Red Bull Music Academy Festival returns to New York City

Hopelessness for the first time ever at the Park Avenue Armory, and Dizzee Rascal will perform his 2003 classic grime debut Boy In Da Corner. The power of music in film will be explored as legendary director Spike Lee screens and talks about the music in his films; and the NYC premiere of the Sundance hit KIKI—a film by Sara Jordenö and Twiggy Pucci Garçon about voguing and the lives of LGBTQ youth-of-color. Pharoah Sanders and the Sun Ra Arkestra will share a bill with Kamasi Washington for a night of spiritual jazz, and Latin soul maestro Eddie Palmieri will revisit his 1971 classic Harlem River Drive at a Harlem block party. Diamanda Galás will return to NYC with her powerful voice, following her work as “Master in Residence” at the Grotowski Insitute in Wroclaw, Poland, and two of NYC composer Glenn Branca’s symphonies will be brought to life by indie luminaries. Celebrating dance music’s vast history in NYC has long been one of the festival’s calling cards—from 2014’s tribute to Paradise Garage icon Larry Levan to last year’s resurgence of Venus X’s GHE20G0TH1K. This year #RBMANYC will call for fans of ’80s freestyle to get on the dance floor as DJs Louie Vega and Jellybean Benitez, and some very special guests, lead a Freestyle spectacular. The festival will close with Last Night A DJ Saved My Soul—a look at the deep connection between house music and gospel taking place in a decommissioned church, and featuring Floorplan, the Joubert Singers, DJ Pierre, Terrence Parker, and more. Digging further into Red Bull Music Academy’s electronic side, the festival will see Amsterdam’s Dekmantel and New York City’s The Bunker team up for a night of dark and driving electronic music; Brooklyn’s innovative crop of young producers will come together for special summit of Brooklyn techno, featuring Umfang, Galcher Lustwerk, Anthony Naples, Aurora Halal, and more; and genre-defying global labels NON and N.A.A.F.I will bring a night of radical statements in sound with special appearances by Elysia Crampton, Rabit, Gaika, and Scraaatch. Red Bull Music Academy also takes a look at not only music itself but also how it’s created. They will collaborate with Bell Labs to celebrate the legacy of the E.A.T. (Experiments and Art Technology) salons around their 50th anniversary, bringing together artists and engineers; and RBMA will host a Producers Roundtable and party where some of Atlanta’s hottest producers will reveal their studio secrets. Festival line-up and ticket information will be available at www.nyc.redbullmusicacademy.com.]]>