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Poet Hanif Abdurraquib on curating at Brooklyn Academy of Music: “We’re building a world around the vastness of Black performance”
NME about curating Brooklyn Academy of Music’s spring 2022 music series to “build a world around the vastness of Black performance”.Through multiple books, including Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes on A Tribe Called Quests and A Little Devil in America: Notes in Praise of Black Performance, the National Book Award finalist and MacArthur “Genius Grant” recipient has built a career focused on extending the “understanding of the multitudinous and global nature of Black performance.”With the intention of highlighting Black musicianship, celebrating the return of in-person communal experiences, and “expanding my imagining of what a live music concert can be”, the essayist and critic organised America’s oldest performing arts centre’s first foray into live music since the start of the COVID pandemic.The intimate and creative shows, which kicked off on February 25 and run until May 21, have featured Abdurraquib’s hand-picked selection of artists, including Moses Sumney, Bartees Strange, Devonté Hynes, and L’Rain, with performances from Mavis Staples and the premiere of Omar Offendum’s hip-hop musical, Little Syria set for next month.“It’s interesting to be in a position where you can do anything, because my initial response was, ‘Well I don’t wanna do anything’,” Abdurraquib told NME.
