Wednesday Folk Traditions
HESHIMA MOJA y OFRECIMIENTO ENSEMBLE
June 17at 6:30 pm
HADLEY—The Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum will kick off its 28th season of WEDNESDAY FOLK TRADITIONS on June 17, 2009, with Heshima Moja y Ofrecimiento Ensemble. Moja and his group perform music that draws on a diverse set of influences, melding Latin-American, African-American, and Afro-Caribbean styles of music to form a hybrid style that Moja terms “Latin Soul.” The concert will be held in the Museum’s sunken garden beginning at 6:30 p.m., and picnicking on the grounds is welcome beginning at 5 p.m. Admission is $10 for adults, and $2 for children under 16.
Heshima Moja is an exciting multi-instrumentalist and vocalist, a dynamic performer, who, with his Ofrecimiento Ensemble, creates music that at once pays homage to traditional Latin, jazz, and soul forms and forges a new hybrid space all its own. Moja’s album, “The Awakening” features the songwriter’s original compositions, as well as energetic contemporary re-imaginings of jazz classics. Particularly compelling examples of the creative approach that Moja takes to traditional styles are his arrangement of Eddie Harris’s classic “Freedom Jazz Dance,” with rapped lyrics by Scorpio, and his jazzed-up version of the classic African-American spiritual, “Wade in the Water,” with soulful vocals provided by Moja himself. It is serious jazz with a modern twist, as “The Awakening” features contributions from internationally renowned players such as Avery Sharpe, Mark Puricelli, and Charles Langford.
The live experience of Heshima Moja y Ofrecimiento Ensemble promises to be equally exciting. A veteran, energetic performer and vocalist with instrumental chops to match, Moja has shared the stage with artists such as Patti Labelle, La India, Marion Meadows, James Carter, Avery Sharpe, Fidlaa Owen Brown, Questlove (of the Roots), and Amiri Baraka, to name a few. Of Moja’s live set, D-Moss of PoetryJoint.com writes, “As Heshima steps to the mic, you will be entranced, excited, and inspired by this young artist’s depth and originality.” An exciting fusion of old and new, traditional and contemporary, respectfully signifying on his musical forebears, Heshima Moja promises to deliver a performance not to be missed.
WEDNESDAY FOLK TRADITIONS continues on June 24th with the Senegalese hip-hop group Gokh-Bi System, another vibrant fusion of traditional and contemporary musical styles. Gokh-Bi System performs multilingual hip-hop that incorporates traditional Senegalese instruments, village dance styles and poetic urban storytelling.
The concerts are funded, in part, with generous support from People’s Bank, Easthampton Savings Bank, Gage-Wiley & Co., MicroCal, LLC, and Western Massachusetts Electric Company, and many other local businesses.
The Porter-Phelps-Huntington Museum is located at 130 River Drive (Route 47) in Hadley, two miles north of the junction of Routes 9 and 47. The Museum is open for guided tours Saturday through Wednesday from 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. and by appointment. For further information about the tours and the WEDNESDAY FOLK TRADITIONS series, call the Museum at (413) 584-4699.
