Next Stage Arts presents improvisational artist and musician Lonnie Holley in performance with Afrofuturist collective Mourning [A] BLKstar at Next Stage, 15 Kimball Hill, on Friday, Jan. 19 at 7:30 p.m.
"Lonnie's work over the past few decades has been a shining example of an outsider artist's work becoming so meaningful that the establishment has to take notice," Keith Marks, executive director of Next Stage, said in a news release. "The pairing of Lonnie's work backed by Mourning [A] BLKstar is one of those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities - Afrofuturism at its best."
Since 1979, Lonnie Holley has devoted his life to the practice of improvisational creativity.
Also a sculptor with works exhibited nationally, Holley did not start making and performing music in a studio, nor does his creative process mirror that of the typical musician. His music and lyrics are improvised on the spot and morph and evolve with every event, concert, and recording.
In Holley's original art environment, he would construct and deconstruct his visual works, repurposing their elements for new pieces. The layers of sound in Holley's music, likewise, are the result of decades of evolving experimentation.
A multi-generational, gender, and genre non-conforming amalgam of Black culture, the group Mourning [A] BLKstar is dedicated to sharing stories and songs of America's unfolding apocalypse. "Their music melds live instrumentation with hip-hop production creating sonic frequencies that illuminate the African Diaspora," say organizers.
Founded in Cleveland, the U.S.-based Afrofuturist collective continues touring their music across Europe and the U.S., playing festivals from Crossing Border in Berlin with Lonnie Holley to Big Ears Festival and Le Guess Who? in Utrecht.
Tickets are $20 advance, $25 at the door, and $10 for access to the livestream. Advance tickets are available at nextstagearts.org. Next Stage will provide a beer, wine, and cocktail cash bar. For information, call 802-387-0102.
This The Arts item was submitted to The Commons.