre hybrid they are. The group favors a boisterous rave atmosphere, synthesizer buzz, rap declarations, and a Soviet-made accordion and makes the audience jiggle and the cottage floor shake. The Suistamon Sähkö rhythm universe is a rambunctious mix of primitive primordial force and experimental dance music. In addition to Finnish stages, the Suistamon Sähkö spark has also flown to international arenas in e.g. Germany, France, and Russia. During their short existence, the group has published three albums and a dozen music videos which have attracted attention. Suistamon Sähkö was selected as the opening act of the notable World Music Expo Womex Tampere 2019 and as the showcase act of the Folk Alliance International New Orleans, USA, in early 2020. In 2022 the band performed as part of globalFest meets TinyDesk.
https://www.suistamonsahko.fi/en/About Ragini Ensemble
Exploring a merging of diasporic songs, matrilineal folk songs, and beat-driven celebratory chutney anthems, the Ragini Ensemble gathers songs born out of the South Asian diaspora spread wide, fragmented and reforged in Reunion Island, Guyana, and Trinidad. Speaking, or rather singing into the aesthetic body of work defined by the "Coolitude" movement, this set is inspired by the legacy of post-indentureship collective memory, nostalgia and reclamation of joy in the gathering to sing, itself a cultural practice known as "baithak gana" – an intimate act of sitting (or dancing) together in song. Tabla player/Electronic artist, Roshni Samlal, violinist/looper Natie, harmonium player/singer Pratima Doobay, and dholak player/singer Kajol Ji re-envision the sounds of their homeland and history.
https://www.brooklynragamassive.org/ensembles/ragini-ensemble