Nubya Garcia - Tiny Desk (home) Concert

 

NPR Music's Tiny Desk (home) concerts, bringing you performances from across the country and the world. It's the same spirit — stripped-down sets, an intimate setting — just a different space. 

September 16, 2020 | Suraya Mohamed -- Look to the left of Nubya Garcia's Tiny Desk (home) concert and you'll see a hanging plant swaying right above the keys. It never stops moving during the next 23 minutes, and it's for a bizarre reason. Garcia's (home) concert took place on a boat — a first in Tiny Desk history — because she was in between homes. Before the pandemic hit, the London-born jazz saxophonist and composer was booked for an extensive global tour that started in February 2020, and it was expected to continue through the end of the year. Because she was only going to be in London for a very short time, she gave up her flat, planning to stay with family and friends for short breaks. It seemed like a good idea until March, when COVID-19 shut down most of the world and the tour, too. 

Garcia and her band are at Soup Studio, a recording facility built on a decommissioned floating lighthouse moored on the River Thames. It's also where Garcia recorded her excellent new album, SOURCE. This set features three songs from the record; the title track starts it off with a reggae, dub vibe. Garcia skillfully uses the entire range of her tenor saxophone, hitting convincing low and high notes with ease and resolve. Throughout the set, her tone is gorgeous, her musical intuition perfect. She projects rich and full melodic lines with refined solos that leave just enough space to take in the expressive sincerity of the music. There are no lyrics but her music conveys a message of staying grounded, being present in the moment and appreciating the comforts and feelings of what it means to be home. 

SET LIST 

"Source" 

"Pace" 

"Boundless Beings" 

MUSICIANS Nubya Garcia: tenor saxophone: Joe Armon-Jones: keys; Daniel Casmir: double bass: Sam Jones: drums; Richie Seivwright: vocals; Cassie Kinoshi: vocals 

CREDITS Video by: Fabrice Bourgelle; Additional Cameras: Lou Jasmine, Israel Wilson; Audio by: David Holmes; Mixed by: Kwes at Soup Studio; Producer: Suraya Mohamed; Audio Mastering Engineer: Josh Rogosin; Video Producer: Morgan Noelle Smith; Executive Producer: Lauren Onkey; Senior VP, Programming: Anya Grundmann

Common - A Beautiful Revolution pt 1

 

Thanks for sending me this one Jess, I'll leave it right here. 

Black Skin - Tarshea Wiliams

 

Bounty Killer Christopher Martin - No Gun A Rise

 

Yes Emz out deh!

Amanda Gorman - The Hill We Climb - Inaugural Poem

Amanda Gorman, the first-ever National Youth Poet Laureate, became the youngest-ever inaugural poet. As a person with a speech impediment, she's said she can relate to Pres. Biden and his refusal to be silenced by his stutter

 Quiet isn't always peace ...

There is always light

If only we're brave enough to see it 

If only we're brave enough to be it. 

Order The Hill We Climb and other poems here and here... 

Locksmith Freestyle on Sway In The Morning with Fat Joe and Dre in the building

 

This 2019 Locksmith Freestyle keeps popping up in my feed and I had to share. Thanks Anxism for this one  

The MC - Where I'm From (Virtual Performance)

 

Hopped back in my time machine for a virtual performance of this one

Where I'm From 

Produced by Adrian Locke, Truckback Records  

The MC - Step Up (Virtual Performance)

 

Stepped into my time machine for a virtual performance of this one

Step Up 

Produced by Kabir Bonner Grillaras Production

Enny ft Jorja Smith - Peng Black Girls remix - Colors Show

 

KRS-One - BLACK BLACK BLACK

The MC covers Musiq Soulchild Just Friends (Sunny)

This November marks the 20th anniversary of the debut album Aijuswanaseing from Musiq Soulchild. 

Wow 20 years ago... really? Around that time I would’ve been taking a huge leap of faith with my craft, career and heart. Finally I was compiling actual songs from all the poetry, prose and verses inked in the back of schoolbooks, and beat-boxes and melodies hummed into tons of mini cassette tapes. Love was new and I'd been attracted to her long enough now to pursue with my offerings.

Just Friends (Sunny) written by Carvin "Ransum" Haggins, Bobby Hebb, Taalib Johnson, produced by Ivan "Orthodox" Barias, Carvin "Ransum" Haggins. 

 With Musiq's range being so very close to mine this is my favourite song to cover. Early encounters with love (or building from the friend zone). This song flows very much like a conversation as does the entire album, as often do I, ready to break into my rap... gimme a beat-box.

My Soul Has a Hat - Mario De Andrade

MY SOUL HAS A HAT 

I counted my years 

& realized that I have

Less time to live by, 

Than I have lived so far.

I feel like a child who won a pack of candies: at first he ate them with pleasure, 

But when he realized that there was little left, he began to taste them intensely.

I have no time for endless meetings where the statutes, rules, procedures & internal regulations are discussed, 

knowing that nothing will be done.

I no longer have the patience 

To stand absurd people who,

despite their chronological age, 

have not grown up.

My time is too short: 

I want the essence, 

my spirit is in a hurry. 

I do not have much candy

In the package anymore.

I want to live next to humans, 

very realistic people who know

How to laugh at their mistakes,

Who are not inflated by their own triumphs 

& who take responsibility for their actions.

In this way, human dignity is defended 

and we live in truth and honesty.

It is the essentials that make life useful.

I want to surround myself with people

who know how to touch the hearts of those whom through the hard strokes of life have learned to grow, with sweet touches of the soul.

Yes, I'm in a hurry.

I'm in a hurry to live with the intensity that only maturity can give.

I do not intend to waste any of the remaining desserts.

I am sure they will be exquisite, 

much more than those eaten so far.

My goal is to reach the end satisfied 

and at peace with my loved ones and my conscience.

We have two lives

& the second begins when you realize you only have one.

Mario De Andrade (San Paolo 1893 -1945)

Poet, novelist, essayist, musicologist, one of the founders of Brazilian modernism