Sara Serpa’s composition “Primavera” is included in the pioneering book “New Standards: 101 Lead Sheets by Women Composers”, edited by Terri Lyne Carrington.
“The inexhaustible drummer, producer and composer Terri Lyne Carrington’s latest multidisciplinary project was born out of a revelation.
Of course, I played with women that wrote their own material, so that was a given to me: that women are composers.” But, she added, she hadn’t fully realized how much learning about jazz and jazz composition was based on “material that was all written by men.” It’s a problem she addresses head-on with “New Standards: 101 Lead Sheets by Women Composers,” a book due Friday, and an album featuring 11 of its selections.“
The NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship is a $7,000 unrestricted cash grant available to artists living in New York State and/or one of the Indian Nations located therein.
This grant is awarded in fifteen different disciplines over a three-year period (five categories a year) and the application is free to complete. The NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship is not a project grant, but is intended to fund an artist’s vision or voice, at all levels of their artistic development.
I am back in Portugal and really happy to present my most recent project, Intimate Strangers, in Lisbon (my hometown!) and Porto. Intimate Strangers was created in collaboration with the Nigerian writer Emmanuel Iduma, drawing inspiration from Iduma’s book A Stranger’s Pose, a unique blend of travelogue, musings and poetry, with a foreword by Teju Cole.
Combining music, text, image and field recordings collected by Iduma during his travels, Intimate Strangers explores such themes as of movement, home, grief, absence and desire in what Iduma calls “an atlas of a borderless world”. Like echoes from a distant reality, Intimate Strangers aims to reflect on how we see the other and how we describe hospitality and humanity for future generations.
Dia 18 de Julho, 18h Festival Robalo- Antena 2, Auditório do Liceu Camões (Lisboa) Entrada gratuita/ Free entrance Sara Serpa, Sofía Rei, Aubrey Johnson voice Erin Pettigrew spoken word Qasim Naqvi modular synth Fabian Almazan piano Marta Viana luz
This engagement is supported in part by Mid Atlantic Arts through USArtists International, a program in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the Trust for Mutual Understanding, and Arte Institute.
M³ will stage 19 live performances and six brand new duo commissions at their inaugural in-person festival, co-presented with NYC Winter Jazzfest. The concerts will feature musicians including Fay Victor, Val-Inc aka Val Jeanty SoundChemist, Shanta Nurullah, Michele Rosewoman,Monnette Sudler,Malika Zarra, Sumi Tonooka, Erica Lindsay, Caroline Davis, Jen Shyu & Sara Serpa and many more.
As venues and festivals re-open, many clubs, performing arts centers and festivals are still programming mostly male, established musicians, who have always dominated programming. The Mutual Mentorship for Musicians (M³) Festival, co-presented with NYCWinter Jazzfest, proposes a drastic reversal of this imbalance by presenting 19 women and non-binary bandleaders. The festival spans five days as performers, M³’s commissioned composers and workshop leaders provide powerful examples of women and non-binary perspectives to music lovers, students, families, children, other musicians and music industry professionals.
Portuguese vocalist-composer Sara Serpa presents her new work Encounters and Collisions at City of Asylum’s Jazz and Poetry Month Festival, in Pittsburgh. A commission by Chamber Music America, drawing inspiration from Somali-Italian writer Igiaba Scego’s book My Home is Where I Am, Encounters & Collisions combines music and text to reflect on ideas of identity and migration influenced by Scego’s writings on the post-colonial relationships between African and Europe.
Featured Musicians: Sara Serpa (voice, composition); Ingrid Laubrock (saxophone); Angelica Sanchez (piano); and Chris Tordini (bass).
