AJOYO, Gili Yalo & More to Perform at BAMcafé Live 2023

BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) has announced details for its 2023 spring lineup for BAMcafé Live. The free music series features weekend performances of live music and dance, curated by the World Music Institute, one of the leading presenters of world music and dance. Performers include AJOYO, Gili Yalo, Michael Olatuja, Brooklyn Raga Massive featuring Roshni Samlal, Quitapenas, and Endea Owens. The monthly program runs on Fridays and Saturdays at 9pm. There is no cover charge and no drink minimum.

BAMcafé Live features a diverse mix of live music and performances from Brooklyn and around the world. On select weekends through June, with new artists each month, the free series features a mix of unexpected encounters and genres, including hip-hop, rock, soul, jazz, R&B, world music, pop, and more. Since 1999, the beloved series has served as a launchpad for artists like Antibalas and Bilal and an intimate home for established artists like Vernon Reid and Nikki Giovanni.

Performances are free. For more information, visit BAM.org.

For press information, contact Cynthia Tate at ctate@bam.org or 212-724-8022

BAMcafé Live Spring 2023 Schedule

BAMcafé Live: AJOYO

Friday, April 21 at 9pm

The Adam Space (BAMcafé) 30 Lafayette Ave, Brooklyn, NY

The brainchild of composer/saxophonist Yacine Boularès, AJOYO's live performance is a joyful ceremony of unrelenting groove and virtuosic improvisation. The band has a singular sound that dances confidently between genres, blending North and West African musical traditions with jazz and soul. AJOYO's 2015 self-titled debut album was celebrated for its vibrant eclecticism and social conscience, paving the way for a sophomore album, War Chant, which earned the group an award for Best Global Music EP at the 2020 Independent Music Awards. AJOYO brings a distinctive musical celebration of life, love, and justice to the BAMcafé Live stage.

BAMcafé Live: Gili Yalo

Saturday, April 22 at 9pm

The Adam Space (BAMcafé) 30 Lafayette Ave, Brooklyn, NY

Gili Yalo repurposes sounds from traditional Ethiopian music to produce a contemporary and personal musical vision. With lyrics in both English and Amharic, Yalo draws from his family's story of departure from Sudan amid the country's second civil war, and how music served as a tool for motivation and survival during that time. Gili Yalo and his Israel-based ensemble groove and flow in entrancing rhythm as they explore a new vision for traditional Ethiopian music.

BAMcafé Live: Michael Olatuja

Friday, May 12 at 9pm

The Adam Space (BAMcafé) 30 Lafayette Ave, Brooklyn, NY

London-born, Nigeria-raised Michael Olatuja brings his spectacular blend of West-African Afrobeats and jazz to the BAMcafé Live stage for a night of refined groove. Olatuja, backed by an all-star string orchestra, scales the fretboard fast and with virtuosic precision, paying homage to the jazz greats while creating something all his own. After collaborating with such artists as Diana Ross, Spike Lee, Phil Collins, and Stevie Wonder, it's no surprise Michael Olatuja is hailed as one of the most inventive and in-demand bassists in New York City.

BAMcafé Live: Brooklyn Raga Massive featuring Roshni Samlal

Saturday, May 13 at 9pm

The Adam Space (BAMcafé) 30 Lafayette Ave, Brooklyn, NY

This Indian music collective gathers songs born out of a far-flung South Asian diaspora-Reunion Island, Guyana, and Trinidad-and explores the merging of diasporic songs, matrilineal folk music, and beat-driven chutney anthems. Singing within the aesthetic framework defined by the "Coolitude'' movement, the evening's set is inspired by the legacy of post-indentureship collective memory. The nostalgia, and reclamation of joy in gathering to sing is a cultural practice known as baithak gana, an intimate act of sitting or dancing together in song.

BAMcafé Live: QUITAPENAS

Friday, June 9 at 9pm

The Adam Space (BAMcafé) 30 Lafayette Ave, Brooklyn, NY

QUITAPENAS was formed under the warm California sun, and around a shared love of dance rhythms from the tropical Afro-Latin diaspora. Made up of first-generation sons of immigrant parents from Guatemala and Mexico, the group echoes then remixes history, inviting you to give in to rhythmic elation. QUITAPENAS borrows aesthetics from the sunny "California sound" of the 60s and 70s, and works with only one goal in mind: to make you get up out of your chair and dance.

BAMcafé Live: Endea Owens

Saturday, June 10 at 9pm

The Adam Space (BAMcafé) 30 Lafayette Ave, Brooklyn, NY

Known as one of jazz's most vibrant emerging artists, Endea Owens is a Detroit-raised recording artist, bassist, and composer. She has won Emmy, Grammy and Peabody Awards, and has taught around the world. A Juilliard graduate, Endea Owens is forging a new future for her genre while honoring the jazz greats who came before her. Don't miss this bass virtuoso when she brings an ecstatic performance to BAMcafé Live.

Founded in 1985 as a not-for-profit, World Music Institute (WMI) has served as one of the leading presenters of world music and dance within the United States. WMI is committed to presenting the best in traditional and contemporary music and dance from around the world with the goal of inspiring wonder for the world's rich cultural traditions, promoting awareness and appreciation and encouraging cross-cultural dialog and exchange. WMI presents at venues throughout the city and depends on both public and private funding to accomplish its mission. WMI's programming is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

A world-class home for adventurous artists, audiences, and ideas, BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) is North America's oldest performing arts center, showcasing the work of emerging artists and modern icons. It is led by President, Gina Duncan, and Artistic Director, David Binder.

For more than 160 years, BAM has built a thriving, urban multi-arts complex renowned for presenting an unparalleled roster of visionary and cutting-edge dance, theater, music, opera, visual arts, literature, and film engagements. Attracting more than 750,000 people annually to its home in Brooklyn, BAM provides a welcoming cultural stage and meeting place for global and local communities of all backgrounds. BAM's distinctive multi-theater campus is alive year-round with inspired new engagements and acclaimed signature programs including the renowned Next Wave Festival, the iconic DanceAfrica, the stunning Word.Sound.Power poetry event, the ebullient Everybooty celebration, the acclaimed repertory film program, literary and visual art events, and the extraordinary educational and humanities programs. For more information visit BAM.org.

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