Interview with Orchestre Poly-Rythmo
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The Orchestre Poly-Rythmo can best be described as musical godfathers of the West African nation of Benin, where successive generations of musicians have been inspired by the sounds of funk and vodoun (voodoo) music which first emerged from the homes of young men living in 1960s Cotonou, the economic capital of the country. →

It was 1964. Lagos, Nigeria was a densely populated metropolis, giving birth to a wide range of African music. This was before the civil war, when the city was experiencing an influx of new residents who introduced music that differed in style and purpose. As various cultural groups gathered, an environment marked by new instruments, patterns of movement and cadences melded together. Externally, African music varies in ideological and social perspective, as well as in harmony and instrumentation. →

An interview with Jiji Panda
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In China, the national symbol is not a dragon, a Ming dynasty urn, or a red star, but a cute animal- the giant panda. Infamous worldwide for their generally docile nature and overwhelming cuteness, pandas have even been sent to other countries from China as big greeting cards of peace, a practice the media termed “Panda Diplomacy.” As of this article, they are still listed as an endangered species. However, a new species of panda is breeding successfully, in fashion and cute goods sites all over the world, and he doesn’t eat bamboo and loaf around, smiling. →

Interview with Os Mutantes
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It was in 1966 in Sao Paulo, Brazil where visionary brothers Sergio Dias  and Arnaldo Baptista teamed up with singer, Rita Lee, to form the seminal band, Os Mutantes.  The results were an astounding and pleasurable sonic blend of psychedelic rock and Tropicalia.

The Brazilian music movement occurred in the early sixties, starting from a visual arts installation, but quickly branched out to include all aspects of Brazil’s rich cultural scene.  Its philosophies are based on antropofagia or the cultural and musical cannibalism of all societies, generously absorbing influences from all genres and concocting a unique syncretic blend of art, music and film. →

An interview with Hank Willis Thomas
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Hank Willis Thomas’ cousin Songha was the model older brother—talented and charming, he won many academic and athletic honors before almost finishing up a degree in communications to pursue a career in broadcasting. At age 27, his life ended outside a Philadelphia nightclub, where two men held Songha and two friends at gunpoint. Songha had not resisted. He lay prone on the icy floor when one of the gunman, after having taken some money and jewelry, shot him in the back of the head. For the Willis family, Songha’s death, however painful and senseless, was not without meaning. Hank thought about the circumstances of his cousin’s murder—who else but a black male would end another black male’s life over some jewelry? →

A Profile on Daniel Woodford
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Daniel Woodford is a visual artist whose designs encompass elements of spirituality, science and philosophy. His work is self-referential, bearing both meaning and emotion that stems from his background. Born in an impoverished and overcrowded capital of Indonesia and later adopted by an English couple, they moved as a new family to Scotland where Daniel “gained a sense of gratitude and a worldly perspective” early on. With his father as an entomologist and his mother as a ceramist, he developed concepts that connected art and psychology. Many are unaware, including Daniel’s family and friends, that he experiences deja vu quite frequently- actually too often. He explains that this odd synergy occurs by the minute. →

A feature on Bryant Yeh

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Architect Bryant Yeh’s “Suprematist” is and isn’t your ordinary bench. It functions as any bench should (i.e., it supports even an ample bottom) and it’s gorgeous to boot. Yet from matter to pattern, this specimen is anything but run-of-the-mill. The piece’s christening also points to something deeper. While the bench’s repurposed material is consistent with its 19th C namesake, a Russian aesthetic championing the “rediscovery of pure art which… ha[s] become obscured by the accumulation of ‘things’, the Suprematist manifests an aspect of Yeh’s approach at every stage of his architectural and design work. →

A feature on Tricia Rose
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In a society where creativity and criticism coexist, it almost seems contradicting that there remains little space for discourse. One category that helms much debate is the state of hip hop. Its reputation is slated as a cultural phenomenon, and although its origin was conceived nearly twenty years ago, the complexities that surround its emergence still remain. Prevailing issues that incestuously relate to hip hop, some of which include racism, poverty and misogyny →

An interview with Tad Nakamura
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There is a longing for community that we all strive for, and for those of us whose identities dictate that the personal cannot be separated from the political, documentary filmmaker Tadashi Nakamura’s work strikes a resonant chord. His work speaks to the power and passion of young people who have fought to re-claim the narrative of the American experience, an experience that cannot exist apart from ideas of diaspora, activism, and empowerment. →

Interview with RJD2
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The past decade has been good to 33-year-old “RJ” Krohn. Most widely known as “RJD2,” producer and songwriter Krohn has a body of work that’s spanned funk-sampling hip-hop instrumentals and pop-accessible acoustic numbers. RJ’s Philadelphia home, packed tight with synthesizers, organs and other instruments, bursts with his tools of trade arranged just so for the kind of synthesizing and splicing that frequently make up his aesthetic: in one stroke, he can sample Scooby Doo and The Twilight Zone, or Elliott Smith and Betty Wright, to create seamless soundscapes with the feel of a futurist Hitchcock soundtrack. →