BOHEMIAN TRIO: Okónkolo

Wednesday, February 15, 2017, at 9:30 pm

This is an archived event, not part of the current festival.

80 North 6th Street

Brooklyn, NY

Bohemian Trio will celebrate the release of their debut album on Innova Recordings, Okónkolo. National Sawdust - an unparalleled, artist-led, non-profit venue - is an ideal setting for Bohemian Trio's restless mélange of old and new world music. As Larry Blumenfeld of theWall Street Journal writes, the album "offers welcome liberation from the baggage of expectation ... heritages that blur more than reinforce borders [and] the sweet spot sought by many contemporary composers, especially in New York, grounded more in creativity than genre."

Few groups live up to their name as well as Bohemian Trio, an ensemble that speaks to the true voice of America: a cacophony of cultures that together forge a new identity that transcends Old World boundaries.

Their original blend of classical lyricism, jazz harmony, Latin dance and Afro-Cuban beats reflects their diverse cultural and musical backgrounds.

Saxophonist/composer Yosvany Terry and pianist Orlando Alonso were born and trained

musically in Cuba, while French-American cellist Yves Dharamraj is also part Trinidadian. Sax, piano and cello? This unique configuration was a conscious choice by the group to eschew traditional instrumentation for an improvising group, and it pays dividends in the sound of Okónkolo, at once refined and edgy.

"Bohemian Trio is a chamberlike improvising trio [that] specializes in music of traditional Latin American origin, though its methods are cosmopolitan." - New York Times