Bollywood-style girl group performs in Dumbo
By Chandler Kidd These women are ready to groove!
A Brooklyn girl group will bring a blend of
disco and Bollywood sounds to the Archway Under
the Manhattan Bridge this week. The band Say She She,
performing on Aug. 22 as part of Dumbo’s Live at the
Archway series, draws inspiration from ’70s soul singers,
Motown, and an Indian diva known for blending jazz and
Indian classical music, said one of its three lead singers.
“Think Minnie Riperton meets the Supremes, with
a sprinkling of Asha Puthli,” said Piya Malik. “All
this doused heavily in the rhythmic wah-guitar, melodic
synths, bansuri flute lines, and badass horn section.”
Malik and fellow singers Sabrina Cunningham and Nya
Parker Brown lead the eight-part band. The group’s name
pays homage to one of their favorite acts, Malik said: Chic,
who recorded the disco anthem “ Le Freak .”
“The name Say She She is a silent nod to the band Chic,
but also is a word-play on the French saying ‘it’s chic,’ ” she
said. The French phrase “c’est chic” can sound like “she
she” in English.
The band has been performing together for about a year,
and has drawn attention because of its diverse influence,
and the three-part harmony of its singers, said Malik.
“The main thing people comment on is how different
our voices are individually but how they all blend together
seamlessly,” she said.
The band has already recorded a few songs, and plans to
debut two new dance tunes at the concert on Aug. 22.
“The new tracks we are debuting are about making
people dance — we want to help people be uplifted, we
want to play up the crowd because we feel good and want
the audience to feel good,” Malik said.
The performance under the bridge will offer a rare
chance for fans of all ages to enjoy the music in the
open air, instead of in a spot restricted to those who are
over 21.
COURIER L 36 IFE, AUG. 16-22, 2019
“We’re excited to play this show because the acoustic of
the archway is going to add to our sound, but also because
we get to play for our friends that have children, because
our performances are usually at nightclubs,” Malik said.
“Say She She” at the Archway Under the Manhattan
Bridge (Water Street between Anchorage Place and Adams
Street in Dumbo, www.dumbo.is). Aug. 22 at 6:15 p.m.
Free.
IBy Rose Adams t’s back-to-school season — for
adults!
A Bushwick community space
will launch a new semester of art
and writing workshops for adults and
teens this month. Classeteria, which
offers classes for homeschooled children
during the week, also features
workshops for grown-ups on evenings
and weekends, which it will showcase
at an Open House event on Aug. 18.
The school’s founder said that she
was inspired by the community education
space Brooklyn Brainery, in
Prospect Heights and Park Slope, and
opened the venue last year to create a
learning space for her homeschooled
children.
“I was inspired by the thought of
building an urban folk school,” said
Selena Beal, who lives in Williamsburg
with her family. She came up with the
cafeteria theme to emphasize its wide
variety of “a la carte” classes.
“I used the theme of the cafeteria to
illustrate the idea of people selecting
from a wide variety of content based
on interest; of each of us having a different
‘meal’ when it comes to education,”
she said.
Upcoming classes for adults
include a history of Japanese art, several
drawing classes, and a memoir
writing workshop. One unique
upcoming session focuses on Zen
and the art of collage creation. For
the one-night workshop “Meditation
Installation” on Sept. 19, an expert
print maker and yogi will combine her
meditative practice with collage-making.
The class will begin with a period
of quiet reflection before attendees
create collages of text, fabric, and
natural objects. According to instructor
Jessica Baker, meditation can help
people enter an artistic “zone.”
“Anytime you make art you’re
entering into another state,” said
Baker. “There’s a certain clarity and
focus that takes you into the very present
moment of what you’re doing.”
Each semester of Classeteria offers
both students and teachers a chance to
try something new, said Beal.
“My favorite part of running the
adult programming at Classeteria is
how excited both the facilitators and
the students are about each class,”
she said.
Classeteria Open House 284
Suydam St. between Knickerbocker
and Irving avenues in Bushwick, www.
classeteria.nyc. Aug. 18; 4–7 p.m.
Free. “Meditation Installation” at
Classeteria. Sept. 19 at 6 p.m. $25.
By Kevin Duggan It’s a National treasure!
A Williamsburg
concert hall is welcoming
people to its new lounge
with a month-long free
music series. Producers at
National Sawdust, a North
Sixth Street music venue,
have launched “Sauce,” a
series of happy hour music
sessions, every Thursday
and Saturday inside a repurposed
restaurant, providing
a casual and intimate
setting for Brooklynites to
soak in the sounds, according
one of the organizers.
“You come in and you
almost feel like you’re
inside someone’s living
room,” said Martin
Movagh. “You have the
curation of a concert but
with the vibe of an open
mic.”
The space used to be
the restaurant Rider,
which shut its doors during
the spring. It is in the
same building as National
Sawdust, which is currently
closed while it installs
a new 700-speaker sound
system. One of Movagh’s
colleagues decided to open
up the former eatery so that
locals could enjoy some
music while the main space
is on hiatus.
“Sauce was born of me
and my colleagues wanting
to have fun,” said Ras Dia.
“It’s very different from
what we do during the year
with a sit-down concert.
We want people to flow
through the space.”
At each show, an eclectic
lineup of artists perform
in the space that used to be
Rider’s bar, while drinks
and grub are available in
the restaurant’s former
lobby and entrance area.
The remaining roster
includes a wide variety
acts, including improvisational
sitar player Nish
Chari; the Video Game
Music Collective, a band
that reinterprets classic
video game soundtracks;
Rose Generous, a Filipinx-
American singer, weaver,
and cyborg; and the spoken
word group Word of
Mouth.
The organizers
will bring some of the
Manhattan jazz scene
across the East River, with
two concerts from Robbie
Lee, host of jazz sessions
at Cleopatra’s Needle in the
distant isle’s Central Park.
Whether the new lounge
will continue to host free
concerts once the venue’s
larger hall reopens at the
end of the month remains
to be seen, according to
Dia.
“My hope is that it does
continue and that it continues
to grow,” he said.
Movagh hopes that the
space will become a part of
shows at the larger venue.
“It might be a fun thing
to do in conjunction with
our program,” he said.
“Sauce” at the National
Sawdust Lounge 80 N.
Sixth St. at Wythe Avenue
in Williamsburg, (646)
779–8455, www.nationalsawdust.
org,. Thursdays
and Saturdays, 5–9 p.m.,
through Aug. 31. Free.
That’s what she said: The three-part harmony of the band Say She
She will ring out in the Archway under the Manhattan Bridge on
Aug. 22. Photo Via Say She She
Lounge music: Producers at the National Sawdust in Williamsburg
inaugurated their new lounge with the free twice-weekly music and
performance series “Sauce,” running through Aug. 31. Jill Steinberg
Calm collages: A new art workshop at
Bushwick education space Classeteria will
begin with a guided meditation session.
Jessica Baker
Hot Sauce
SHE’S CHIC
Back to collage
Twice-weekly music series
flourishes in new lounge
at National Sawdust
/www.national-sawdust.org,
/www.classeteria.nyc
/www.classeteria.nyc
/www.dumbo.is
/www.national-sawdust.org,
/www.national-sawdust.org,
/www.dumbo.is)