Khumariyaan with Bumbu Sauce (Reunion Show)
Presented by the Center for Cultural Vibrancy and District of Raga.
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Doors at 6, show at 7
Tickets: $22 advance/ $25 day-of show
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Khumariyaan, meaning "people in a state of bliss," is on a mission to re-awaken a once vital musical tradition of the Pashtun people.
The groups’ founder, Farhan Bogra, didn’t start playing the once ever-present stringed rubab until he was an adult. After befriending one of the last remaining elder masters of the rubab, Bogra set out to learn this complex instrument himself, eventually surrounding himself with a group of like-minded musicians. Together they used the different elements of the rubab to anchor to a new sound, rooted in the past while energetically pushing towards the future.
When Farhan Bogra decided to create a new rock and roll sound with the rubab, he was charting new territory. There were very few bands in the region, let alone rubab-centered rock bands. He wanted to create a BIG rock sound that could move crowds and attract the younger audiences that had moved away from more traditional Pashtun music. Khumariyaan officially formed in 2009 with the understanding that the band needed both a steel string guitar player and nylon string guitar player to mimic the strings of the rubab so it wouldn't get lost in the big rock sound. The members are Bogra on rubab alongside musical friends Shiraz Khan on a goblet shaped drum called zerbaghali (zee-baar-lee), Sparlay Rawail on lead guitar and Aamer Shafiq on rhythm guitar.
Khumariyaan became a sensation almost instantly amongst young Pashtun’s eager to identify with their own musical and cultural history. Combining their culturally Pashtun musical roots with a rock edge sent audiences into a frenzy.. In a Khumariyaan live performance, you will often see guitarist Sparlay Rawail set down his instrument to dance. He is soon joined by his bandmates in a circle dance that builds in tempo and energy in the centuries old traditional Attan dance, serving as a reminder of a long and powerful cultural history for the Pashtun people. Speaking to the deep importance of dance to Pushtan culture, guitarist Sparlay Rawali remarks “they say the ultimate form of torture \\[ for a dancer\\] is to tie him to a tree and play music around him.”
Khumariyaan’s repertoire often consists of traditional Pashtun music re-worked for their unique instrumentation. They recently added singer Obaid Khan, a powerful vocalist who sings in multiple languages.
In October 2010, Masterjee Bumbu drove around Islamabad, Pakistan, handing out precisely 100 copies of Bumbu Sauce's new EP, Bistee Proof. The band of four school friends, after playing music together for 15 years, had finally gotten its act together long enough to record a four-song EP with the legendary Nick Blagona (Cat Stevens, Nazareth, Deep Purple) at Jukasa Studios in Canada.
In the few years that the act stayed together, Bumbu Sauce played several sporadic live shows in Pakistan, toured the UK, was an object of fairly persistent curiosity for foreign journalists in Pakistan, and even won a fancy shmancy award. However, as band members started to settle abroad one by one, the demands of Brown adulthood put the band on indefinite hiatus.
After having discovered the fundamentally fraudulent nature of adulting, Zakoota Bumbu, Jeevaylaal Bumbu, Colonel Bumbu and Masterjee Bumbu are back. Because as we all know, the implosion of human civilization requires a Punjabi punk rock soundtrack.
Listen here: https://soundcloud.com/bumbu-sauce
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Outdoors at Current Space – Enter through the back at 421 Tyson Street
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Events at Current Space are rain or shine. Tickets are non-refundable.
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Accessibility and Parking Info: currentspace.com/visit
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Khumariyaan is on tour in the USA as part of Center Stage, an initiative of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs with funding provided by the U.S. Government. It is administered by the New England Foundation for the Arts in cooperation with the U.S. Regional Arts Organizations. General management is provided by Lisa Booth Management, Inc.
www.centerstageUS.org
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Current Space is an artist-run gallery, studio, outdoor performance space, and garden bar; nourishing an ongoing dialogue between artists, activists, performers, designers, curators, and thinkers. Operating since November 2004, we are committed to showcasing, developing, and broadening the reach of artists locally and internationally.
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