FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM FEBRUARY 28, 2019 • BUZZ • THE QUEENS COURIER 51
buzz
Sounds of Korea and Africa take Flushing Town Hall stage
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
cmohamed@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Flushing Town Hall will present this
coming weekend two exciting global music
programs — Noreum Machi on Friday, a
Korean percussion group that caps off the
venue’s Lunar New Year celebrations, and
Mwenso & the Shakes on Saturday, a blues,
jazz and African music ensemble.
Noreum Machi specializes in the virtuosic
percussion music known as Samulnori
and is the most widely recognized
traditional music band in Korea. Founded
in 1993, the group brings together traditional
singing and powerful percussion
in their musical and creative activities.
Th e vibrant program includes spectacular
percussion dialogues, haunting shamanic
chants and entrancing acrobatic dances.
“Flushing Town Hall is thrilled that
Noreum Machi has traveled all the
way from Korea to share its traditional
percussion music with our audience,”
said Executive and Artistic Director
Ellen Kodadek. “Not only is the band
the grand fi nale of our Lunar New Year
programming, but it kicks off our own
‘#MarchMadness’ as the fi rst of 18 programs
in just 31 days.”
Th e award-winning group has performed
in nearly 200 cities in 60 countries,
earning global recognition as part
of the offi cial WOMEX (2014), CINARS
(2016) and Mundial Montreal (2017)
showcases.
Samul-nori was fi rst introduced to the
West in the late 1970s as a modernized
adaptation of the ancient Pungmul-nori,
a ritual of farmers that originated in shamanism
and animism. Samul-nori means
“play four objects” and is performed primarily
with four traditional instruments:
the Jang-gu, Buk, Jing and Kkwaenggwari.
Each instrument represents diff erent elements
of nature — rain, clouds, wind and
thunderstorms. Yin and yang are also
refl ected through the various sounds.
On Saturday, March 2, Mwenso & the
Shakes will bring its unique fusion of
African, Afro-American, jazz and blues
music to Flushing Town Hall. Th e evening
starts with a dance and groove workshop
at 7 p.m., and continues with a concert
at 8 p.m.
Mwenso & the Shakes is a troupe of
global artists who present music that
merges the highest form of entertainment
and artistry with a formidable repertoire
of jazz, blues, African and Afro-
American music. Th e international group
draws inspiration from the stylings of Fats
Waller, Muddy Waters, James Brown and
many other American musical legends.
Michael Mwenso leads electrifying performances
that Th e New York Times calls
“intense, prowling and ebullient.”
Th e band includes members from across
the globe — Sierra Leone, London, South
Africa, New York City, Madagascar,
France, Jamaica and Hawaii—but the
Shakes now call Harlem home.
Mwenso tells JazzTimes that the group
has “fi gured out how to play funk grooves
and African music in a way that still holds
up the deepest elements of jazz and swing
… We’re trying to fulfi ll the spirit of Louis
Armstrong and those people, we want to
protect what they held up, and guard it
and bow and give reverence to them —
but also to be free within ourselves.”
In advance of the concert, Michela
Marino Lerman, tap dancer and choreographer,
will lead a workshop on the various
dances associated with the music to
be performed by Mwenso & the Shakes
before the group brings original music
with a focus on self-empowerment to the
stage.
Test your knowledge of NYC at the 12th ‘Panorama Challenge’
BY MORGAN CHITTUM
editorial@qns.com
@QNS
Th e Queens Museum will host the 12th
annual Panorama Challenge, a trivia night
that quizzes competitors on their New
York City knowledge and the world’s
largest-scale model of the fi ve boroughs.
On March 1, emcee Gary Dennis will
read questions to teams of 10 while judges
highlight clues on the Panorama with
laser pointers. Teams can work together
to answer the questions.
Jonathan Turer will return for his
eighth year as quizmaster, providing all
trivia questions for the event.
Built for the 1964-65 World’s Fair, the
Panorama is a 1:1200 model of New York
City, encompassing 9,335 square feet of
fl oor area, and features all 895,000 buildings
constructed before 1992.
Past categories of quiz questions have
included Gotham Gangsters on Film, the
Grammys and the movie “Wonderstruck.”
For those not as privy to NYC trivia,
the Panorama Challenge gives contestants
the opportunity to register as either
Panorama Challengers or Panorama
Pros. Challengers are typically new to the
event while the Pros are veterans to the
game. Pros also receive double the trivia
questions.
Winners of the competition have their
name etched on the famous Panorama
Challenge trophy in the museum.
General admission tickets begin at
$15. Members of the City Reliquary and
Queens Museum will receive a discount.
A free shuttle bus will be provided
between the Mets-Willets Point 7 train
stop and Queens Museum.
For more information, visit the Queens
Museum’s website, queensmuseum.org.
Photo: Robert Pozarycki/THE COURIER
A view of the Panorama at the Queens Museum
Photo courtesy of Flushing Town Hall
Flushing Town Hall caps off its spectacular lineup of Lunar New Year programming with the Korean percussion group Noreum Machi on March 1.
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