Brooklyn Museum’s Target First Saturdays’ presentation of dance, music, film, fashion co-sponspred by CARIB Being, presents a diverse group of artists of the African Caribbean Diaspora on February 1, in celebration of Black History Month.
Some of the most thought-provoking and diverse artists incliuding Guadeloupean-born rapper, Mano D’iShango (known as Tysme) will be performing for the first time in the series. He will be also performing with special guests from Europe and his hometown at the Brooklyn Museum Target First Saturdays for Black History month..
CARIB Being founder/director Shelley Worrell, who has the knack of finding some of the most interesting Caribbean artists around, discovered Tysme after listening to his song, ‘Se pou.’
“When I heard that song, it was infectious,” she said. “It was one of those summer jams … like when you hear it, it plays in your head all summer.”
Worrell added that she was “truly intrigued” and started to dig deeper into his work and the philosophy behind it … the academic and thought process.
“That’s how the song was for me. That’s what really got me interested in his music.
Initially, Worrell said, Brooklyn Museum wanted him to perform back in August 2013, “based on the success that caribBeing had with Target First Saturday in August when they were asked to participate again for Black History Month. “But he wasn’t available, so when Brooklyn Museum asked us to provide them with a proposal for Black History Month, naturally it was a wonderful opportunity to have him this time around,” Shelley added
Tysme — an engineer by profession, who was born and raised in Guadeloupe, French West Indies in the late ‘70s, developed an interest in hip-hop in his early teens, influenced by artists such as: A Tribe Called Quest, Pharcyde, Boot Camp Click, Blackstar and Erykah Badu. A former hip-hop dancer and graffiti artist, he began writing rhymes at age 15, then realized that rapping was his true calling. But his studies in France kept him away from the Hip-Hop scene that was developing in his homeland.
While away Tysme and his “Karukera Crew” (K.C) set the foundations of the “Zayanntifik” concept, a term the MC’s used to define themselves as practitioners of a discipline linked to mathematical sciences.
On his first album, “Zayanntifik (Ziontific)” released in 2010, Tysme used the sound of conch shell on his song “Sé Pou”, considered something new and original. The songs are in Guadeloupan Creole — a local “patois” blend of French, English, Native Carib and West African languages.
Currently working on a follow-up solo album to Zayanntifik, Tysme says he aims at being “musically and deeply rooted in Guadeloupe.”
