I’m Director and co-founder of CRS (Center for Remembering & Sharing) where we study and teach A Course in Miracles and meditation under the guidance of CRS Founder Yasuko Kasaki. I’m also a multi-disciplinary artist and curator/producer of music, dance, theater, film and visual arts events and the organizer of the Sufi Dance NYC meetup group. You can explore my music/dance/theater performance photography and video here.
Jen Shyu
In the Green Room: Layering Legacies of Asian and Black American Women in Jazz
Created by Jen Shyu & Sumi Tonooka
Asia Society, Jan 12, 2023
Photo by Christopher Pelham
Supported in part by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation as part of its Creative Inflections program, a first-of-its-kind initiative to support leading jazz artists and presenting organizations in innovative collaborations that enable artists to take creative risks and expand the genre’s listenership by attracting younger and more diverse audiences.
https://asiasociety.org/new-york/events/green-room
Tomorrow night 1/27 8pm ET, Carolina Performing Arts presents Jen Shyu's Zero Grasses: Ritual for the Losses at UNC-CH
https://carolinaperformingarts.org/events/jen-shyu-zero-grasses/
#inthegreeroom #jenshyu #mutualmentorshipformusicians #carolinaperformingarts arts #uncchapelhill #jazz #womeninjazz #asianjazzmusicians #jazzphotography #musicphotography #asiasociety #dorisdukefoundation
Maya Keren
Concert for Reproductive Rights, 8/27/22
Photo by Christopher Pelham
I’ll be presenting Maya’s ensemble Careful in the Sun in Crossing Boundaries Concert Series #19 in the White Room at CRS on 1/28/23. Details at crsny.org
Maya is a pianist, vocalist, composer, and songwriter from Philadelphia. A recent Princeton graduate and M³ cohort alumn, “they are interested in the process of environing people, voices, instruments, and sounds in ways that invite connection with one’s erotic instinct, embody compassionate and queer relations with the self and the collective, and destabilize learned systems of domination.”
mayakerenmusic.com
#mayakeren #carefulinthesun #composer #mutualmentorshipformusicians #crossingboundaries #pianist #musicphotography #princeton
Emmanuel Michael
M³ Festival Day 1
Greenwich House Music Hall
June 16, 2022
Photo by Christopher Pelham
Emmanuel will be playing with Maya Keren’s ensemble Careful in the Sun on Jan 28, 2023 at CRS. Details: crsny.org
He has been a part of various diverse ensembles and has had the honor to work with a wide variety of artists such as Rufus Reid, Wycliff Gordon, Matt Wilson, Keyon Harrold, and Immanuel Wilkins. Michael was also a member of the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz Peer-to-Peer All-Star Sextet of 2019, giving him the honor of touring and holding workshops through several schools within the state of Oklahoma with jazz icons Steve Wilson and Lisa Henry, under the direction of Dr. J.B Dyas and Bart Marantz. Michael also toured throughout parts of China and Taiwan under Carnegie Hall’s NYO Jazz 2019 with Sean Jones and Kurt Elling, allotting him the honor of working for two weeks in New York with artists such as Shammie Royston, Obed Calvaire, Erika Von Kleist, and Mathew Stevens. Michael now attends the Manhattan School of Music and works as a professional musician in New York City.
https://www.sfjb.org/emmanuel-michael
#m3festival #electricguitar #guitar #jazzguitar #musicphotography #jazzphotography #EmmanuelMichael #carefulinthesun #greenwichhousemusicschool
Sufi Master Farima Berenji, Ph.D.
https://linktr.ee/farimadance
at Last Frontier NYC, Oct 21, 2022
Photo by Christopher Pelham
#whirling #farima_dance #rumipoetry #whirlingdervish #devotional #sufidance #sacreddance #iraniandance #lastfrontiernyc #dancephotography
Miriam Elhajli
https://miriamelhajli.com
Mercury Lounge, 1/19/23
Photo by Christopher Pelham
Miriam Elhajli is a folk singer, composer-improviser, and musicologist whose work is influenced by the rich musical traditions of her Venezuelan, Moroccan and North American heritage. She ventures into the shadows and brings darkness to the light.
