Friday, March 29, 2024

Solange, Questlove, Sheila E. to Discuss Prince and David Bowie at Yale Conference

Solange and Questlove
Solange and Questlove

*Yale University has rounded up several prominent artists and musicians for its upcoming four-day conference on the influence and legacy of music icons Prince and David Bowie.

Titled “Blackstar Rising & the Purple Reign,” the seminar s a multi-day symposium that will “explore the careers of two singular musicians who changed the face of popular music culture in the second half of the 20th century,” states a website for the event. “The program will bring together scholars, musicians, filmmakers, artists, journalists, and students for discussion, critical listening, and musical performances that explore ways in which popular music can create liberating spaces where audacious cultural and social changes and transformations might flourish.”

The conference will kick off on Wednesday, Jan. 25, with Questlove and Kimbra hosting a “critical deejay” discussion of favorite Prince and Bowie tracks (Schwarzman Center; doors at 7:45 p.m.).

On Thursday, Jan. 26, Bowie’s 1973 concert film “Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars” will be screened (Whitney Humanities Center, 4:30 p.m.), followed by a Q&A with acclaimed documentary filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker and Yale professor Charles Musser.

Later that night, Solange and curator/conference organizer Daphne A. Brooks — professor of African American Studies, American Studies, Theater Studies, and Women’s Gender and Sexuality Studies — will have a keynote discussion at the round-table discussion “Everybody Still Wants To Fly: Activism from Prince to Solange” (Yale Law School Levinson Auditorium, 9 p.m.).

On Friday, Jan. 27, percussionist Sheila E. (who worked extensively with Prince throughout the 1980s) and saxophonist Donny McCaslin (a jazz musician whose band backed Bowie on his final album Blackstar) will participate in a round-table conversation about artistic collaboration (William L. Harkness Hall, 8:30 p.m.).

On Saturday, Jan. 28, TV On The Radio will perform for free (Stephen A. Schwarzman Center, doors open at 7 p.m.).

Additionally, other conference sessions will cover “funk and the 1970s,” “the art of collaboration,” “sonic experimentalism,” and more, according to Revolt.

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