Rotunda In The News
Kerrang! - May 30 2019
Philadelphia’s Break Free Fest Is A Sanctuary For Punk Diversity
Racetraitor and Mass Arrest head up Break Free, a festival designed to celebrate diversity in underground music.
WORDS AND PHOTOS: Farrah Skeiky
“We’re together in our struggle, but we’re also together in our celebration,” declares Mass Arrest vocalist Boo Boo, kicking off the last set of Break Free Fest. It’s apparent that the same thought is dawning on many people at the same time: this weekend may have originally been about anger and retaliation, but tonight the room is ruled by joy.
Now in its third year, Break Free Fest is a punk festival by and for punks of color in West Philadelphia. It’s a space for punks who are black, brown, indigenous, Asian, and LGBTQ+ to show up as multifaceted humans and partake in a community that shares their experiences. For many, it’s the first time they have played or attended a festival made up primarily of people who look like them. Punks who have been playing music for decades wish aloud that they had seen a festival like this when they were younger. If you’ve been looking for a weekend created to love yourself, enjoy new bands, dance to Reggaeton and Prince between sets, and have a portion of your ticket donated to organizations like Juntos: welcome.
The lineup is as diverse in sound as it is in appearance: pop-punkers Choked Up get toes tapping just before San Antonio’s Amygdala shake the room with furious grindcore. Maryland supergroup Truth Cult rock, and No Man can scream. Listless, a blackened metallic hardcore sextet boasting two singers, induce twerking in the pit. And that makes Soul Glo’s Throw Some D’s opening cover a perfect segue.
Hardcore rippers like Provoke not only exist alongside noise group 700 Bliss (a project of Moor Mother and DJ Haram), but celebrate sharing a bill with them, showing up to dance when they take over the floor. This should speak not just to the strength of this festival, but to the versatility of the artists who continue to break molds and inspire more to do the same.
A lot of work goes into a celebration like this one, especially when there are few like it. Break Free exists because organizers refused to wait for someone else to create their version of it, and because the bands didn’t wait for someone else to pass them the mic. Friendships start here, new bands are born here, and action is sparked.
When the crowd leaves the room, they take with them an excitement and urgency to keep the celebration going — but they will assuredly come back next year, in grinning defiance, with new ways to celebrate.
Original Link
The Philadelphia Inquirer - Apr 4 2019
Learn to boogie the Balkan way at the first ever BalkanFest
Learn to boogie the Balkan way at the first ever BalkanFest
by Shaun Brady
As anyone who’s marched along behind the raucous brass of the West Philadelphia Orchestra or reveled in the exuberant melodies of the Philadelphia Women’s Slavic Ensemble (PWSE) can attest, the music of the Balkan and Roma traditions can be infectious. On Sunday, April 7, groups from the Philadelphia area and beyond will come together at the Rotunda for the first ever Philly BalkanFest, a daylong celebration of Balkan music and culture.
The event is the brainchild of members of the West Philadelphia Orchestra and its record label, Fly Bottle Records, along with the Folk Dance Council of the Delaware Valley. As the involvement of the Council implies, organizers are hoping that the fest will not only reach eager listeners but also will get attendees up and moving
“There are really complex dances, but there are also really simple village dances,” says Susan Anderson, a member of the Folk Dance Council who is also involved in the ensembles Ajde and Svitanya. To kick off the festival, Ajde will offer a workshop to teach a few of the more simple steps, laying the foundation for dancing through the afternoon’s entertainment. In addition, vendors will offer food and crafts, and a puppet show will introduce younger visitors to the stories behind some of the folk songs.
Both Anderson and Louie Asher, a board member of the Folk Dance Council and member of the PWSE choir, can attest to the joys of Balkan dancing; both have been participating in folk dances for decades. “I just find it irresistible,” Asher says. “The steps are intricate yet interesting, and the music is wonderful.”
“When people ask me what got me interested, I always say Sputnik,” says Anderson, who was in high school when the Russian satellite was launched in 1957. “My school brought in a Russian [language] teacher, and from there I ended up at a school that had a Russian dorm and a Russian band. I just fell in love with the music and the dancing, so I’ve been doing it all my life.”
That experience is shared with many of Anderson and Asher’s fellow folk dancers — which is part of the problem BalkanFest was conceived to address. “The folk dance community is not as active as it was years ago,” Asher admits. “Many of us are longtime folk dancers who are eager to share our skill and spread it. We’re eager to have new blood.”
Inspiration for attracting that new blood came from the Zlatne Uste Golden Festival, a popular Balkan music festival that has been attracting enthusiastic crowds to its annual event in Brooklyn for more than 30 years. The West Philadelphia Orchestra, whose spirited performances have attracted a loyal following since its founding in 2006, has performed at the festival, where its crossed paths with N.Y.-based counterparts like Raya Brass Band, Max’s New Hat, and Dolunay, all of whom will visit Philly for the festival.
“It’s great to be doing a BalkanFest in West Philly proper,” says saxophonist David Fishkin of the neighborhood’s namesake orchestra. “The idea was to bring together some of the older community who have been involved in the Folk Dance Council with the younger generation, people who might come to a WPO show and dance in their own way but might not know the traditional dances. We jumped at the opportunity.”
According to Fishkin, all it will take to get listeners to fall in love with the music — and dancing to it — is to immerse them in its ebullient sound. After all, it happens every time the WPO performs. “When we’re performing this music, I’m not only able to connect to my fellow musicians, but we’re also able to connect to the audience in a way that makes people move. In a sense, it’s like everybody dancing with us becomes part of the band; and that’s one thing that’s really special, that symbiotic relationship between performers, the boundary is essentially erased.”
For those who share the participants’ passion after Sunday’s festival, Anderson says there are plenty of opportunities to get involved. “There’s international folk dancing happening somewhere in the region just about every night or afternoon during the week,” she says. “It’s a passion.”
MUSIC
Philly Balkanfest 2019
2-7 p.m. Sunday, April 7, The Rotunda, 4014 Walnut St., $10-$20., www.therotunda.org
Original Link
An Emerging Forest show on Spiritual Unity Radio Network (SURN) - Jan 21 2018
Part 2 of 2: Rotunda Director Gina Renzi talks about community art and activism
Interview of Gina Renzi, The Director of The Rotunda, on marketing/ community/ activism/ art/ growing up in Philly/ connecting/ and many other topics.
Original Link
An Emerging Forest show on Spiritual Unity Radio Network (SURN) - Jan 21 2018
Part 1 of 2: Rotunda Director Gina Renzi talks about community art and activism
Interview of Gina Renzi, The Director of The Rotunda, on marketing/ community/ activism/ art/ growing up in Philly/ connecting/ and many other topics.
Original Link
Philly Music Podcast - Dec 8 2017
Philly Music Podcast Episode 2: Gina Renzi of The Rotunda (Dec. 8, 2017)
Philly Music Podcast: We speak with Gina Renzi, the director of The Rotunda - an all-ages music and community event venue in West Philadelphia, about some of the cool things which have happened there over the years and what it's like running a community venue.
Original Link