Dan Blacksberg (left); Kinan Abou-afach (right)
American Composers Forum, Philadelphia Chapter is pleased to present an online artist talk between Dan Blacksberg and Kinan Abou-afach, two Philadelphia based composers whose creative practice reaches between avant garde and traditional musics. The two artists will discuss their creative process, reflect on their artistic influences, and share recent work.
FREE, REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED. SPACE IS LIMITED. PLEASE RESERVE ONE SPOT PER HOUSEHOLD. A Zoom link will be sent to you the day of the event.
Philadelphia-native Dan Blacksberg has created a singular musical voice as a trombonist, composer, and educator. One of the foremost practitioners of klezmer trombone and a respected voice in jazz & experimental music, Dan is known for a formidable virtuosity and versatility. This has led to performances with artists such klezmer masters as Elaine Hoffman Watts and Adrienne Cooper, and experimentalists like Anthony Braxton and extreme doom metal band The Body. Dan composes music from danceable klezmer melodies on Radiant Others, to genre-busting projects like his Hasidic doom metal band Deveykus and Name Of the Sea, Dan forges music that “aims to infuse the fearless avant-garde with timeless sounds and techniques, and vice versa.” (WXPN’s The Key) Dan currently teaches jazz and klezmer at Temple University, coordinates the Instrumental and Dance programs at Yiddish New York with Deb Strauss, and is the musician-in-residence at Kol Tzedek Synagogue. He also makes the Radiant Others Klezmer Podcast.
Kinan Abou-afach is an acclaimed cellist, oud player, composer, and recipient of the prestigious Pew Fellowship in 2013. The Syrian-born musician began his musical studies at the age of seven studying at the Arabic Institute of Music in Damascus, where he eventually joined the National Syrian Symphony Orchestra and performed with the Middle Eastern Ensemble. He holds a Bachelor’s Degrees in cello and oud performance from the Higher Institute of Music where he Studied the cello repertoire with Fayez Zahril-Din, Rasi Abdullaiev, and Valery Volkov, and a Master’s Degree in Cello Performance from DePaul University School of Music where he studied with Stephen Balderston. As a composer, described as “a Journey in Sound” and “Phenomenal”, Abou-afach crafts music that is saturated with unique scales, rhythmic grooves, and improvisation-esque progressions, keeping with some traditions while sounding contemporary. He works on creating a sound that’s based loosely on the Arabic modal traditions known as maqam, while using elements from the western traditions (Classical, Jazz, Electronic, Musique concrète).