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NEW YORK, June 30 - DJs and turntablists on both sides of the Atlantic speak the same musical language—hip-hop—but in different dialects. StudioSound: the black atlantic project, presented by The Studio Museum in Harlem and the British Council USA, is an innovative, collaborative sonic art project that explores black culture and music across two continents. Through a one-of-a-kind trans-Atlantic musical dialogue, musicians and producers in the United States and Britain took turns interpreting and remixing an original composition, passing the results from artist to artist like a hip-hop chain letter. Each artist’s mix and the final track, infused with beats from both sides of the Pond, will be presented as part of The Studio Museum in Harlem’s lobby music installation, StudioSound.
“the black atlantic project is concerned with communication through music and a chance for a group of eclectic producers to work together on a common musical theme,” says Charlie Dark, the London-based sound artist, DJ, and writer who curated the project and composed the initial track, Naima’s Theme, for his newborn daughter. “It’s supposed to inspire and provoke conversations ... I don’t think that music exists without the social consequences and influences.”
Dark sent Naima’s Theme, along with a personal “audio letter,” to Djinji Brown, a musician and DJ based in Miami, for remixing and reinterpretation. In an inspired game of sonic “telephone,” Brown passed his new piece and a new audio letter to vocalist Netsayi in Bristol. The ever-changing track then made its way to DJ King Britt in Philadelphia, musician Martin Iveson (also known as Atjazz) in Derby, American producer and MC Mike Ladd, and innovative Brit-hop and soul producer Tony Campbell (also known as Dobie) in London, before returning to Dark for a final remix.
Through the evolution of the black atlantic project, a simple composition honoring a child's birth became a commentary on cultural links across the Atlantic. The project pays homage to Dr. Paul Gilroy’s book The Black Atlantic: Modernity and Double-Consciousness, which theorizes that the black experience can be traced back to the shared history of the slave trade, transcending geography, nationality, culture, and gender. By exploring artistic innovation and exchange through a conversation between communities on both sides of the Atlantic, the black atlantic project highlights contemporary music’s role in deeper conversations about identity and the fertile shared heritages of British and American ideas of “blackness.” And although hip-hop was born in the Bronx, it has a global presence that makes it the perfect medium for an artistic discussion of “black Atlantic” culture.
“I don’t think you realize the power of hip-hop until you travel out of America,” says Dark. “It’s … a huge global force.”
the black atlantic project will be installed just off the atrium of The Studio Museum in Harlem as part of the Museum’s StudioSound project. Visitors to the Museum will hear the final Charlie Dark remix, and sample the collective work at each stage of its development through sound-isolating headphones. Through the personal, reflective audio letters composed by each participant, Museum visitors will also receive a guided tour of a unique collaborative artwork as it was made.
An ever-evolving sound installation at The Studio Museum in Harlem, StudioSound invites musicians, producers, and musical innovators to create original compositions inspired by the works on view. From Daniel Bernard Roumain’s classically inspired interpretation of Chris Ofili’s watercolors, to DJ Scientific’s remix and reinvention of Harlem Sounds, to Marc Cary’s piano and Fender-Rhodes tribute to abstraction, AbSTraKT BlaK, this commissioned project enlivens the Museum’s lobby and adds a parallel dimension to the art and artists on view.
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ABOUT THE BRITISH COUNCIL USA: An arm of the United Kingdom's international organization for educational and cultural relations, the British Council USA increases recognition of the wide array of learning opportunities available in the UK and facilitates educational cooperation between the US and UK. The organization also showcases British creativity by introducing the American public to high-quality, groundbreaking artistic achievement, and highlights the UK's scientific innovation in disciplines ranging from biotechnology to planetary science. Through its work, the British Council USA endeavors to promote an image of the UK that is up-to-date, vibrant, in the vanguard of new thinking and fully representative of the country’s geographic and cultural diversity.
CONTACT: Stacy Hope
(202) 588-7849
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