Free admission
All events of the discourse weekend with free childcare, please register for childcare by Thu 26 June at: jazzwoche (at) ig-jazz-berlin.de

In a conversation and listening session, the Berlin-based band leader 
and multiinstrumentalist Fuasi Abdul-Khaliq and the London-based author and journalist Kevin Le Gendre will speak about the historical role of Jazz in freedom and resistance movements, and the way that politics are reflected in the works of musicians today. By refering to key figures in the U.S. and the UK like the artist and activist Horace Tapscott and his Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra founded in Los Angeles in 1961, they will talk about how music forms communities and political consciousness and how the artist becomes part of an ecosystem of thinking. When does music become more than a mere reflection of the individual? What are the different ways in which artists express resistance? What happens to artists who voice their dissent in times of funding cuts and a rise of the far right?

Fuasi Abdul-Khaliq began his musical journey at the age of six, singing in his church’s youth choir. By age eight, he began playing the clarinet. He earned a B.A. in Sociology and Music from Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington. After graduating, he began performing professionally in 1972 while continuing his studies with the late African-American pianist Horace Tapscott in Los Angeles. This mentorship led to a long-standing collaboration with Tapscott’s Pan Afrikan People’s Arkestra (PAPA), where Fuasi contributed as assistant conductor, arranger, composer, and multi-instrumentalist on saxophone, clarinet, and flute. Fuasi has performed across the United States and, since relocating to Berlin in 1992, has become a prominent figure in the city’s vibrant music scene. Over the past 33 years, he has toured extensively, leading his own ensembles and collaborating with artists such as Walter Bishop Jr., Jimmy Garrison, Sam Rivers, Ed Blackwell, Arthur Blythe, Benny Golson, Omar Sosa, Sugar Blue, Winard Harper, and many more.

Kevin Le Gendre is a journalist and broadcaster with a special interest in black music, literature and culture. Since the late ‘90s he has written about soul, funk, jazz and hip-hop, as well as African and Caribbean authors for many publications, including Echoes, Jazzwise, The Guardian, The Independent, and Times Literary Supplement Online. He contributes to BBC Radio arts programmes and has presented several documentaries. His books include Hear My Train A Comin’: The Songs Of Jimi Hendrix and two volumes of Black Music In Britain: Don’t Stop The Carnival and Children Of The Ghetto.