4 DECEMBER 12, 2019 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
Soft Power and Speaker Music showcases
expressive music and dance in Maspeth
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
AACEVEDO@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
A night of expressive dance
and music, Unsound New
York presents Soft Power and
Speaker Music, consumed the Knockdown
Center on Dec. 8 in Maspeth.
Soft Power showcased the work
of Felicita, a music producer, and
Śląsk Song and Dance Ensemble, one
of the largest and oldest Polish folk
ensembles.
The one-of-a-kind show synthesized
traditional choreography and
costume with new music to create a
hypnotic multimedia experience. It
also explored folk culture, national
identity, tourism, branding, illusion
and farce.
According to a spokesperson, the
concept stems from Felicita’s own
childhood education in traditional
dance. The music, created by Felicita,
is a fusion of Polish folk, noise, trap
and chamber music, and was released
last year by PC Music.
Soft Power was originally commissioned
by Unsound.
There was also an opening act by
Speaker Music, or DeForrest Brown
Jr., who is a New York-based rhythm
analyst, media theorist and curator
who also represents the Make Techno
Black Again campaign. Speaker
Music presented “a black rhythm
happening to fill a crease.”
He referenced the culturally noteworthy
1969 album, “Black Rhythm
Happening,” by jazz trumpeter Eddie
Gales, and probed deeper into the
“sonic narratives of African-American
expression towards a novel
rhythmic and romantic abstraction
of vibration and frequency.”
Alexis Wilkinson, director of
Exhibitions and Live Art at the
Knockdown Center, told QNS that the
show represents what the center is
all about.
“Soft Power is an exciting convergence
of traditional Polish dance
from the renowned Śląsk Song
and Dance Ensemble with live experimental
music by Felicita which
exemplifies Knockdown Center’s
ongoing commitment to unexpected
boundary-crossing encounters
and to the community in Maspeth,”
Wilkinson said.
Photos courtesy of Knockdown Center
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