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Tony Allen, Victoria Williams to Join Damon Albarn & the Honest Jon's Revue July 12

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African drummer Tony Allen and southern singer/songwriter Victoria Williams to join Damon Albarn & The Honest Jon's Revue Saturday, July 12

Featuring Afel Bocoum, Kokanko Sata, Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, Lobi Traore, Simone White, Candi Stanton, Tony Allen, Victoria Williams and Damon Albarn

One performance: Saturday, July 12 at 8 p.m.
Running time: approximately 2 hours, no intermission
Avery Fisher Hall, Broadway at 64th Street
Tickets: $30, 40, 50

Lincoln Center Festival 08 will present Damon Albarn & the Honest Jon's Revue, a splendidly diverse group of artists that has one thing in common: each has recorded for Honest Jon's, the independent London-based label. Damon Albarn, best known from his days in the rock band Blur and co-creator of the wildly successful virtual band Gorillaz, co-founded the Honest Jon's label in 2002 with the landmark record shop on Portobello Road that has been selling rare and obscure music to discerning buyers for 30 years.

The Honest Jon's label reflects the founders' interests, primarily African music, Jamaican reggae, and classic American soul, and their first release was the acclaimed Mali Music, featuring Albarn, Toumani Diabate, and Afel Bocoum, a sideman to the legendary Ali Farka Toure. Bocourm joins Albarn on the bill, along with skilled kamelen n'goni (three-stringed hunters' harp) musician Kokanko Sata, the nine-piece brass street band Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, the incomparable R&B and gospel singer Candi Staton, Bambara bluesman Lobi Traore, soulful folk vocalist Simone White, African drummer Tony Allen, and Southern singer/songwriter Victoria Williams.

Eclectic evenings of music making have been in the Lincoln Center Festival mix since its early years. The Festival has presented a wide variety of world fusion, hip hop, jazz, and pop music--including traditional and contemporary music from North and South Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East--in addition to showcasing artists as diverse as Elvis Costello, Wyclef Jean, Ornette Coleman, Goran Bregovic, and Youssou N'Dour. Along with the record label, Albarn -- who appeared in New York last year with his new band, The Good, The Bad, and The Queen--serve as musical curators of the Honest Jon's Revue, which has been called a “chop up," Nigerian slang for a feast of great music. In the dance music culture at large, it means juxtaposition and reconstitution. For one night only, these wonderfully eclectic artists will play together and separately, as the spirit moves them, from the magical Malian blues of Lobi Traore to the blazing brass of the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble.

Damon Albarn was born in London in 1968. He formed the group Blur with Graham Coxon, Alex James, and Dave Rowntree in 1989. At the forefront of the Britpop movement, the band released seven acclaimed albums including Parklife, Modern Life is Rubbish, and most recently Thank Thank. He is also the co-creator, with artist Jamie Hewlett, of the most successful virtual band ever, Gorillaz. Their eponymous first album sold more than five million copies around the world. Their critically-acclaimed second album Demon Days won the band their first Grammy. During a trip to Mali with Oxfam in 2000, Albarn recorded more than 40 hours of music with local musicians that later formed the basis of the Mali Music album. It was the first release on Honest Jon's Records, the label created by Albarn with the co-owners of the record shop of the same name to showcase international musical talent. Also released on Honest Jon's was Albarn's Democrazy (2003) an album of 4-track demos recorded while on tour in America with Blur. January 2007 saw the release of The Good, The Bad and The Queen, a collaboration with Paul Simonon (The Clash), Simon Tong of (The Verve), and Tony Allen (Fela Kuti/Africa 70). Later the same year Monkey: Journey to the West, a specially commissioned opera composed by Albarn and designed by Hewlett opened the inaugural Manchester International Festival in June 2007, with following runs at Paris's Chtelet, Charleston's 2008 Spoleto Festival, USA, and at London's Royal Opera House (July 23-27).

Tony Allen made his professional debut at the age of 18 when, while working as a radio technician, he stepped in as a replacement drummer for Sir Victor Olaiya and his Cool Cats. He went on to perfect his technique with Negi Morris and the Heatwaves, The Nigerian Messengers, and the Wester Toppers Highlife Band. In 1964, he met Fela Kuti at an audition and forged a collaboration that greatly influenced his craft. A co-creator of Afrobeat, Allen is one of today's most distinctive and in-demand drummers. He is capable of fusing jazz with highlife sensibilities and sounds, as Kuti once put it, “like five drummers at once." He currently lives in Paris. Honest Jon's Records recently released an album of remixes of Allen's work featuring artists Diplo, Carl Craig, and Bonde do Role.

