MFM SPEAKS OUT

In this episode of MFM Speaks Out , host Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi (aka SoSaLa ) speaks with internationally acclaimed trumpeter, composer, filmmaker, and educator Volker Goetze about his lifelong journey through jazz, West African griot traditions, flamenco, and socially conscious artmaking. Volker reflects on discovering jazz in Cologne through artists like Miles Davis, Sun Ra, and Don Cherry, an...

Guest: Leon "Kaleta" Ligan-Majekodunmi (Afrobeat guitarist, composer, bandleader) Host: Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi, aka SoSaLa , MFM President Key Topics & Highlights Kaleta’s early life in Benin Growing up near the Nigerian border Secretly learning guitar against family expectations First musical breakthroughs through church and street performances Moving to Lagos at age 15 Learning English while b...

ABOUT THE EVENT Musicians For Musicians Celebrates 10 Years of Music Advocacy with Star-Studded Performance Event at The Cutting Room "In this crazy time with so much social-political-cultural turmoil happening here in the US and around the world,” says Ladjevardi, “I firmly believe that musicians' vital role is to speak out for their communities and come up with messages that will create solidari...

In this episode of MFMSpeaks Out, Dawoud Kringle and Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi discuss the birth, history, mission, and future of Musicians For Musicians. Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi's inspiration for founding MFM, the problems in putting the organization together, including how to define its objectives and methods, MFM's relationship with other musician organizations (such as the Musicians Union), ho...

In this episode of MFM Speaks Out , Dawoud Kringle comes out of retirement to present a 2023 retrospective. We will share some of the content we brought to you in 2023, and  enjoy a few other surprises as well.     Our guest for the January episode was Haana.  Haana is a violinist, vocalist, electronic music artist, visual performer, and entirely self-contained as a one-woman orchestra. She played...

"We Had Changes We'd Never Thought of That Created Surprise and a Chaotic Feel." Our guest for this episode of MFM Speaks Out is Mark Chimples, a.k.a. Mark C . Mark is the guitarist and synthesizer player with Live Skull. Formed in 1982, Live Skull is considered by many aficionados to be the quintessential New York City noise band. Rising concurrently with bands such as Sonic Youth and Swans, Live...

"I Didn't Look For The Fula Flute; It Came And Got me!" Our guest for this episode of MFM Speaks Out is Sylvain Leroux . Sylvian is a flutist, saxophonist, guitarist, composer, arranger, bandleader, educator, inventor, and prominent member of Musicians for Musicians. Sylvain Leroux grew up in Montreal where he studied classical flute at Vincent d’Indy; and improvisation and composition in New York...

"I think Live Music Will Always be Very Exciting and There Will Always Be a Market For It." Our guest for this episode of MFM Speaks Out is Keyna Wilkins . Wilkins holds a Master of Music Composition at Sydney Conservatorium, studied composition, classical and jazz piano, and classical flute with several prestigious instructors, and intuitive conceptual improvisation with Tibetan Buddhist musician...

Our guest for this episode of MFM Speaks Out is Adam Reifsteck . Adam is a New York-based composer, electronic music artist, producer, entrepreneur, and music activist. He writes for small ensembles, produces electronic music, and performs improvised group compositions on Wi-Fi-connected laptops. He has collaborated with string quartets, university choirs, and visual and electronic artists. His ap...

" When I Started to Consciously Put it all Together, I was Forging My Own Path and Creating My Own Way of Putting These Elements Together. " Our guest for this episode of MFM Speaks Out is Haana . Haana is a violinist, vocalist, electronic music artist, visual performer, and entirely self-contained as a one woman orchestra. She played with Kanye West , Alvin Ailey , as well as festivals such as Jo...

" You inspire us to work hard to improve the service we do for the music community ."  In this episode of MFM Speaks Out , Dawoud Kringle offers a retrospective of the progress of the MFM Speaks Out  podcast in 2022. The guests mentioned, and / or whose music was included, include Ken Butler, Ariel Hyatt, Neel Murgai, Banning Eyre, Baba Don Eaton Babatunde, William Parker, Bruce Lee Gallanter, Jef...

"Our bedrock is education. We’re always intent upon creating beautiful alliances." Our guest for this episode of MFM Speaks Out is April Centrone. April Centrone is a multi-instrumentalist (specialising in the riqq, darbuka, frame drum, trap drum, and oud), co-founder of the New York Arabic Orchestra, teacher, composer, film producer and director, and music therapist based in NY / NJ.  She has tou...

