Toshi Reagon to perform at RAG
Toshi Reagon is coming to the Roxbury Arts Group on Saturday, September 29th to perform an unforgettable evening of song that runs the gamut from folk to funk to gospel and the blues. She “grooves like an unplugged Prince or lays down a four-on-the-floor funk workout that would make George Clinton proud, “ said the Buffalo News. Performance at 8 pm. $18. . Reservations at (607) 326-7908.
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| Photo Credit JOMOTO/Molly Rubin and Tony DiPietro |
Toshi is an artist who’s known for energetic performances and a exemplary
gift for writing engaging songs that provoke listeners to think and have fun
at the same time. In some ways, she is a throwback to classic R & B
artists, like Stevie Wonder or old school rock groups like Led Zeppelin;
she can take any style, update it, and make it her own with incredible
ease. Despite (or because of) her genre-bending, Toshi fits comfortably
on a stage at Carnegie Hall, or in a dirty rock club, and will certainly
be at home at RAG. Mixing folk, rock, funk, and gospel the socially conscious
singer-songwriter speaks truth to power by homoring nature and keeping
her song structures simple.
A seasoned live performer, Toshi jumped into the spotlight when she dropped
out of college after Lenny Kravitz tapped her to open for him on his first
world tour. And Toshi hasn’t stopped earning the respect of musicians,
the praise of critics and the love of fans since then
She has earned countless rave reviews in the years that she has been performing. The New Yorker said ”...her live shows shower retro funk, urban blues, and folk on the audience with evangelical fervor. To hear her is to believe.”
Coming to RAG directly from a Friday night concert at Central Park’s Delacorte Theater, Toshi can (and will) show up anywhere with anyone, whether a Central Park Summerstage benefit/Joni Mitchell tribute with artists like Vernon Reid and Chaka Kahn, a tribute to Prince (in which she tore up the stage with her smokin’ verison of the classic 1999), the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, the Blood On The Tracks Concert in NYC celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Bob Dylan album “Blood On The Tracks”. She has also shared the stage with numerous musicians including Nona Hendryx, Pete Seeger, Chocolate Genius, Dar Williams and Ani Difranco. Her fusion of styles and forms draws listeners in, embraces them and sets them off in a rapturous, hand-raising, foot-stomping delight. Toshi often leaves the stage with the audience clapping and screaming for more. “She sounds like someone who’s not only experienced everything she sings about, but triumphed over it. Like that triumph didn’t come easy, and like she’s filled with gratitude and occasional regret and a whole lot of living in the here and now. Like she’s never tired of laughing. “(Dirty Linen).
Born in Atlanta and raised in Washington DC, Reagon cites her musical abilities from her family. Both parents belonged to SNCC’s (Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee) The Freedom Singers, a folk group that sprung from the Civil Rights movement and toured the country to teach people about civil rights through song. Bernice Johnson Reagon is not only Toshi’s mom but the founder of the world renowned à capella ensemble Sweet Honey In The Rock (she retired in 2004 after 30 years with the group). Toshi and her mom have collaborated on many projects together including co-producing many of Sweet Honey’s recordings.
Her rich musical heritage led her to become saturated in many traditional styles of music, feeding her desire to explore a range of music that was not as accessible, from blues to Kiss. Admittedly, Toshi says that she attempts to: “take whatever I’m really into and try to learn it and put it into music.” This trait results in a musical style that not only transcends classification, but also expresses a political consciousness that is as ingrained in her music as the multiple genres she embraces. Believing music is the way she deals with her political energy, Toshi once told Curve magazine, “From where you are, from who you are in your everyday life, that’s where you make change...Whatever your gig is, make change through your strength.”
Toshi is a recipient of 2004 NYFA award for Music Composition , and was chosen as a Natiional Women’s History Project Honoree in March 2007. The 2007 Honorees represent many generations of women who with their amazing intelligence, talent, courage and tenacity testify to the myriad ways that generations of women have moved history forward.
Check out her music and learn more about her at www.toshireagon.com.