This Friday evening’s concert at the Menil Collection is a rare opportunity for folks in Houston to hear this experimental group. They have performed in the city only twice, in 2010 and last December.
Here’s a five-minute song and a longer performance by this variable, roving band of musicians led by Theaster Gates.
The artist describes them on his website:
Organized by Theaster Gates, The Black Monks of Mississippi is an experimental musical ensemble of close collaborators of the artist whom are often joined by musical monks from around the world. They are an order of performers who harmonize the Eastern ideals of melodic restraint with the spirit of gospel in the Black Church and soul of the Blues genre deeply rooted in the American musical tradition. Uniting these diverse spiritual and religious practices, the Black Monks simultaneously achieve holiness and humanness, restraint and ecstasy. Together, they serve to musically enrich and emotionally activate many of Gates’ exhibitions into transcendent and participatory experiences.