H.Sinno is a composer-performer, writer, and designer based in New York. They have been the lyricist and front-person for Mashrou Leila since 2008, engaging conversations around representation, free speech, gender justice, and sexual freedoms in the Middle East. H has a BFA from the Department of Architecture and Design at the American University of Beirut, and an MA in Digital Musics from Dartmouth College where they analyzed the vocal organ and digital vocality as sites of political negotiation. Their writing has been published by Poetry Project, Frieze Magazine, The Derivative, Theater Magazine, Bard College & others. Their debut full-length opera, Westerly Breath, was in development at The Industry Los Angeles, and opened at the New York Met Museum in January 2024. Westerly Breath braids Egyptian mythology, and architectural history into a semi-autobiographical portrait of queer trauma, leveraging myth, monument, and memoir as vectors of dismemberment and remembrance. Their solo debut, Poems of Consumption, opened at London’s Barbican Centre in July 2023, and is currently on tour in the US. Partially inspired by Mark Fisher’s Capitalist Realism, Poems of Consumption is a song cycle built on poetry published in Amazon customer reviews, covering themes like ennui, surveillance capitalism, heartbreak, boycotts, and orientalism, with compositions that juxtapose harsh electronica with the whimsy of a string quartet.
Category: Global Music
Tarta Relena
Started in 2016 as an acapella project between Helena Ros and Marta Torrella, Tarta Relena’s electronic-accented folk reimagines the traditional music of the Mediterranean as a growing form unbound by precedent. At ArtPower, the Catalan folk duo will perform from their newly released album, És pregunta.
Cesária Évora Orchestra
A Tribute to the Barefoot Diva Tour
The Cesária Évora Orchestra brings together the cream of Cape-Verdean musicianship and vocalists to honor the late and legendary Cesária Évora. This tribute to the “Barefoot Diva” features some of Cape Verde’s greatest voices, including Elida Almeida, Teófilo Chantre, Lucibela, and Nancy Vieira alongside band members from Évora’s band.
Anoushka Shankar
Anoushka Shankar brings to ArtPower a new band of musicians with whom she has carved out a new, multifaceted and dynamic sound as they perform music from her three newly-released mini-albums Chapter I: Forever, For Now, Chapter II: How Dark it Is Before Dawn, and marking the release of Chapter III (Untitled) coming in March 2025, alongside thoroughly shaken-up, reinterpreted gems from her previous releases including the Grammy-nominated live album Between Us…
Sessa
Vinyl DJ set by B+
Sessa is a long-time fixture of both the American and Brazilian music scenes. Initially known for collaborating with NY guitar legend Yonatan Gat and co-founding the São Paulo psych-funk combo Garotas Suecas, Sessa released his debut album, Grandeza, in 2019. In their review of the album, the New Yorker described Sessa as “a songwriter cut from Veloso’s mold and blessed with a flair for the intimate, the enigmatic, and the licentious.”
Sessa’s songs are sung in Portuguese, with visceral, sensual lyrics, and melodic flourishes not unlike those of Tom Jobim. However, the music gets a deliberate minimalist treatment rarely found in contemporary Brazilian music, more reminiscent of the bareness of Leonard Cohen.
Sessa’s concerts are already stuff of legend, as he takes the stage accompanied solely by a female backing choir and Afro-Brazilian percussion. While the songs often deal with subjects such as the sensual body and spiritual transcendence, the music points to new, more subtle directions for Brazilian pop music – a deep, minimalist, almost insinuated use of the endlessly rich textures and rhythms that define the songwriting history of Brazil, which Sessa joins as one of its most promising new voices.
Reggae SummerSplash Festival
Reggae SummerSplash is an annual festival presented by the WorldBeat Cultural Center in San Diego and has a 13 year history of celebrating reggae music and culture. Each year the festival features performances by renowned reggae artists, providing a vibrant atmosphere that brings together fans of the genre. Come out and enjoy this year’s summer festival with the family! There will be a world pop up market including food and beverage vendors.
This year’s lineup features Mykal Rose, Warrior King, Etana, Alika, Kush and the Bloodfiyah Angels, Quinto Sol and Revival!
Presented by WorldBeat Cultural Center and ArtPower
Schedule
4 pm: KUSH
5 pm: Quinto Sol and Alika
6:30 pm: Etana
7:45 pm: Revival and Warrior King
9:15 pm: Mykal Rose
Pop-Up Cultural Market
Olivia’s Kitchen
West Coast Hot Chicken
Native Like Water
San Diego 350
NEXGEN EMF
Rose Reggae
Bak Carving
Black Buddha Imports
and more!
Ana Tijoux
with J Noa
One of the most respected MCs in any language, Ana Tijoux has been winning over fans around the world since her debut 1977 bubbled up from an underground sensation into mainstream recognition after being featured on the hit TV show “Breaking Bad” and favorited by Radiohead’s Thom Yorke.
“South America’s answer to Lauryn Hill: equally skillful at singing and rapping,” (New York Times), Tijoux brings her new album Vengo on tour to the US—her first full US tour since 2018—which showcases the nimble MC over lush, golden-era hip-hop production rooted in traditional Latin instrumentation.
Born in France to Chilean parents in political exile during Pinochet’s dictatorship, Tijoux moved back to Chile as a teenager and found a home in the emerging hip-hop scene of Santiago. In concert, Tijoux takes the stage with a full band that brings to life the intricate arrangements of the new album, a whirlwind trip through hip-hop, jazz, and funk, spiced with a bit of politics and her great sense of humor that has led audiences around the globe fall in love with her.
OKAN
Fusing Afro-Cuban roots with jazz, folk and global rhythms in songs about immigration, resistance and love, OKAN takes their name from the word for heart in their Afro-Cuban religion of Santeria. With vocals in Spanish, English and Spanglish, OKAN is led by the Cuban-born violinist and vocalist Elizabeth Rodriguez and percussionist and vocalist Magdelys Savigne, both Grammy and Latin-Grammy nominees.
Red Baraat
“A Big Band for the World.”—Wall Street Journal
Red Baraat is a pioneering band from Brooklyn, New York. Conceived by dhol player Sunny Jain, the group has drawn worldwide praise for its singular sound, a merging of hard driving North Indian bhangra with elements of hip-hop, jazz and raw punk energy. Created with no less a purposeful agenda than manifesting joy and unity in all people, Red Baraat’s spirit is worn brightly on its sweaty and hard-worked sleeve.
Reemerging in 2021 with a renewed focus, energy and sound, Red Baraat headlined the Wolf Trap Performing Arts Center with master percussionist, Zakir Hussain, performed at the Dubai World Expo, and toured its 10th annual Red Baraat Festival of Colors.
Bantu Continua Uhuru Consciousness
“BCUC bring punk-rock energy and hypnotic rhythms to social activism.”—New York Times
Music for the people, by the people, with the people.
Rebellious, spiritual, and exhilarating, BCUC’s live shows are transcendent rites of explosive sound. Following in the pulses of their ancestors, they awaken crowds to the power of a shared, fairer future. With their high-energy performances they have become one of South Africa’s most successful musical exports. Tapping into the pulses of their ancestors, they awaken crowds to the power of a shared, more just future.