MDOU MOCTAR - Fri, Sep 25th, 2026 at 7:00 pm
Mdou Moctar is a prodigious Tuareg guitarist and songwriter. Mdou Moctar boldly reforges contemporary Saharan music and "rock music "by melding Eddie Van Halen pyrotechnics, full-blast noise and guitar shredding, field recordings, drum rhythms, poetic meditations on love, religion, women's rights, inequality, and Western Africa's exploitation at the hands of colonial powers to rip a new hole in the sky with the Afrique Victime album.
THE SAAMI BROTHERS - Sat, Sep 26th, 2026 at 7:00 pm $50
Hailing from Karachi, Pakistan, the Saami Family are the living custodians of one of the world’s
oldest and most powerful musical legacies. A Sufi dynasty with an unbroken lineage spanning
nearly 800 years, the family—led by Ustad Naseeruddin Saami—are master practitioners of two deeply spiritual and technically demanding traditions: Khayal and Qawwali.
Passed down solely through oral tradition, their vocal artistry embodies a rare level of mastery.
The Saami family uniquely blends the contemplative stillness of Khayal—rooted in breath,silence, and tone—with the ecstatic, rhythmic devotion of Qawwali. This expert juxtaposition creates performances that are both meditative and electrifying, offering a transcendent serenity found only in such profound command of form. Equally at home performing each tradition on its own or weaving them together in a single set, they are dynamic, genre-defying artists whose range continues to captivate audiences worldwide. Each performance is spontaneous, deeply felt, and entirely unique.
PAST PERFORMANCES
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Nour Harkati is a Tunisian New York–based desert blues musician and singer-songwriter, forging a powerful bridge between ancestral North African traditions and the raw pulse of contemporary urban sound. Deeply rooted in spiritual Gnawa rhythms and the trance-driven spirit of desert blues, he blends the ancient resonance of the Guembri with gritty NYC drums, electronic textures, and modern songcraft. The result is a sound that is both meditative and electrifying-philosophical in depth, yet irresistibly groove-driven.
His latest album, Moulena (December 11, 2024), premiered worldwide on Live on KEXP and stands as a vibrant homage to his North African roots and a tribute to those who journey far from home. With poetic lyricism and infectious rhythms, Moulena marks a bold new chapter—where the soul of the desert meets the relentless energy of New York City.
After eight transformative years living in NYC, Harkati has performed on major international stages, including GlobalFEST at Lincoln Center, Celebrate Brooklyn Festival, and Habibi Festival, and will take up a month-long residency at Pioneer Works. Across continents and communities, Nour Harkati continues to redefine desert blues for a global audience—honoring lineage while fearlessly pushing it forward.
