NOTHING IS: How Sun Ra, Amiri Baraka, and Octavia Butler Supercharged the Black Arts With Post-Apocalyptic Cosmic Consciousness

NOTHING IS: How Sun Ra, Amiri Baraka, and Octavia Butler Supercharged the Black Arts With Post-Apocalyptic Cosmic Consciousness

Burnt Sugar Arkestra presents: “NOTHING IS: How Sun Ra, Amiri Baraka, and Octavia Butler Supercharged the Black Arts With Post-Apocalyptic Cosmic Consciousness” with a Black Power Anthems set & a Groiddest Schizznits Mixtape Volume Two set with Special Guests Carl Hancock Rux, Bazaar Royale, Vijay Iyer & Ronny “Head” Draytone.
Between sets, Greg Tate offers an interactive lecture on the cross-influence of politics and music during the Black Power era..

Burnt Sugar Arkestra ( Brooklyn Museum Black Power Edition )

Greg Tate (conduction, guitar, laptop)
Bazaar Royale (vocals)
Carl Hancock Rux (vocals, spoken word)
Shelley Nicole (vocals)
Mikel Banks (vocals)
Julie Brown (vocals)
“Moist” Paula Henderson (baritone saxophone)
V. Jeffrey Smith (tenor saxophone, effects)
Avram Fefer (soprano & tenor saxophones)
Vijay Iyer (acoustic piano, electronics)
Leon Gruenbaum (keyboards, samchillian)
Ronny “Head” Drayton (guitar)
André Lassalle (guitar)
Ben Tyree (guitar)
James “Biscuit” Rouse (trap drums)
Jared Michael Nickerson (electric bass)

Greg Tate (conduction, guitar, laptop)
Bazaar Royale (vocals)
Carl Hancock Rux (vocals, spoken word)
Shelley Nicole (vocals)
Mikel Banks (vocals)
V. Jeffrey Smith (tenor saxophone, effects)
Avram Fefer (soprano & tenor saxophones)
Vijay Iyer (acoustic piano, electronics)
Leon Gruenbaum (keyboards, samchillian)
Ronny “Head” Drayton (guitar)
André Lassalle (guitar)
Ben Tyree (guitar)
James “Biscuit” Rouse (trap drums)
Jared Michael Nickerson (electric bass)

Burnt Sugar the Arkestra Chamber celebrates twenty years of one-of-a-kind performances. Entitled NOTHING IS: How Sun Ra, Amiri Baraka, and Octavia Butler Supercharged the Black Arts With Post-Apocalyptic Cosmic Consciousness, the evening opens with 1960s and 1970s Black Power anthems in conjunction with our special exhibition Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power. Then, noted author and critic Greg Tate offers an interactive lecture on the cross-influence of politics and music during the Black Power era. BSAC closes the evening with selections from Volume Two of their recently released Twentieth Anniversary Mixtapes Groiddest Schizznits trilogy.

Performers include Greg Tate (conduction, guitar, laptop), Bazaar Royale (vocals), Carl Hancock Rux (vocals, spoken word), Shelley Nicole (vocals), Ronny “Head” Drayton (guitar), Mikel Banks (vocals, conduction), V. Jeffrey Smith (tenor saxophone, effects), Avram Fefer (soprano & tenor saxophones), Vijay Iyer (acoustic piano, electronics), Leon Gruenbaum (keyboards, samchillian), André Lassalle (guitar), Ben Tyree (guitar), James “Biscuit” Rouse (trap drums) and Jared Michael Nickerson (electric bass).