There was magic brewing on the campus of Cal State Los Angeles ton February 22nd the kind that puts a love spell on everyone who walks into its path. Miguel Atwood-Ferguson and his 40-piece orchestra managed to set the entire Luckman Fine Arts Plaza afloat on Sunday night with Timeless: Suite for Ma Dukes, their gorgeous re-imagining of J Dillas best known works. Surprise guests filtered in throughout the night, including Common, Talib Kweli andPosdnuous from De la Soul. Dillas inspiring mother was a beacon throughout the performance, small in stature but mighty in spirit.
If you listen closely to the music, the possibilities are endless
Ma Dukes (February 22nd, 2009.)
The energy onstage was infectious, and the audience was just as emotionally invested in the performance as the musicians. One could feel the grand swoops and shimmering intricacies of the music just by the motion of Atwood-Fergusons hands. When Dwele came out to do Angel, he had to stand back in awe for several moments to take in the beauty of what he was about to sing over.
In true Dilla fashion, one classic begets another, and we got to see that progression take place right before our eyes.Diana Moreira led us through the bossa nova lilt of Stan Getz and Luiz Bonfas Saudade Vem Correndo,containing the famous hook Dilla sampled into the Pharcydes Runnin. Minutes later, the orchestra changed tempo and transformed the bossa nova mood into Dillas inspired jam with vocal contributions by Amp Fiddler, Bilal andShafiq Husayn of Sa-Ra. Bilal then sang Reminesce and brought the crowd to the verge of rapture.
The night rounded out when Posdnuous surprised everyone and did his verse of De la Souls Stakes is High, and then brought on Talib Kweli to do Doves verse. The chorus which included OhNo, Alchemist, Illa J, Frank Nitty, Rhettmatic, Ma Dukes, J Davey, Houseshoes sang out the refrainLove, Vibration - eventually turning the mic over to the audience to sing along. An encore of Slum Villages Fall in Love left everyone with the sweet high that only falling in love can bring about.
People will be talking about this majestic performance for years and blessed are the ones who were able to see it bloom firsthand.
So thought I’d throw another Flip Vid in the mix from that day, Pas and everyone practicing Stakes is High in the smaller auditorium across from the spot due to a dancing convention or something going on the main stage Saturday.
Just a quick shout out to our good friends at Asideworldwide to say nice work on this event. It was on 2.14.09 at the at The Music Hall in the D. Here’s the 411: Words and Rythms of the D is an on-going, year-long program created in ‘07 that challenges young adults in the Detroit area ti improve reading and writing skills through spoken word, writing workshops and poetry performances. 2.14.09 was the 2nd “primetime” program with featured headliner Talib Kweli, as well as the D’s own, internationally published poet, Jessica Care Moore along with Music Halls‘ own Fluent and performances by participants. Asideworldwide – good looking out here, always solid to see relevant community involvement be a vital part of what you do, and this is a program VTech is stoked to support. The New Model at work.
Hard to believe it’s been almost a year since the last SXSW, and we’re gearing up for another amazing 4 days of music in Austin, Texas. This will be VTech’s 5th year sponsoring shows and events at SXSW, and each year seems to get bigger and better. We started at SXSW with Stones Throw Records and Esquire Magazine, and have since added others to the mix. This year we will be partnering again with Filter for the Showdown at Cedar Creek, the PureVolume Ranch, SPIN at Stubb’s, and iheartcomix. We have also added a Saturday showcase with long time marketing partner ReadyMade magazine. We are also having our good friends at Asideworldwide do a showcase evening at PureVolume, should be a great eve. And of course we have to give a shout-out to Linds and Jules at Viva La Rock….they have been our guiding light into this world and we appreciate everything they do for us.
Here are the dates and times of our VTech sponsored events at SXSW. Hope to see you there
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