"You have to take yourself seriously and find your own voice." Our guest for this episode of MFM Speaks Out is Hubert Howe . Hubert Howe grew up in Los Angeles, California, where he began his musical studies as an oboist. He was educated at Princeton University, studied with J.K. Randall, Godfrey Winham, and Milton Babbitt, and received the A.B., M.F.A. and Ph. D.. He was one of the first research...

"I Like the Power of the Simple Expression of a Musical Idea." Our guest for this episode of MFM Speaks Out is Jeff Slatnick . Jeff has been an employee and later the owner of Music Inn for over 54 years. Music Inn is one of the oldest music stores in New York City (second in longevity only to Sam Ash). It is a landmark music store in the West Village of NYC specializing in imported world and west...

"I find Joy in Discovery All the Time!" Our guest for this episode of MFM Speaks Out is Bruce Lee Gallanter, the owner and proprietor of Downtown Music Gallery (DMG), a Manhattan based music store that specializes in new, used, hard to find, and out of print CDs, Vinyl, DVDs, and books. DMG was started in 1991 by David Yamner & Steve Popkin, with Gallanter working for the store. They remained in t...

"Music is Defined as Anything that is Beautiful, and What Makes Something Beautiful is Music" Our guest for this episode of MFM Speaks Out is free jazz bass master William Parker . Parker was born in the Bronx, New York City, and grew up in the Melrose housing project. His first instruments were the trumpet, trombone and cello. Parker had no formal training as a classical player, but in his youth...

" You Gotta Make Them Say 'Wow!' " Our guest for this episode of MFM Speaks Out is Baba Don Eaton Babatunde . He is a percussionist and master of African drumming and the rhythms of the African Diaspora in the Americas. Baba Don has performed and recorded with Abidun Oyewole and  The Last Poets , Pattie Labelle, Joe Henderson, Donald Brown, Jason Linder, Tyrone Jefferson, Tevin Thomas, James Spaul...

" Recognizing yourself in (this music) or finding a mysterious familiarity is something completely unexplainable ." Our guest for this episode is Banning Eyre . Banning Eyre is a writer, guitarist and producer, and the senior editor and producer of the public radio program Afropop Worldwide.  He has traveled and done music research in over 20 African countries, as well as in the Caribbean, South A...

"We're Creating New Musical Art Forms Indigenous to Brooklyn." Our guest for this episode is Neel Murgai . Neel is a sitarist, overtone singer, percussionist, composer, teacher, and Co-Artistic Director of the Brooklyn Raga Massive , a raga inspired musician's collective.  He is a graduate of Goddard College's MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts program, and studied sitar with Pundit Ravindra Goswami in...

"The Old Ways of Music Monetization are Gone, and We Have to Think of Other Ways of Monetization" In this episode of MFM Speaks Out , Dawoud Kringle interviews Ariel Hyatt . Ariel is a digital marketer, writer, and teacher who assists independent musicians in career development. She is the author of Music Success in 9 Weeks  (2009), Cyber PR For Musicians (2013),  Crowdstart (2016), and other book...

"I've Always Been Interested in Finding Connections Between Art and Music" - Ken Butler Our guest today is Ken Butler.  Ken is a musician, experimental musical instrument builder, and visual artist. He builds hybrid musical instruments and other artworks that explore the interaction and transformation of common and uncommon objects, altered images, sounds and silence. His work combines live music,...

" You inspire us to work hard to improve the service we do for the music community."   Episode Summary: In this episode of MFM Speaks Out , Dawoud Kringle offers a summary of our progress as a podcast and of MFM as a whole during the year 2021, and shares music from our guests.  Episode Notes: In this episode of MFM Speaks Out , Dawoud Kringle offers a summary of the work he, Adam Reifsteck , and...

"We cannot be in lockdown forever with this virus…we need events…we need art in our lives, and we need interaction with art and with music. More importantly, music cannot be taken for granted. We can make shows happen in a safe and positive way for everyone involved." In this episode of the "MFM Speaks Out," Adam Reifsteck interviews Brooklyn-based producer and powerhouse performer Anne Wichman ab...

"It's All About Building Relationships" - Jeffrey Green Our guest today is Jeffery Green. Jeffrey is a professional sales engineer, musician, composer, and theorist with Sweetwater, the world’s largest online musical instrument retailer, based in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He holds a Bachelor of Music & Music Engineering Technology from Ball State University, where he also won a Distinguished Music in 2...

"I'm happy to continue exploring music for the rest of my life" Our guest for this episode of MFM Speaks Out is  Michael Harrison . Michael is a composer, pianist, vocalist, and music educator. His unique approach to piano includes the use of tunings and structures that extend the ancient concept of just intonation, and the incorporation of elements of Indian classical music. He studied piano from...