Concert to feature break dancers plus a string section

BOSTON, November 12, 2003 — The Berklee Jazz Hip-hop Orchestra, under the direction of Assistant Professor of Percussion Angelamia Bachemin, presents "Profilin': Jazz Hip-hop, The Style" on Tuesday, November 18, 2003. The concert begins at 8:15 p.m. in the wheelchair-accessible Berklee Performance Center, 136 Massachusetts Avenue, in Boston. Tickets are $5, $2 for seniors, and are available at the box office, 617-747-2261. For more information on this and other concerts, visit the Berklee Events Calendar.

Press: to inquire about photo availability and usage, please e-mail us. Angelamia Bachemin (in black, sleeveless T-shirt) and some of the members of the Jazz Hip-hop Orchestra Photo by Ed Hatfield

The concert takes place on the heels of Angelamia Bachemin's performance last August at the 9th Annual Havana Hip-hop Festival, and her arrangements will feature an international flavor — "Hip-hop Cubano."

The Berklee Jazz Hip-hop Orchestra (JHO) roster includes students who have been veterans of the group for up to three years, as well as some first-semester newcomers. Under Bachemin's artful, "invisible-to-the-naked-eye" direction, the orchestra is renowned for its robust horn section and amazing break dancers, with their "breakin', poppin', lockin'" choreography. At Tuesday's concert, the JHO will enhance its polyrhythmic arrangements with a string section. A total of 45 performers will take the stage.

Besides performances at Berklee over the past few years, the Berklee Jazz Hip-hop Orchestra has also been invited to perform at several outside events, including last year's Active Arts Youth Conference, which featured Dead Prez, Medusa, and Suheir Maddad of HBO's Def Poetry Jam. The JHO also performed at the "Beats for Peace" tour last May, which spanned six cities (New York City; Northampton and Somerville, MA; Providence, RI; Washington D.C.; and Philadelphia), and included performances from Pharoahe Monch, Medusa, Supernatural, Toni Blackman, and Cee-Lo.

Director Angelamia Bachemin, assistant professor of Percussion at Berklee, has had extensive experience in all aspects of music performance and has been a professional drummer and bandleader for many years. Bachemin was a pioneer in the style of jazz hip-hop, which blends the two most uniquely American developments in music. It was a natural outgrowth for Bachemin, whose upbringing was split between New Orleans and the urban music of inner city Oakland, California. She began developing the synthesis of sounds while working on her Master's Degree at Wesleyan University in 1997, where her first jazz hip-hop class rocked the Crowell Concert Hall standing-room-only crowd with the Renaissance Soul Revival. The tradition continues at Berklee, where Bachemin's classes and performances are so popular that listeners are often found crowding outside in the hall.

Berklee College of Music was founded on the revolutionary principle that the best way to prepare students for careers in music was through the study and practice of contemporary music. For over half a century, the college has evolved constantly to reflect the state of the art of music and the music business. With over a dozen performance and non-performance majors, a diverse and talented student body representing 70-plus countries, and a music industry "who's who" of alumni, Berklee is the world's premier learning lab for the music of today — and tomorrow.


For more information, or JPEG photos of Angelamia Bachemin and members of the Berklee Jazz Hip-hop Orchestra, please contact:

Toni Ballard
Publicist
Berklee College of Music
617-747-2247
tballard@berklee.edu