Relatively Speaking: Family as Refuge
Featuring
Fanoos Ensemble
The HawtPlates
Martha Redbone Roots Project
The Villalobos Brothers
Amal Murkus & Firas Zreik
Curated in Collaboration with Trinity Church Wall Street
Programming Consultant Annie Ohayon
Directed by Sarah Benson
Tickets for our Refuge concert series are Pay-What-You-Wish, ranging from $15 to $120 per ticket.
REFUGE – a place or a feeling of safety, comfort, community, and regrowth.
Relatively Speaking gathers artists from around the globe who have built their careers making music with their family members. A band of brothers whose music fuses Mexican folk and jazz. A husband and wife team who mix Kentucky blues and gospel with the eclectic grit of pre-gentrified Brooklyn. An Afghan ensemble of father and sons who are unable to perform in their home country where all music has been banned. Together these artists will celebrate the love, acceptance and understanding we find in the refuge of our families – those we are born into or the families that we choose for ourselves.
Photo of The Villalobos Brothers by David Garten.
Please note: This production includes smoke/haze throughout the performance.
Fanoos Ensemble
Fanoos Ensemble features four brilliant Afghan musicians: famed singer and Afghan TV star Ahmad Fanoos on vocals & harmonium, his sons Elham Fanoos on piano and Mehran Fanoos on violin, and Hewad Wardak on tabla. Unable to perform inside Afghanistan today, where the Taliban has banned all music, the group carries the flame of Afghanistan’s rich and complex musical heritage, from its pre-Islamic Buddhist period to the modern era.
The HawtPlates
The HawtPlates is a family singing group that was formed in a one-bedroom apartment in The Bronx. They create live vocal works by breaking down vernacular musical forms and reconstituting them into other modes of performance, producing sound tonics and “one pots”, harkening to the spirit of the family heirloom recipe. Their work honors their lineage and personal histories while outwardly reporting an ultimately human experience.
Amal Murkus
Amal Murkus is a Palestinian singer & actress of international renown. Her extensive vocal range and versatile musical abilities enable her to sing in a wide variety of genres, ranging from traditional Arab roots to modern popular Western styles. Often known as the Voice of Palestine, Amal’s songs take inspiration from Palestinian folkloric themes as well as original compositions that feature elements of pop, rock, Western Classical, jazz and many global influences, creating a breath- taking modern and authentic sound.
Martha Redbone Roots Project
Martha Redbone- vocalist/songwriter/composer/educator, longtime collaborator/husband Aaron Whitby and family band of funkateers, play Afro-Indigenous Americana- “a brilliant collision of cultures” (New Yorker)- a music gumbo of folk, blues and gospel inspired by her childhood in coal country Appalachia infused with the eclectic grit of pre-gentrified New York City.
The Villalobos Brothers
The Villalobos Brothers have been acclaimed as one of today’s leading Contemporary Mexican ensembles. Their original compositions and arrangements earned the group a Grammy Award in 2023 for Fandango at the Wall in New York, a recording led by Arturo O’Farrill and Jorge Castillo, featuring the Conga Patria Collective, a group of masters of the Son Jarocho traditional music from Veracruz.
Firas Zreik
Composer & Kanun player Firas Zreik has performed and recorded across the world as a leader and highly sought collaborator. The Palestine-born New Yorker has transformed global perception of the Kanun. His treatment of the instrument preserves its identity and stretches its potential as a cultural chameleon enhancing a range of fresh, evolving sounds. His nuanced approach translates the Kanun’s resonant depth of emotion, with a mastery of microtonal soundscaping.
