Friday, August 7, 2015, 7:30 Prospect Park Bandshell (Prospect Park West & 9th St.) Brooklyn Admission: Free ($3 suggested donation)
The Jamaican titans Third World lost their beloved leader William “Bunny Rugs” Clarke last year, but have risen like a phoenix from the ashes. Billboard writes they “seamlessly [fuse] reggae with soul and pop,” just as they have for 40 years, as cool, steady and easy as ever. Born near Timbuktu and raised in the Ivory Coast, Awa Sangho, “the Golden Voice of Mali,” carries the rich tradition of West African song in her heart and lungs.
Opening Set By Awa Sangho
Awa Sangho has been called “the Golden Voice of Mali.” Raised in the desert north of Mali, where her stunning voice was first recognized and celebrated, then educated in Bamako, where she learned the trade of music, Awa established herself in Abidjan, the capital of music production in the region in the 1980s. There, she sang, danced, acted, and began to travel the world with the legendary Ensemble Koteba, and the women-led band she co-founded in 1993, Les Go de Koteba. All this was preamble to Awa’s move to New York City in 2011. Last year,Awa unveiled her first solo recording, Ala Ta (Motema). The album draws upon all Awa’s rich experiences, and realizes her long-held goal of presenting a personal musical vision, and assuming the role of cultural ambassador to the world.
1973 in Kingston, Jamaica was at a turning point in musical history. Bob Marley and Chris Blackwell’s Island Records label were at the peak of their powers, dub music and deejaying were emerging from a reggae subculture, and new configurations of R&B and calypso were lighting up dance clubs around the city. It was then that Third World entered the scene.
Founded by guitarist Cat Coore and bassist Richard Daley, the band is a group of friends
who found their own place in this rich ecosystem, “seamlessly fusing reggae with soul and pop” (Billboard). They caught the eye of Blackwell, who put them on tour in support of the Wailers, and the rest is history. Forty plus years and ten GRAMMY® nominations later, they are as cool, steady and easy as ever. Though they lost their beloved lead singer William “Bunny Rugs” Clarke last year, the magnificent AJ Brown has taken on lead vocals and the band has rise n like the phoenix from the ashes, discovering new corners of the same time-tested grooves.