Vincent Moon, Remix ←→ Culture, and Fanmi Asòtò

A collaboration between Vincent Moon, Remix ←→ Culture, and Fanmi Asòtò; a celebration of Haitian Vodou bridging past, present, and future, transporting you through interconnected spiritual dimensions with live drumming, video remixes, and live cinema.

On Oct 14th, Pioneer Works will present a 3-hour evening of live drumming, video remixes, and live cinema as the culmination of a week-long residency. A week prior, Remix ←→ Culture and Vincent Moon will have filmed and recorded a private Haitian Vodou ritual facilitated by Fanmi Asòtò in Brooklyn. They will then spend the week at Pioneer Works mixing, editing, and remixing the recordings and footage. On Oct 14th, they will present the work in 3 acts:

A live cinema performance by Vincent Moon
A live video remix performance by HAT (founder of Remix ←→ Culture)
A live Vodou performance by Fanmi Asòtò

HAT

Growing up in Morocco, surrounded by sounds of the country’s Arabic, Amazigh, and Sub-Saharan African origins, Hatim Belyamani (aka HAT) was an award-winning classical pianist and guitarist before finding his voice in electronic music. In 2012, inspired to celebrate his roots, Hatim founded Remix ←→ Culture, a non-profit organization that bridges cultural divides through the transformative power of music, film, and remix. Hatim and his team traverse the globe, capturing the sights and sounds of underrepresented musical traditions, which they share for free online under a Creative Commons license. HAT’s performances are a live remixing of these videos, seamlessly blending the traditional with the experimental – acoustic trance with electronic dance – connecting his audiences to distant cultures in a unique audio-visual journey.

Vincent Moon

Dubbed ‘the re-inventor of the music video’ by the New York Times, born in the digital and internet age, Vincent was the main director of the ‘Take Away Shows’ of La Blogothèque. The online project of music films on indie-rock band and other famous musicians, like R.E.M, Tom Jones or Arcade Fire, revolutionized the concept of music video and the way of filming music in the entire world. Since 2009, Moon dedicates himself to his nomadic label, la Collection Petites Planètes. Crossing the world, his camera and computer in his backpack, making ethnographic-experimental films in an independent way, recording traditional and sacred music, religious and shamanic rituals, then sharing it all for free on internet, under a Creative Commons licence.

Fanmi Asòtò

Fanmi Asòtò is a Haitian cultural organization whose drum performance, community workshops, and herbal teachings are rooted in Vodou. Paying homage to the asòtò drum, the mother of all African descended drums, our mission is to encourage identity building for all Haitians but particularly for Haitian American youth who are the next generation of Haitian culture and Vodou. Created in 2014 by Sirene Dantor Sainvil, with the support of her husband and master drummer Jean Guy “Fanfan” Rene, Fanmi Asòtò seeks to develop a sense of pride within the Haitian community in a way that people of all backgrounds can be attracted to.