INTERVIEW: Harlem Stage goes global for ‘Babylon Beyond Borders’
Photo: Babylon Beyond Borders features performances from musicians around the world, including Sarah Elizabeth Charles and SCOPE. Photo courtesy of Harlem Stage / Provided by GOGO PR & Marketing with permission.
Live musical performances in four venues around the world will be live streamed for a special event called Babylon Beyond Borders: An International Dialogue Around Contemporary Exile. The New York City participant for the global initiative is the legendary Harlem Stage, which will host Sarah Elizabeth Charles and her band, SCOPE.
Joining Harlem Stage for the Feb. 16 multimedia project is the Bush Theatre in London, Market Theatre Lab in Johannesburg and Pequeno Ato in São Paulo. The performance starts at 2 p.m., and audiences can watch online and experience the live stream.
Charles & SCOPE will collaborate with Pedro Granato (São Paulo), Mwenya Kabwe (Johannesburg) and Ruthie Osterman (London). Their work together will honor cross-border solidarity and creativity. Audience members can also catch a ticketed evening performance with Charles and SCOPE. That kicks off at Harlem Stage at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 13
Recently Hollywood Soapbox exchanged emails with Charles, a vocalist and educator. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
What can audience members expect from your performance at Babylon Beyond Borders?
The shows that are a part of Babylon Beyond Borders are a set of collaborative performances between the U.S., Brazil, South Africa and the U.K. that will be live streamed globally. With content that the partner artists have generated together, we have created a production inspired by themes surrounding the idea of Babylon, including language, borders, belonging, longing, community, otherness, movement, communication and much more.
The audience can expect a performance that is raw, representative of the communities in which they are taking place and fully accepting of the complexities of the medium through which we are communicating. This is one of the first performances of its kind to include four countries broadcasting on one live stream. It will certainly be eventful and we are beyond excited.
Will it be extra special that your performance will be broadcast around the world?
This is perhaps the most important and special part of the entire project. The accessibility is global, and we are therefore moving beyond borders by designing the performance this way from the beginning. In today’s world, people seem to focus on what separates us rather than what unites us. Through this production, we are using art and technology to connect with one another. It’s been a really beautiful process.
What’s your artistic collaboration like with SCOPE?
My band, SCOPE, has been together for nine years now. Our collaboration is deeply rooted at this point, and the main mode of operation seems to be about genuine and instinctual interaction/communication. I write the music, and we shape it together. We shape it together and then change it from performance to performance.
I’m so fortunate to have a group of musicians committed to developing sound in such an honest way. It really allows me as a songwriter to go where it feels natural and to explore. That’s perhaps the most important thing to me about being a creative human being.
What inspired Free of Form, your most recent record?
Free of Form was inspired by many different things, but from one perspective. With our last record, Inner Dialogue, my songwriting took the form of a deep dive into the revelation of my internal world and thoughts. Free of Form is written from the perspective of looking outside of myself rather than inside. It’s a record that reflects my perspective on various issues in our world today, including violence, mass incarceration, racism, sexism, addiction and poverty.
The courage to write this record stemmed directly from my teaching artist work in association with various organizations and institutions including Carnegie Hall, The New School University and Rise2Shine (a non-profit base in Fond Parisien, Haiti). The people that I’ve been lucky enough to meet through teaching have shown me that fearless creation is the only kind worth engaging in. I was much more fearful prior to experiencing the bravery of my students and am so grateful that I get to exchange with people in this way.
What have been some of your accomplishments (and proudest moments) as a teaching artist over the years?
This is a tough question to answer. I think that as a teaching artist, the exchange that I mentioned above comes to mind first. The idea that teachers and students can interact and learn from one another isn’t something that I understood well as a student. The exchange is real and crucial to the growth and development of both parties, and I think that realization is my largest accomplishment. I’ve come to understand that there is always something new to learn from everyone. It’s pretty cool.
The singer provided additional news about her upcoming performance.
On her students joining this multimedia project:
I chose to include students in this project because they are the people who reflect and project hope. The young people that I’ve gotten to work with at the WHEELS school in New York City are so wonderful and talented and their teacher, Graham Johnson, is amazingly supportive. Their responses to the prompts around the topic of Babylon were poignant and wise, and I love that we were able to compose material together that now includes over 25 different co-writers. I also cannot wait to share the final product with them as they have not heard all the music in its final state. We will now all forever be a part of this project, and I’m super proud that they were so willing to be involved.
On the November workshop with her international collaborators:
One of my biggest discoveries during the November workshop was that artists are artists no matter where they are from. I’m laughing to myself as I write this, but it’s true. It’s amazing how artists move through and see the world.
Mwenya (South Africa), Pedro (Brazil), Ruthie (U.K.) and myself (U.S.) all got into a room having never met before and immediately started responding, reflecting, creating and re-creating together. There was this chemistry and fluidity that was really beautiful. I guess we’re pretty fortunate that this happened. The ego didn’t seem like it had much place in the room. It felt like the collaboration was exactly that, a collaboration, and that is because of the human beings that Ruthie chose to have involved. Even now, as we are in our final week of rehearsals, the commitment to letting the performance speak honestly is palpable and it’s such a great energy to be around.
On the sonic connection between the Babylon project and the SCOPE concert:
For our performance on Feb. 13, I will be playing material from our Babylon project with my band SCOPE in addition to compositions from our most recent record and our upcoming 2020-2021 release. The Babylon project feels extremely connected to how we function as a band and to the material we currently perform, which attempts [to] lyrically look out at the world in a curious, concerned, hopeful and loving manner.
The connection more specifically feels like it’s always there because I wrote all the music with my band and closest musical collaborators in mind (including Jesse Fischer who is hosting, co-producing and playing for the Babylon performances in partnership with Harlem Stage at his studio Electrik Indigo). This performance will be made up of a collection of my most recent sonic spaces. I cannot wait to reveal its framing around Babylon and share it with you all.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapox.com
Harlem Stage presents Babylon Beyond Borders Feb. 16 at 2 p.m. Sarah Elizabeth Charles and SCOPE will also perform at 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 13. Tickets for the evening concert are $25. Click here for more information and tickets.