Afel Bocoum is a singer, guitarist, and composer from the small desert town of Niafunk in West Africa. His work blends different ethnic languages, rhythms, and melodies, and he is rapidly becoming one of the most powerful voices of the region. Alkibar, his debut album, was released in 1999 and was recorded entirely in his hometown featuring local musicians. He collaborated with Damon Albarn on Mali Music, which was released in 2002. On this album, Bocoum lent his talents to a diverse, vibrant collection of musicians and the recording has exposed a new audience to the warmth and vitality of African music.

The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble draws its musical heritage from the rich, progressive jazz scene cultivated in Chicago during the 1960s and '70s. The group's seven brass players are all sons of the esteemed jazz trumpeter Kelan Phil Cohran, who was a founding member of the seminal Chicago-based jazz collective, the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM). Steeped in this musical influence from early on, the ensemble has been playing together their entire lives. In the 1980s they performed in a youth ensemble put together by their father and, in 1999, officially formed their current group. The band strives to make its musical roots speak to and for its own generation, infusing imaginative jazz arrangements with a hip-hop sensibility. They draw massive, captivated crowds to their many impromptu street performances and in 2007 toured with Mos Def. The Hypnotic Brass Ensemble has a special relationship with Honest Jon's Records, and have recorded “Sankofa" for the label's Lagos Shake album. Future plans include their first solo album with Honest Jon's Records.

Kokanko Sata Doumbia makes her debut in the United States with this performance tonight. She plays the kamelen n'goni, a three-stringed hunter's harp usually reserved for the men of her village located in Wassoulou, south of the Malian capital Bamako. Made from a resonating gourd and a strong piece of wood for the neck, this instrument has gradually been incorporated into popular music and is notoriously difficult to play. Her skill in playing it has earned her the nickname “the hunter's heroine." A self-taught musician due to the cultural taboo surrounding her instrument of choice, she has developed a unique style drawing inspiration from male stars of the kamelen n'goni and writing songs that are reflections on her personal experiences. She performed and recorded with Damon Albarn's Mali Music band which led to the 2005 release of her self-titled solo album also recorded on the Honest Jon's label.

Candi Staton was born and raised in Hanceville, Alabama and began singing at the age of four in a church choir. At school, she joined a trio that toured with the Soul Stirrers, the Staple Singers, and a young Aretha Franklin, providing a hands-on music education. She left the trio in her early teens after six years playing concerts in Nashville and on the road. After a seven year hiatus from the professional music scene, Staton turned her attentions from gospel to pop music and began appearing in nightclubs. With talent that defies genre, she has recorded everything from gospel to pop, country, soul, and even disco. From country standards like Tammy Wynette's “Stand By Your Man" and Elvis Presley's “In the Ghetto" to her own disco dance hit “Young Hearts Run Free," her versatility is remarkable. Today, she is considered to be one of the great southern soul singers. The reissue of her classic Muscle Shoals sides by Honest Jon's in 2004 was a worldwide hit, and her comeback for the label the following year with its title track “His Hands" was hugely acclaimed.

Lobi Traor was born in Bakaridianna, Mali. He moved to Segou in 1977 to sing in a traditional Bambara folk group and eventually picked up the guitar and embarked on a solo career. Early on, he performed at weddings and bars and managed to develop a significant fan following. He recorded his first album, Bambara Blues in 1991, followed in 1994 by Segou. One of Bamako's most flamboyant personalities, Traor is called the inventor of Bambara blues, a sound that is associated with Mali's Bambara people. He began his association with Honest Jon's Records during the sessions for Mali Music in 2001, and his self-titled album was recorded live in an open air club, was released shortly after that.

Simone White was born in Hawaii and spent time in Seattle, New York, Paris, and London before moving to Los Angeles where she currently resides. Raised in a household that only listened to classical music, White acquainted herself with non-classical groups by sneaking records into the house. Her early musical influences include Sonic Youth and The Pixies but over time, she developed her own sound as she explored different artists who inspired her to a new vocal freedom and experimentation with more finger picking on the guitar. Her songs range from love songs to political works and her first release for Honest Jon's, I Am the Man, is a collection soulful folk tunes.

Victoria Williams Born in Louisiana, Williams taught herself to play the guitar while still in her teens, and soon began composing songs. She made her solo recording debut in 1987 with Happy Come Home. Still, this notably eccentric folk singer is best known as a songwriter. Covers of her songs have been performed by Pearl Jam, Lou Reed, Matthew Sweet, The Jayhawks, and Soul Asylum. Williams also plays with The Thiftstore Allstars a band based in Joshua Tree, California, where she currently resides. Her most recent recording, Sings Some Ol' Songs was released in 2002. Current plans include a new album with Honest Jon's to be recorded later this year.

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