2/23 Wednesday, 8:30 pm 55 West 13th street Sara Serpa (voice) Caroline Davis (sax) Chris Tordini (bass) Lesley Mok (drums)
2/24 Thursday, 8:30 pm 55 West 13th street Sara Serpa & André Matos Sara Serpa (voice) André Matos (guitar) Dov Manski (piano) Jeong Lim Yang (bass) Kendrick Scott (drums)
2/25 Friday, 8:30 pm 55 West 13th street Intimate Strangers Sara Serpa (voice) Sofia Rei (voice) Aubrey Johnson (voice) Qasim Naqvi (modular synth) Matt Mitchell (piano) Nehassaiu deGannes (spoken word)
2/26 Saturday, 8:30 pm 55 West 13th street World Premiere of CMA Jazz Works ‘Encounters and Collisions’ based on Igiaba Scego’s book ‘Home is Where I Am’ Sara Serpa (voice) Ingrid Laubrock (saxophones) Angelica Sanchez (piano) Erik Friedlander (cello)
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THE STONE AT THE NEW SCHOOL COVID PROTOCOL 1. everyone must have proof of vaccine and photo ID 2. everyone must wear a mask 3. maximum of 35 audience members
Those who do not have proof of vaccine and photo ID will not be allowed into The Stone at The New School.
Vocalist/composer Sara Serpa presents her collaboration with Nigerian author Emmanuel Iduma on the show of December 14th to feature music from her stunning new album Intimate Strangers. The album is offering musical insight into the journeys and experiences of migrants, refugees, and displaced people.
Intimate Strangers is due out December 3, 2021 via Biophilia Records and features vocalists Serpa, Aubrey Johnson and Sofia Rei with pianist Matt Mitchell and synth player Qasim Naqvi creating vivid soundscapes for stories from Iduma’s book A Stranger’s Pose.
Sara Serpa, Sofía Rei, Aubrey Johnson- voice
Erin Pettigrew- narrator
Qasim Naqvi – modular synth
Matt Mitchell- piano
Tickets are $10 and proof of vaccination and ID will be required at the door. Masks are required for all visitors.
With music from the new album Intimate Strangers, this video was filmed at the heart of Luanda’s Island forest, directed by Fradique, one of the most exciting and talented voices of Angolan Cinema and produced by Geração 80. I feel incredibly honored for having his vision complement the music I created together with Sofía Rei, Aubrey Johnson, Matt Mitchell and Qasim Naqvi, with words by Emmanuel Iduma.
Here is what Fradique says: “It was an absolute pleasure to do this video. The pace of the song and the lyrics are truly inspiring for me as a filmmaker. As if a tree is slowly bursting out of the earth, the song carries a peculiar floating weight that defies gravity. Visually I wanted to bring the setting of an old forest fable into the video and combine that with an everyday working-class tale – the carwashers. It was shot in the old forest of Luanda’s Island, a space abandoned by the city, where people still come looking for answers among carwashers, religious cults and the old trees.”
The single “For You I Must Become a Tree” is out today Friday November 26th, on all platforms.
From the album: Intimate Strangers Music by Sara Serpa Words by Emmanuel Iduma
Vocalist-composer Sara Serpa collaborates with Nigerian author Emmanuel Iduma on a stunning new album offering musical insight into the journeys and experiences of migrants, refugees, and displaced people.
Intimate Strangers, due out December 3, 2021 via Biophilia Records, features vocalists Serpa, Aubrey Johnson and Sofía Rei with pianist Matt Mitchell and synth player Qasim Naqvi, creating vivid soundscapes for stories from Iduma’s book A Stranger’s Pose.
“A fresh and riveting presence on the vocal-jazz landscape.” – Nate Chinen, JazzTimes
” Serpa possesses a preternatural cool, injecting weightless sophistication and melodic grace into everything she touches.” – Peter Margasak, Chicago Reader
Album release concert Tuesday, December 14 at National Jazz Museum, Harlem
There’s no better way to connect with the humanity of a stranger than to hear their stories and to share our own. On their poignant and striking new collaboration, Intimate Strangers, the extraordinary vocalist-composer Sara Serpa and the Nigerian writer Emmanuel Iduma traverse the African continent, sharing the author’s personal journey and collecting the tales of fellow travelers and migrants he meets along the way. Through Iduma’s insightful text and Serpa’s transcendent music, the lens widens to explore the struggles and emotions experienced by anyone who’s left their roots behind to seek the uncertain promise of a distant horizon.
“There were a lot of stories in Emmanuel’s book that really resonated with me,” Serpa explains. “While Recognition dealt with my country’s past relationships with Africa, I felt like his book presents a much-needed perspective of what borders actually mean. Through his travels and encounters with so many people just trying to cross into Europe, Emmanuel raises all these questions about traveling, migrating and leaving your home behind.”