#miriamelhajli #mercurylounge #singersongwriter #folksinger #musicphotography
Miriam Elhajli
Mercury Lounge, 1/19/23
Photo by Christopher Pelham
https://miriamelhajli.com
#miriamelhajli #mercurylounge #singersongwriter #folksinger #musicphotography
Eliza Salem @ M³ Festival Day 1
Greenwich House Music Hall
June 16, 2022
Photo by Christopher Pelham
Eliza will be performing with Maya Keren’s ensemble Careful in the Sun in Crossing Boundaries Concert Series #19 in the White Room at CRS on 1/28/23. Details at crsny.org
Eliza Salem is a drummer currently based in Brooklyn. She is a Metro DC native who learned her craft in the Washington area’s vibrant musical scene under the guidance of mentors Paul Carr and Chris Allen. In the spring of 2021, she received her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan where she had the privilege of studying with professors including Michael Gould, Sean Dobbins, Ellen Rowe, Dennis Wilson, Robert Hurst, and Benny Green, among others. In the summer of 2019, she studied at Brooklyn’s School for Improvisational Music, where she worked closely with Ralph Alessi, Andy Milne, Gerald Cleaver, Kris Davis, Tim Berne, and other distinguished improvisers. In 2021, Eliza was one of 15 fellows selected to take part in the Ravinia Steans Music Institute’s renowned jazz program where she had the opportunity to learn from and workshop original compositions with masters Rufus Reid, Billy Childs and Steve Wilson. Over the last several years she has worked professionally as a bandleader and side person in the greater Detroit and D.C. areas at renowned venues such as Cliff Bell’s, the Blue Llama Jazz Club, Columbia Station, An Die Musik, the Keystone Korner, Twins, and Jojo’s. Since moving to New York City in 2021, she has performed at acclaimed performance spaces such as Dizzy’s, Smalls Jazz Club, the Django, Ornithology Jazz Club, the Harlem Museum of Jazz, 55 Bar, the McKittrick Hotel, and more. In the summer of 2022 Eliza had the opportunity to perform at the Newport Jazz Festival as a part of the Michael Dudley trio.
https://metropolisensemble.org/artists-collection/eliza-salem
#drummer #jazzdrummer #femaledrummer #musicphotography #jazzphotography #m3festival #mutualmentorshipformusicians #carefulinthesun
Eden Girma @ M³ Festival Day 3
Greenwich House Music Hall
June 18, 2022
Photo by Christopher Pelham
Eden will be performing with Maya Keren’s ensemble Careful in the Sun in Crossing Boundaries Concert Series #19 in the White Room at CRS on 1/28/23. Details at crsny.org
Eden Girma is a multi-instrumental musician hailing from Madison, WI. Having grown up at the nexus of widely varying and vibrant musical traditions, Eden creates through a variety of audio-visual-technological media -- bridging realms such as popular music, improvisatory collaboration, expressionism, and experimental electronics. Through a genre-bending compositional ear and a poetic lyricism, Eden aspires to create art that not only resonates with individual hearts, but brings people closer together in a spirit of intimacy and empathy.
As a student in the Boston area, Eden has worked with and studied under Vijay Iyer, Yosvany Terry, Hans Tutschku, Dominique Eade, Frank Carlberg, and Ran Blake. Eden graduated from Harvard College in 2018 with a bachelor's degree in astrophysics and math, and in 2019 completed a Masters in Music in Creative Practice at Goldsmiths, University of London.
