Ad-Rock and Money Mark of the Beastie Boys will be joining Talking Heads founder David Byrne's new show Contemporary Color, which pairs various musicians with high-school color guard teams. Indie band Lucius has also been added to the roster, which includes Kelis, St. Vincent, Dev Hynes, Nelly Furtado and Nico Muhly with Ira Glass.
Organizers of the festival have said that Ad-Rock and Money Mark will be penning an original song for the event. This will be the first bit of music that comes from the Beastie Boys camp since the death of member Adam “MCA” Yauch in 2012.
Contemporary Color, which will be presented in Toronto and Brooklyn, will pair 10 teenage color-guard teams from Canada and the U.S. with each musician. According to a press release, each musician will work alongside the creative heads of each color-guard team to produce a “mind-blowing meld of original music and routine.”
Onstage, they will be accompanied by a brass and string section.
Kelis, St. Vincent, Dev Hynes, Nelly Furtado, How to Dress Well and tUnE-yArDs are slated to perform. Composer Nico Muhly will collaborate with Ira Glass, host of This American Life, on one piece while Byrne will be performing an original number.
In an interview with the New York Times, Byrne said he was first introduced to the color guard when a team asked to license music for a competition. After watching a video of the performance, he was automatically enthralled.
“I’d never seen anything like it,” Byrne said. “Because it was in an arena, I could tell that this was a hugely popular thing, but completely unknown to 98 percent of New Yorkers.”
A co-commission of the Brooklyn Academy of Music and Toronto’s Luminato Festival, the show will premiere at the Air Canada Center June 22 and 23. The show will continue at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn June 27 and 28. This will be BAM’s first partnership with its neighboring arena.
Check out the Contemporary Color trailer featuring Byrne below.
© 2024 Classicalite All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
