Banging, and hearing Voices. (And first-ever Cafe Aman ticket giveaway!)

The live group-twittering for this year's Bang on a Can marathon, held yesterday at the World Financial Center, was an unqualified success; I certainly had a lot of fun even though  I had to bail just before Hour Seven (hence, no Bangover  this AM).

Thanks to co-conspirators @ogiovetti@talkmusic @sethcolterwalls @espyem @memilybk @cryfok @elimaniscalco @dotdotdottweet, as well as to @cjpr and @bangonacan for organizing. Also, a special shout-out to @activecultures, who jumped in unwittingly (though definitely twittingly) himself.

 If you missed it--or just want to relive the groundbreaking excitement--find all our tweets at #bangoncan.

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The other great excitement this week is preparing for the Muslim Voices festival that BAM and the Asia Society are co-organizing; over ten days [June 5-14], they're presenting an incredible array of musical performances, live theatre, film screenings, television broadcasts, lectures and other events featuring contributors like Youssou N'Dour and Reza Aslan,as well as a wide array of amazing artists who are rarely in the US.

Since the whole point of the festival is to celebrate an array of perspectives from around the globe, I thought it would be fun to corral a couple of co-conspirators into blogging, tweeting, and otherwise commenting on the events. They are David Adler, a marvelous writer on both music and global politics, and the very fine scholar Hussein Rashid, who also contributes to Religion Dispatches. They are both wonderfully thoughtful writers and cultural critics, and I'm really looking forward to some vigorous discussion, debate, and idea-sharing--and I hope that our individual readerships get involved in the discussion as well.

So check out their sites in the meantime, and be sure to check out the main festival site at www.muslimvoicesfestival.org. Here's a little something to sweeten the pot even more...

I have one pair of tickets to give away to the Saturday, June 6th screening at BAM's Howard Gilmore Opera House of the new, critically acclaimed Youssou N'Dour documentary I Bring What I Love. Youssou and his Super Etoile band will be giving a short performance at this screening--lucky you!

In order to win, you need to be the 10th new Twitter follower of @anastasiat, and you must answer this question:

Youssou N'Dour won his first Grammy Award in 2005 for a groundbreaking album that explored his Muslim heritage. What was the name of that album?

Hints & caveats: You can find the answer on the Muslim Voices festival website. This giveaway is for a pair of tickets to this screening only.

Comments

[Sarah]

Damn! I'm not on Twitter and don't plan to be but am always your follower...

[Sarah]

and the album is "Egypt".