Alsarah (of Alsarah & the Nubatones) is a Sudanese-born singer, songwriter and ethnomusicologist. Residing in Brooklyn, she is a self-proclaimed practitioner of East-African Retro-Pop working on various projects. She has toured both nationally and internationally with critically acclaimed groups such as the Nile Project, where she was featured on their debut CD, Aswan (named in the top five “must hear” international albums by NPR). She has also released one full-length album with French producer Débruit titled Aljawal (Soundways Recordings), as well as two full-length albums with her current band, Alsarah & the Nubatones, Silt (2014) and Manara (2016) (Wonderwheel Recordings). 

For the March 22 performance, Alsarah will be accompanied by Brandon Terzic on oud.

Mafer Bandola is a Venezuelan bandola llanera player, community organizer, self-taught composer, and educator. The traditions of the bandola llanera (a traditional stringed instrument from the plains of Venezuela) are historically male-dominated and Mafer brings her instrument on a new artistic path with the stories and voices of women through composition, performance, and improvisation. A co-founder and member of all-women group, LADAMA, Mafer has performed at institutions in the US and abroad, such as MassMoca, WOMAD, Womex, TED, National Sawdust, NPR TinyDesk, among others. As a teaching artist, she works for The Lullaby Project, a Carnegie Hall initiative, pairing parents and caregivers with professional artists to write and sing personal lullabies for their babies, supporting maternal health, aiding childhood development, and strengthening the bond between parent and child. Mafer is the creator and host of Pipiris Nights, the only gathering to play and dance Venezuelan Joropos in New York.

Miriam Elhajli is a folk singer, composer-improviser, and musicologist whose work is influenced by the rich musical traditions of her Venezuelan, Moroccan, and North American heritage. Elhajli lives in New York City where she performs and works as a researcher at The Association for Cultural Equity founded by Alan Lomax. Moving in the intersection of the vibrant avant-garde and the folkloric communities of Brooklyn, she has collaborated with musicians such as Jen Shyu, Mali Obomsawin, Adam O’Farrill, Jason Lindner, and Chris Dingman. Elhajli released her debut LP Observations (2020) and her sophomore The Uncertainty of Signs (2022) last year on Numina Records, a label they founded to aid in the documentation of traditional womens music in the Maghreb and beyond.

Mireya Ramos is a New York-based, Latin GRAMMY-winning and GRAMMY-nominated vocalist, violinist, composer, arranger and founder of Flor de Toloache – NYC’s first and only all-women mariachi group, with an edgy, versatile and fresh take on traditional Mexican music. The group has toured worldwide, collaborated with John Legend and Miguel, and have performed on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

Born in California to proud Dominican and Mexican parents, Mireya was raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico until moving to NYC in her teens to pursue her musical career. Her aura embodies a wide variety of musical influences: from mariachi, salsa to merengue, hip-hop, she weaves a unique and refreshing musical blend. Classically trained by Suzuki method, and having had orchestral experience at university, her passion is strongest for folklore as well as other alternative genres.

Mireya believes in sharing her skills, encouraging, and inspiring the next generation to successfully pursue their dreams through educational workshops and school performances all around the country.

Jill Peacock is a multi-instrumentalist from Toronto, Canada. She released her self titled debut EP on Toronto’s DoRight label in 2017. Jill has opened for Moonchild, played with Kadjha Bonet and performed in the Revolution Series and the Hum Series in Brooklyn. She released her first full length album Moon Garden in 2021 (self released) where she worked with a variety of accomplished producers including Jack Deboe (Yebba, Meshell Ndegeocello, Emily King) to further develop her electro – soul sound. Jill is a multi- faceted artist and also founded the Bolero duo Los Cielitos where she sings in Spanish and plays bass. She will also be recording her first record with Los Cielitos in 2023. Her newest album, Inner Wilderness, is her first solo record. Though simple in instrumentation, we are able to see Jill’s talent as a composer clearly. Jill is a new member of the Recording Academy and is currently promoting her latest work whilst recording her fourth album with Puerto Rican producer Mario Castro.

Singer-composer and producer, Morley, weaves the threads of jazz, world, and folk traditions into a singular tapestry of vocal and acoustic splendor — the sound wave of a life lived with uncommon devotion to human rights and environmental justice. Morley has released seven albums of original songs and her music appears on network television, commercials and in human rights documentaries. She has performed for His Holiness The Dalai Lama, entrepreneur Richard Branson, and Nobel laureate, Betty Williams and has graced stages such as the Nomad Women’s Festival in the Sahara Desert, The United Nations, Carnegie Hall, and TEDWomen. Morley spearheaded the successful fundraiser “Borderless Lullabies” that continues to be a source of revenue for pro-bono legal defense fund, KIND: (Kids In Need Of Defense) to aid in the reuniting of families separated by ICE.

Morley also uses music as a tool for dialogue facilitation and conflict resolution when working with survivors of human trafficking and war.

For the March 22 performance, Morley will be accompanied by Chris Bruce on guitar.  

Roshni Samlal is a New York-based, Trinidadian tabla player who has studied within the Farukhbad, Benares and Punjab gharanas or schools of classical percussion. She is a prolific local teacher and performer, both in traditional tabla solo and classical accompanist contexts as well as a variety of jazz and chamber ensembles. Roshni also explores creating sound design landscapes and beat production as a context for presenting tabla solos. She is the lead curator and producer of the Rāginī Festival which focuses on spotlighting the work of artists engaged in traditional folk and innovative arts within the further reaches of the South Asian diaspora, focusing on Indo-Caribbean heritage.

Camila Celin began playing guitar at age nine. For several years, she has been doing intensive studies in the Indian sarod, in Kolkata with sarod player Sougata Roy Choudhury and in New York with sitar maestro Pandit Krishna Bhatt. In 2009 she was nominated for a Grammy for best world music album in collaboration with slide guitar maestro Debashish Bhattacharya. She has been an active performer in her native Colombia, the U.S. and India. Camila has composed music for several films, for theater as well as for commercials and lives between New York City and Kolkata, India.