Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – Laurie Anderson’s upbeat LET X = X and Gregory Maqoma’s transcendent BROKEN CHORD kick off BAM’S Next Wave 2023 with a bang

• By drediman
• October 20, 2023
• No Comments

This week, the 2023 version of the Brooklyn Academy of Music‘s Next Wave Festival kicked off with a bang with a pair of memorable offerings (see below for my further thoughts on them). Leaner and meaner, this year’s festival marks the landmark 40th iteration of the celebrated multi-disciplinary series in which music, theater, and dance are equally put on their head – often times in the same show.

LAURIE ANDERSON: LET X = X
BAM Howard Gilman Opera House

Earlier this week at the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, the festival officially commenced with Let X = X (RECOMMENDED), a one-night-only concert by the one and only Laurie Anderson, the legendary performance artist who also happened to appear in Next Wave’s maiden season way back in 1983. Anderson has long been a beloved fixture in the New York and global avant-garde scenes, making waves with her intoxicating and artful mix of probing spoken word, forward thinking music-making, and technological curosity. Ecstatically backed by the jazz outfit Sexmob, this week’s performance was a sort of “best of” assemblage of some of Anderson’s most well known compositions (e.g., “Walk the Dog”, “From the Air”, etc.), albeit with vibrant new arrangements. Indeed, paired with Sexmob’s more accessible and celebratory sound, the evening had the typically poker faced Anderson floating on Cloud Nine. Suffice to say, the playful and upbeat concert was met with emphatic approval by Tuesday night’s audience, many of whom have been regular attendees of Next Wave for some time (like yours truly). Although a part of me missed the rigorous experimentation and introspective angst that have become the trademarks of Anderson’s, Let X = X was an inarguably fitting way to kick off Next Wave 2023.

BROKEN CHORD
BAM Harvey Theater

Just a few days later at the BAM Harvey Theater, choreographer Gregory Maqoma and composer Thuthuka Sibisi unearthed a lost episode in history in the South African production Broken Chord (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED), which depicts the real life experience of a South African choir as they toured England and North American during the 1890s. Despite being met with racism and ignorant behavior, the members of the troupe were able to muster the courage to continue on with dignity, thereby proving their mettle and resiliency. By essentially eschewing painstaking realism in favor of a loosely suggestive mode of theatrical expression, Maqoma and Sibisi have given the piece a sleek conciseness and visceral momentum that sidesteps any temptation to fall into didacticism. The fact that Broken Chord is as much dance theater as it is music theater – the show is gorgeously sung and danced throughout – speaks to the work’s unity of vision. Indeed, that it stylishly blends the two so seamlessly is a testament to the fruitfulness of the collaboration between its creators. On opening night, the performances were also on the same page, as well, starting with Maqoma himself, who embodied the spirit of the choir (his appearances in the production are allegedly his final ones as a performer) alongside a quartet of terrifically talented singing dancers (or vice versa?). Together, they poetically transmitted joy, restlessness, and rage, and were altogether transcendent.