Mdou Moctar and Bartees Strange at Brooklyn Academy of Music

Mdou Moctar performing at BAM on Friday, February 25, 2022.

Bartees Strange during his set at BAM on Friday, February 25, 2022.

Curator Hanif Abdurraqib speaks to the audience before Mdou Moctar performs on Friday, February 25. 2022.

Mdou Moctar at BAM on Friday, February 25, 2022.

Audience during Mdou Moctar’s performance at BAM on Friday, February 25, 2022.

On Friday, February 25, 2022, the music series curated by writer Hanif Abdurraqib at Brooklyn Academy of Music began with a sold out show featuring performances by Mdou Moctar and Bartees Strange. Moctar performed Afrique Victime in its entirety while Strange performed two brand new songs during his set.

I covered the show for BAM and a review of the first show can be found on Stage Biz, written by Cindy Sibilsky, here and the next live performance of the series takes place on Thursday (March 23rd) with Dawn Richard and tickets are still available for that event. I’m absolutely thrilled to be documenting the series for BAM and very excited to see all the performances taking place there over the next couple of months.