The Soundshop 2020 Review
2020: The growing pains of becoming.
The last year pushed many of us toward becoming the best version of ourselves through resilience and exploration. Soundshop artists have honed these emotions into musical metamorphoses. I would like to take the time to celebrate the extraordinary musicians and our experiences together in 2020.
LIFE BEFORE THE ‘RONA
It’s shocking, but there was a time before Corona! We managed to secure our first residency at Rockwood Music Hall Stage 3, a location whose ambiance embodies my vision for The Soundshop. At the first live event, Shelly Thomas performed on the oud along with voice in an emotional sonic journey. At the second live event, Matt Wood joined forces with Lily Desmond to debut their composition Common Ground. Raphael Cohen of Chk Chk Chk premiered his solo project Las Palabras in a chill performance sung in Spanish with fun anecdotes relating to the audience.
ONLINE EVENTS
I am proud of The Soundshop community’s willingness to adapt to an online format as we experienced the new normal together. In lockdown, the sense of community The Soundshop strives to provide through music reminds us we are not alone. These are some of the online events that took place between March through May.
Bartees Strange In Concert and Conversation
Bartees Strange addressed what it meant to be a black artist growing up in Oklahoma. Bartees also performed covers of The National and his own original tunes featured on his EP. He released Live Forever in the summer leading to interviews with some of the most notable musical publications including Rolling Stone, Billboard, and NPR. Spin.com chose Bartees Strange’s “Boomer” as the song of the year while ranking his album at number two to Fiona Apple’s.
Music and Language
In this presentation I examined neuroscience, biology, anthropology, and clinical psychology to argue that music emerged before linguistic capacity in humans. Barbara Clark, who lost her speech through a traumatic brain injury spoke next. She went on to tell her story of how she miraculously regained her ability to sing and play piano. After she described her path to recovery, her heart-wrenching performance demonstrated the restorative power of music.
EMERGING FROM LOCKDOWN
The Black Summer Solstice Salon
The aftermath of George Floyd’s murder was tough for me: it felt like America was ripping itself in two, and it made me painfully conscious of being a black man in America. My education, privilege, and the fact I don’t drive, often isolates me from the emotional understanding of what I know intellectually. But George Floyd’s murder made it impossible to ignore, and I knew that I had to do something. But what? After attending protests with members of The Soundshop community, I faced the daunting question of curating my June 21st show.
After a lot of soul searching, I decided the best thing I could do was elevate the voices of fellow black artists. Tan Brown and ALXNDR’s moving performances and remarks gave a powerful voice to their personal experiences of what it means to be black in America. The event, hosted at the black co-owned restaurant Pates Et Traditions in Williamsburg, was the perfect way to conclude Juneteenth weekend. The event gave those in attendance a much-needed opportunity to process the moment while simultaneously celebrating being black in America.
NOTABLE INTERVIEWS:
Miri Ben-Ari
In my conversation with Miri Ben-Ari, she delved into the importance of music as “a vehicle to create zen and bring spirituality into your life”. She gave her takes on the importance of music education in young children and introduced her violin line that produces rich tones at affordable prices. She delved into her influence as a string artist and the importance of being the first violinist to be featured in a hip-hop song.
The Soundshop Gets Interviewed
I spoke to Yuko on her Spotify podcast where I discussed how I grew from an unenthusiastic pianist to running a music event platform. I delved into my life in 2020 and how it forced me to grow as an event producer and adapt to the challenges of the year. I was also interviewed by Emileena Pedigo, where I discussed the intersection between business, data, creativity and how that translates into The Soundshop.
OH AND THAT REALLY SICK EP
We took on the insane idea to produce, organize, rehearse, record, edit, and upload an entire album in the span of three weeks! This Halloween EP features Soundshop artists presenting their many talents while dealing with the time constraints of the approaching holiday. We used our creative process to develop an album that uses its eerie vibes to integrate blues, Halloween and neuroscience. We featured the songs “In The Pines”, “God Moves On The Water”, and “St. James Infirmary” for their spooky content and historical context. You can read about and listen to the album on Soundcloud.
Thank you to everyone for making this such an amazing year despite the difficulties we faced. Soundshop’s achievements have encapsulated the perseverance of 2020 and more importantly, the rewards of being in this together. I am proud of Soundshop’s musicians and the way they dug deep into this community to create light in unprecedented times.
with love and music,
Akpanoluo
