Fire Museum Presents: Miriam Elhajli & Astroturf Noise
Thursday, May 14, 2020 | 8-10pm | $8 – 15 sliding scale
About The Line-Up
Miriam Elhajli
Miriam Elhajli is a Venezuelan-Moroccan-American composer and vocalist whose work is influenced strongly by the folkloric musics of South and North America, modern jazz, and contemporary classical music.
A graduate of Berklee College of Music, she currently lives in Brooklyn where she performs and works as a researcher at The Association for Cultural Equity founded by Alan Lomax. Elhajli’s debut LP “Observations” is set to be released this spring on Numina Records.
Astroturf Noise
Astroturf Noise exists at the intersection of free improvisation, effects-heavy noise music, and American roots music.
The group’s sound marries the propulsive rhythmic drive of bluegrass with the snarl of Downtown agitators such as the Lounge Lizards, Arto Lindsay, and James Chance along with textural flavors touching on glitch music, dub, doom metal, and Ornette Coleman. A broad melange to be sure, but one anchored by the group’s energetic drive and idiosyncratic improvisational language. This is the synthetic counterpoint to Bill Monroe’s “Bluegrass Boys”.
Astroturf Noise was formed by Sam Day Harmet (mandolin/fx) and Sana Nagano (violin/fx) in 2016 after meeting at Karl Berger’s Creative Music Studio and discovering a shared affinity for high-energy free improv and American folk traditions. After a period of developing as a duo, they added versatile bassist Zach Swanson in 2018. Their debut self-titled album features guest contributions from genre-defying artists Billy Martin (percussion) and Sarah Bernstein (violin).
About Fire Museum Presents
“Since arriving in Philadelphia, Fire Museum Presents has provided an essential resource for open-eared local audiences. Guided by founder Steven Tobin’s impeccable taste and adventurous spirit, the series has brought cutting-edge artists spanning diverse genres to the city, from legendary avant-gardists to up-and-coming envelope-pushers. Fire Museum’s offerings have ranged from free jazz to electronic noise, American Primitive folk to world music fusions, experimental rock to progressive psychedelia, often bleeding over from one hybrid genre to the next. With bills that regularly offer unexpected pairings and often result in spontaneous collaborations, the mere fact that a concert is being presented by Fire Museum is usually sufficient to guarantee that it merits notice.” – Shaun Brady
ACCESSIBILITY STATEMENT
Please note that Vox Populi is located on the third floor of a historic warehouse building at 319 N. 11th Street and that there are five steps leading from the street-level to the first-floor landing where the passenger elevator picks-up/drops-off. The entry into/out of the elevator is 29-inches wide, so may not accommodate all wheelchairs or motorized chairs. Any individual requiring a ramp to navigate this entryway is encouraged to get in touch with Vox Populi ahead of time to coordinate ramp-access and discuss accessibility details. Our ramps may not be suitable for all wheelchairs or motorized chairs, so we strongly encourage anyone requiring a ramp to be in touch at: events@voxpopuligallery.org or 215.238.1236