Currently, Eden is a graduate student in Princeton University’s Astrophysics department.
https://edengirma.me
#edengirma #carefulinthesun #mayakeren #m3festival #newmusic #musicphotography #jazzphotography #princetonphysics #crossingboundaries
Shanta Nurullah
https://www.shantastoryteller.com
@ M3 Festival Day 4
June 21, 2022
Photo by Christopher Pelham
Shanta will be taking part in the Winter Jazz Fest program THIS IS A MOVEMENT PRESENTS
THE CURRENT STATUS OF
GENDER EQUITY IN JAZZ
Tuesday, January 17, 7 pm, The National Jazz Museum in Harlem
Adding to the momentum of the January 2022 convening, advocates and architects of This Is A Movement share findings and offer perspectives on the continued work towards offsetting over 100 years of patriarchy in our jazz community. Featuring musicians Roxy Coss, Michele Rosewoman, Shanta Nurullah, Paola Prestini, and moderated by Niama Safia-Sandy.
Caroline Davis
At Jazz Gallery, 12/2/22
Caroline will be performing at Nublu at 6:30pm on 1/13/23 as part of 2023 NYC Winter JazzFest’s Friday Manhattan Marathon.
#jazzgallery #jazzgallerynyc #winterjazzfest #carolinedavis #carolinedavismusic #womeninjazz #saxophone #musicphotography #jazzphotography
@kaorigottberg
KOTOHOGI Workshop
By @yoxcaseki @mih0tsujii @kanabum3
Nov 20, 2022 at Dock 11 in Berlin
Photo by Christopher Pelham
#calligraphy #kotohogi #butoh #dock11 #dock11berlin #dancephotography
Kanako Sehara, calligrapher
Preparing for KOTOHOGI workshop
Berlin, 11/18/22
Photo by Christopher Pelham
Marta Sánchez trio concert at @zincbar, 12/30/32.
Photos by Christopher via Pelham
Repost from Marta Sánchez:
Thanks so much to everyone that came and to @chris_tordini and @timothyangulo_ for everything. Also special thanks to @carolinedavismusic and @calebwcurtis for joining us in one tune! ❤️
#jazztrio #zincbar #martasanchez #musicphotography #jazzphotography #womeninjazz
Amirtha Kidambi
Crossing Boundaries Concert #16
Curated by gamin
Tenri Cultural Institute of NY, 12/10/22
Photo by Christopher Pelham
Amirtha Kidambi "takes a holistic approach to singing, which can mean treating every element as unfixed: Words can be opened up, rendered nonspecific. Melody can be repeated and frozen and stuck in place. Markings of rhythm can become utterly abstract, freed from cadence." (New York Times).
Kidambi is the composer and bandleader of her quartet Elder Ones, with Matt Nelson, Max Jaffe and Nick Dunston and the leader of her vocal quartet Lines of Light, featuring Anaïs Maviel, Emilie Lesbros and Jean-Carla Rodea. Kidambi is also a regular collaborator of Lea Bertucci, in a voice and analog electronics duo, is a member of guitarist Mary Halvorson’s Code Girl, featured in various projects with composer and alto saxophonist Darius Jones, a longtime contributor of Charlie Looker’s early music inspired dark folk band Seaven Teares and a soloist in Pat Spadine's analog percussion and light ensemble Ashcan Orchestra. She has collaborated and performed with New York luminaries in the experimental and creative music community including Tyshawn Sorey, Matana Roberts, Ingrid Laubrock, Maria Grand, Brandon Lopez, Daniel Carter, Sam Newsome, Trevor Dunn, Ava Mendoza, Matteo Liberatore and veteran improviser William Parker.
