Wednesday, March 26, 8:00pm
The Poetry Project at St. Mark’s Church (131 E. 10^th Street)
Celebration of Federico García Lorca’s Poet in New York

Reposted from the website: “Join us as we revisit Federico García Lorca’s Poet In New York, newly translated by Pablo Medina and Mark Statman and published by Grove Press. Written during Lorca’s nine months as a student at Columbia University at the beginning of the Great Depression, this is widely considered one of the most important books he ever wrote, and one of the greatest book of poems ever written about New York City.

With Ron Padgett, Jaime Manrique, Bill Zavatsky, Jane LeCroy, Pablo Medina, Mark Statman, Iraida Iturralde, Aristides Falcon and flamenco music with Roman Diaz on cajon, Carlos Revollar on guitar and other musicians tba.”

Thursday, March 27, 2008, 7:00pm
Housing Works Bookstore (126 Crosby Street)
Ledig House International Writers

Three writers from The Ledig House international writers’ residency program will read Thursday at Housing Works. Amsterdam poet Julien Holtriger, who is currently at work on an epic poem, has three volumes to his name, and his poem “Dichter” won the Amsterdam Free University Stage Prize in 2003. Mikhail Shishkin is a Russian fiction writer whose work has been published in Russian, German, French, Italian, Polish, Serbian, Chech, Bulgarian, and Chinese. Born in Turkey, Buket Uzuner writes short stories, travelogues, and novels; is a biologist and environmental scientist; and now lives in Istanbul.

With the demise of the major record industry’s omnipotence and the simultaneous explosion of independent music labels, underground music has begun to see an unprecedented renaissance. Online guerilla marketing tactics have allowed dynamic DIY artists to pave their way towards a well-deserved takeover, creating fresh new ways to experiment with music production.

The Politik, a project of UK’s lovely chanteuse Bembe Seque and cohort Mark de Clive-Lowe, is just such a phenomenon of subtly rewriting the way albums traditionally get to be produced. A familiar name in the US future soul/broken beat scene, Mark de Clive-Lowe is the musician and producer behind hundreds of collaborations with the likes of Omar, Platinum Pied Pipers, DJ Spinna, Dego, or Kenny Dope.

The Politik’s self-entitled debut album featuring a stellar line-up of guest producers and MCs, such as Blu, Bahamadia, repLife, Waajeed (Bling47), Daz I-Kue (Bugz in the Attic), and Jason Yarde, has already received critical acclaims and will no doubt be written into future musical lexicons as one of the foundational records of the growing future soul movement.

And here is the revolutionary twist they put on their first baby: the album is up for grabs for anyone who feels up for the challenge to redress it. Yes, that’s right, ya’ll are invited to participate in The Politik Remix Album & Artwork Competition. The deadline to submit your work is April 14, 2008.

The competition has two parts, you can either choose to remix any number of the tracks on the album and/or remaster the artwork for the cover. The competition will be judged by an impressive crew of judges, such as The Politik (Bembe Segue + Mark de Clive-Lowe), Benji B (Deviation 1xtra), Phil Asher (restless soul) and Afronaught (coopr8/Bugz in the Attic), and the winning remixes will be compiled into the upcoming official remix album. Don’t sleep on it!

Listen to the original album and download the tracks and artwork to be remixed here and link’em on myspace.

The Barbican in London, which has been serving up a tantalizing array of reggae cult classics since March 12th, only has a week left in its Film Jamaica series. The series runs parallel to the Barbican’s seasonal run of The Harder They Come, a musical adaptation of the groundbreaking, seventies Jamaican feature starring the legendary Jimmy Cliff. And while the musical runs in the theatre, the original celluloid headlines the Film Jamaica series.

The Harder They Come tells the country-boy-meets-world story of a young musician who moves to Kingston with dreams of becoming a singer, but who quickly becomes an outlaw. The soundtrack features seminal reggae hits “You Can Get It If You Really Want,” “Many Rivers to Cross,” and the eponymous title track.

This Wednesday, Film Jamaica will premiere Rockers, a 1970s documentary-style exploration of the Robin Hood myth in roots music culture during Jamaica’s music industry heyday.

For your viewing pleasure, check out the Film Jamaica series here and the musical here.