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December 5: Blitz the Ambassador at the Museum of African Art

Posted by on November 21, 2012 at 10:09 am
On December 5, 2012, the Museum for African Art’s young patrons group (Emerging Leaders for African Art) will host a year-end celebration featuring a live performance by Ghanaian-born, Brooklyn-based hip-hop artist Blitz the Ambassador, who Rolling Stone calls “the future of African music.” Attendees will enjoy great live music, festive food and drinks, and a selection of silent auction items curated for the young collector. The event will take place at the new cultural entertainment venue, MIST Harlem, at 40 West 116th Street in Manhattan, New York City. Tickets to this event be purchased online atwww.africanart.org/benefit. Proceeds will help support another year of exciting programs and exhibitions at the Museum for African Art.Blitz says: “Growing up in Ghana was the best thing that ever happened to me… music was always live to me.” Check out this video about the artist’s roots, influences, and sounds.Blitz the Ambassador EPK from MVMT on Vimeo.

ABOUT THE MUSEUM FOR AFRICAN ART

The Museum for African Art is dedicated to the arts and cultures of Africa and the African Diaspora. The Museum is internationally acknowledged as a preeminent organizer of exhibitions and publications related to historical and contemporary African art, with programs that are as diverse as the continent itself. Throughout the Museum’s history it has been heralded as a leader in the field, pioneering the way African art is presented and interpreted. This year alone, Museum for African Art exhibitions were displayed at seven different venues on three continents. Over its 28-year history, the Museum has organized nearly 70 exhibitions of historical and contemporary African and Diasporic art that have travelled to over 140 venues in 17 countries over 4 continents.

While it prepares for the public opening of its new building, the Museum continues to develop important exhibitions that travel to major venues internationally and that are accompanied by scholarly publications and a wide range of public programs for adults, families, and schoolchildren, held at locations throughout New York City.

More information about the Museum for African Art at www.africanart.org.

ABOUT BLITZ THE AMBASSADOR

With a spot-on sense of flow, Ghanaian-born, Brooklyn-based MC, composer, and producer Blitz the Ambassador muses on émigré alienation and history’s shadows. Blitz’s unique sound – sparked in Accra yet forged in the African diaspora – is set to swirls of brass, distorted guitars, and the crackle and pop of old amplifiers. Blitz grew up in Accra during the golden age of hip-hop, when the fierce promise of Afrocentric, intellectually discerning rap was at its peak. He was surrounded by a profusion other musical influences, from hip-hop to highlife swaying at a nearby soccer field to the kora and drums played for chiefs and sub-chiefs. Artists like Marvin Gaye and Michael also made their mark. Blitz shifts between Twi, West African Pigeon, and English, between R&B and Ethiopian funk jazz, without losing a beat. His new album, Native Sun (Embassy MVMT; May 3, 2011), is “a journey backwards, back through hip-hop, the Caribbean soundsystem culture that preceded it, back to its African roots, with the final kora.”

More information about Blitz the Ambassador at www.blitz.mvmt.com.

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