Her debut as a bandleader was met with critical acclaim. As Ben Ratliff wrote in the New York Times, “the aggressive and sublime first album by the band Elder Ones, Holy Science, is a kind of gauge for how strong and flexible the scene of young musicians in New York’s improvised and experimental music world can be.”
http://www.amirthakidambi.com
#crossingboundaries #womeninmusic #musicphotography #jazzmusic #womeninjazz #tenri
Rin Seo
Rin Seo Orchestra
Culture Lab LIC, 12/8/22
https://www.rinseomusic.com
Photos by Christopher Pelham
#rinseo #bigband #culturelablic #musicphotography #jazzmusic #femalebandleader #womeninmusic #femalecomposer #femaleconductor
Sprocket
#horsephotograpy #tallahassee #emeraldhillsfarm #florida #floridalife #horses
Sufi Master Farima Berenji
Dance of the Soul @ Last Frontier NYC, 12/17/22
http://farimadance.com
Photo by Christopher Pelham
#farimaberenji #sufidance #sufidancer #lastfrontiernyc #crsnyorg #whirling #whirlingdervish
Shoko Nagai’s Tokala with violinist Sita Chay & percussionist Satoshi Takeishi at Barbès, 12/22/22
Photos by Christopher Pelham
Tokala explores the ancient connections between Japan and the Middle East established via the Silk Road; this conduit of cultural and commercial exchange left an imprint that became an integral part of Japanese culture.
Bringing together Japanese and Korean folk, pop music and Middle Eastern music, Tokala illuminates and expands the centuries-old connections between these traditions.
http://www.shokonagai.net/shoko-nagais-tokala
CRS will present Tokala on Feb 18 at 8pm in the White Room at CRS. Tickets: crsny.org
#silkroad #silkroadmusic #accordion #piano #violin #jazz #jazzphotography #musicphotography #shokonagai #sitachay #satoshitakeishi
Megumi Eda
Rehearsal for DIVINE, 11/11/22
Theaterhaus Berlin, Germany
Photo by Christopher Pelham
Choreography by Megumi Eda & Yuko Kaseki
DIVINE is a feminist re-imagining of the ballet Giselle and the Japanese ghost story of Oiwa with original sound score composed by Reiko Yamada. Commissioned by CRS.
https://www.megumieda.com
https://www.cokaseki.com
https://www.reikoyamada.com
https://crsny.org
#DIVINE #giselle #oiwa #megumieda #dancephotography #theaterhausberlinmitte #theaterhausmitte
FOCUSING ON HER features three AAPI female musicians — Amirtha Kidambi (Indian-American, voice/saxophone), Yoko Reikano Kimura (Japan, shamisen), and gamin (Korea, saenghwang) — improvising and performing music by AAPI female composers: Amirtha Kidambi (Indian-American), Yoko Sato (Japan), and Yoon-Ji Lee (Korea), with visual projection designed by Bang Geul Han (Korea). Each of the compositions is a prayer or elegy for those who endure or have endured trauma.
Curated by multi-Instrumentalist gamin, this fifth season of Crossing Boundaries consists of three concerts exploring the theme of WOMEN IN MUSIC performed by female and female-identifying musicians. There will be a Q&A following each performance.
Tickets are available on eventbrite.com for $10 – $50 or for cash at the door.
All proceeds will go to the Sendai Chamber Ensemble (SCE), a volunteer group of seven musicians from Sendai and Fukushima that provides concerts to uplift the spirits of the survivors in the region, including performances at more than 300 kindergartens, nursery schools, elementary and junior high schools.
YouTube
Celebrating Rumi's Birthday — Wendi Weng & The Brooklyn Nomads, 9/30/22 at L — Private Gallery
Wednesdays at Noon 28 — Paradise Laboratory with gamin & Jungwoon Kim 2
Wednesdays at Noon 27 — Paradise Laboratory with gamin & Jungwoon Kim 1
Wednesdays at Noon 25: Oud Taksim Huzzam by Tomchess
Wednesdays at Noon 24: Paradise Laboratory 5 with gamin and Galen Passen — Part 3
Wednesdays at Noon 22: Sarve Kharaman (Graceful Cyprus)
Wednesdays at Noon 21: Paradise Laboratory 5 with gamin and Galen Passen — Part 2
Wednesdays at Noon 20: Paradise Laboratory 5 with gamin and Galen Passen — Part 1
Wednesdays at Noon 19: "Marlboro Man" and "A Girl and a Guitar" by Rie Tamuro タムロリエ