Akim Funk Buddha presents The Flying Boom Box
AkimFunkBuddha
This Friday the 4th of June, US-based artist, Akim Funk Buddha creates a fascinating musical and visual experience with a live interactive Urban Theatrical. To be presented at Summer Stage Von King Park, the Flying Boom Box takes audiences along the passionate journey of a young Hip Hop artist growing up in NYC.
When the trials of city life and peer pressure reveal, he finds sanctuary in his Boom Box. By chance he discovers that his Boom Box is ”magical” and by manipulating the electromagnetic field of sound waves from his tape deck, he can navigate himself through time.
He travels back to Africa where he discovers the roots of Hip Hop. He’s then swept off to Ancient Japan and 18th century France where he meets perplexing characters and is faced with unique challenges. This Urban musical, first of its kind is truly a fairy tale for all ages. With a cast ranging from age 10 and beyond, exciting choreography, unimaginable costumes you and your whole family are sure to have a blast.
>From the streets of Bali to Carnegie Hall, from meditative throat singing to high-energy Hip Hop rhymes, Akim Funk Buddha creates borderless performance art, fusing sounds and movements. An avid world traveler and self-described old-school B-boy MC, he is known for his holistic approach to Hip Hop, drawing from a full spectrum of cultural traditions and artistic disciplines. Rhyming, beat-boxing, mouth and body percussion, story-telling, break-dancing, Mongolian throat-singing, Indonesian monkey chants, body-balancing, martial arts, tap and circus arts are seamlessly blended to create distinctly spiritual yet urban sonic and visual compositions.
Raised in Zimbabwe, Funk Buddha and his brother Dumi came to the US in early 90’s as Zimbabwe Legit, the first African Hip Hop group to release an EP in America. Produced by Mr. Lawnge of Blacksheep and remixed by (now) legendary DJ Shadow, the Hollywood Records release Brothers from the Mother was hailed by critics and fans as a ground-breaking classic, only to be shelved by industry red tape over a decade and never released in its entirety until 2005 by DC-based label, Glow In The Dark.
In 1998 he formed a world music and dance performance troupe, DHA FUZION, consisting of Hip Hop dancers, sitar player, drummer, bassist, keyboardist, Japanese koto and taiko players and often a video artist, and has since toured with the group internationally performing at clubs and performance halls alike. Jack Anderson of The New York Times described DHA FUZION as performing with “…boisterous energy while brightly colored kaleidoscopic patterns whirled away…this troupe of dancers and musicians filled the theatre with wild sights and sounds, seductions and battles and strange encounters, both sacred and profane,” and adds “Their energy was irresistible.”
Members of DHA FUZION have joined Funk Buddha onstage for AMAZULU: DANCE AS A WEAPON written and conceived by Funk Buddha and co-produced by LaMama, Etc. in NYC, premiering to sold out houses, and Seasons of Buddha, commissioned by the Jerome Foundation and premiered at Mulberry Street Theater in NYC.
Funk Buddha has recently performed at The Kennedy Center (Washington DC), Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, Rubin Museum, Blue Note, BAMCafe, Bronx Museum, Joe’s Pub and Winter Garden; collaborated with composer/performer Daniel Bernard Roumain and Orchestra of St. Luke’s; performed alongside Bill T. Jones at Yerba Buena Center (CA), Montclair State University (NJ) and Central Park Summerstage (NYC). Film credits include a recent appearance in Freestyle: Art of Rhyme, an award-winning documentary film by Kevin Fitzgerald. TV credits include The David Letterman Show, The Chris Rock Show, and Sesame Street.
