Thomas Tafirenyika Mapfumo (born 1945) is a Zimbabwean musician known as "The Lion of Zimbabwe" and "Mukanya" for his immense popularity and for the political influence he wields through his music, including his sharp criticism of the government of President Robert Mugabe. He both created and made popular Chimurenga music and his slow-moving style and distinctive voice is instantly recognizable to Zimbabweans.

Thomas Mapfumo & the Blacks Unlimited is currently touring the Northeast, and will hit the West Coast in August. Look for him to take to the stage of Mercury Lounge in NYC TONIGHT (7/15) with the Sim Redmond Band, Black Castle (feat. Elliot Martin of John Brown's Body) and Thousands of One (tickets). If you miss it, he'll be back soon. After doing a few dates in Massachusetts, look for him to retun to NYC to play Southpaw on 7/20 with Akoya Afrobeat (tickets). All dates are listed below.

Speaking of Southpaw, one alternative to the Mercury Lounge show is to see Swamp Dogg at the Brooklyn venue tonight. Swamp Dogg played his afternoon show at Metrotech yesterday with at least one member of Yo La Tengo in attendance.

No word on what Mapfumo, who lives in the United States now, will do in between dates, but I'm guessing he won't return to his native Zimbabwe where he reportedly as an outstanding warrant for purchase of stolen cars... Or maybe not?

[Mapfumo] told Daily News last week from his American base, "This police spokesperson you spoke to, the one who gave you that statement does not know how to do his police work because I do not have a police docket open. There was never a police docket opened against me in the first place."

Mapfumo said contrary to what the police were saying, he was actually the one who reported George Sibanda (the notorious car thief who reportedly sold him the cars) to them.

"I want my four luxury cars back because they just disappeared without any trace. I sent my manager there after the police had said we could collect the impounded cars but when he got there he could not find them. It is actually me who has a case with the authorities. They have to give me back my cars," said Mapfumo.

Bvudzijena dismissed Mapfumo, saying he was misrepresenting things. [ZimbabweNewsOnline]

Check out the Chimurenga musician on the road. All dates are listed below...

Continue reading "Zimbabwe's Thomas Mapfumo is on tour, in NYC now, says he is not a wanted man"

by Andrew Frisicano

Hercules & Love Affair @ MHOW in August (more by Sara Skolnick)

Hercules & Love Affair's Andy Butler was one of the many DJs at the Electric Zoo Festival that happened over Labor Day weekend. At the fest he was billed as himself, but on September 26th he'll be DJing as H&LA at MoMA MiXX, a new series of dance parties at the museum.

MoMA MiXX uniquely pairs together major artists with world-renowned musicians or DJs, with each featured performer spinning a set of music that night. The Agnes Gund Garden Lobby will be transformed into a dance floor, and MoMA's Donald B. and Catherine C. Marron Atrium will serve as a lounge area complete with bars. The money raised benefits the exhibition programming for The Museum of Modern Art and P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center.

Opening up the first night will be DJ sets by Justin Carter and Eamon Harkin (of the Mister Saturday Night series among other things). The paired artists are Mickalene Thomas and Derrick Adams. Tickets are on sale, though they're not cheap...

Tickets for each event are $75 per person (or $200 for the first three events), and include an open bar.

The next two events in the series are planned for January and April 2010.

Also on the way, the museum is hosting Between Worlds, an evening-length "pop spectacle" performance by Fischerspooner on November 1st. Tickets TBA. (MoMA is also still running Looking at Music: Side 2, and will be showing a Spike Jonze retrospective with No Age in October.)

Hercules & Love Affair played two live shows in NYC in August. At them, they debuted their new current (but probably not permanent) lineup of Shaun Wright, Aerea Negrot, Kim Ann Foxman, Mark Pistel and Andy Butler.

In the past, Hercules & Love Affair's lineup prominently featured singer Nomi Ruiz. More recently, she's been playing with Jessica 6. They opened for CocoRosie's return-to-NYC show at the beginning of September. Coming up, they're opening for Japanese psych rock band Yura Yura Teikoku at the Music Hall of Williamsburg on September 18th. Then the next night (Sept. 19th), they play as part of the New Languages Festival, which runs for six nights (starting Thursday, Sept. 17th) on two weekends at McCarren Hall in Brooklyn (on 98 Bayard St, an address that might sound familiar). Tickets are available at the door only.

For Japan's Yura Yura Teikoku, the MHOW is one of three upcoming US dates they have scheduled. The other two are opening for Yo La Tengo on Tuesday (9/15) and Wednesday in Vermont and Boston. Their new album "Hollow Me", which includes their recent EP "Beautiful", is out September 14, 2009 on DFA's Death From Abroad label (which helps explain the Jessica 6 connection). Album tracklist and NYC show flyer below.

The whole lineup for the jazz-based New Languages Festival, which "attempts to provide a panoramic view of 21st century jazz in New York City," is pretty diverse and spectacular. It includes Akoya Afrobeat, which matches the sound of Fela Kuti almost note for note (and integrates some of his songs into their rep), drummer Mike Pride's From Bacteria to Boys combo (who recorded a live session for WFMU in April), a set led by noted improviser and avant-jazz composer Tim Berne, and an opening night performance by Darcy James Argue's Secret Society, whose debut, Infernal Machines, came out in May on New Amsterdam Records.

The full schedule of shows and all tour dates are below...

Continue reading "Herc & Love Affair/Fischerspooner playing MoMA, Jessica 6 playing w/ Yura Yura Teikoku & New Languages Fest (lineup)"