ListN Up is a weekly series of artist-curated playlists that offer an intimate sonic portrait of contemporary artists by showcasing the diverse and stylistically varied music that influences their creative practice.
Leilehua Lanzilotti is a Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) musician dedicated to the arts of our time. A “leading composer-performer” (The New York Times), Lanzilotti is the recipient of a 2020 Native Launchpad Artist Award, a National Performance Network (NPN) Creation Fund Award, and 2021 McKnight Visiting Composer Residency. “Lanzilotti’s score brings us together across the world in remembrance, through the commitment of shared sonic gestures.” (Cities & Health)
Aloha mai kākou. ʻO Leilehua koʻu inoa. ʻO Waʻahila koʻu mauna. Hi, everyone, this is Leilehua Lanzilotti. I am enjoying being outside with the birds here on Oʻahu. I invite you to listen to my playlist for ListN Up for I CARE IF YOU LISTEN around Recentering the Pacific that starts in Japan and goes around down to New Zealand and the Andes, and back up to the West Coast before returning to Hawaiʻi nei. Mahalo nui for listening.
Bis for double bass by Dai Fujikura, performed by Masashi Yamamoto
Dai Fujikura (b. 1977) is a UK-based composer who maintains an active presence in his home country of Japan leading outreach projects and organizing his yearly festival for all ages, Born Creative. I adore his incredible, joyful, exquisite writing, shown here through his bass piece Bis.
SPKR SPRKL by Bora Yoon
As I write this, composer Bora Yoon (b. 1980) is back at EMPAC developing a new work for wave field synthesis array. The first part of her evening length work was premiered last summer at TIME:SPANS Festival and captured in this dynamic mini-documentary.
Arooj Aftab Tiny Desk (Home) Concert
Arooj Aftab (b. 1985) is a Brooklyn-based Pakistani composer, producer, and vocalist. Her sense of pacing and line is inspiring to listen to, and I’m thrilled to get to know her voice as a composer better through her new album, Vulture Prince.
Rainphase by Salina Fisher, performed by the NZSO National Youth Orchestra (José Luis Gomez, conductor)
Salina Fisher (b.1993) is an Aotearoa-based composer whose works often explore the natural world. In this playful performance by the NZSO National Youth Orchestra, we hear the unfolding of beautiful blurred colors through different types of rainfall.
Imago by inti figgis-vizueta, performed by Attacca Quartet
Dream team Attacca Quartet performs inti figgis-vizueta’s (b. 1993) Imago in this world premiere video from the Phillips Collection. From inti, “I sought the infinite shapes and implications of a group orientation towards sculpture or magnified square of mylar — in their overlapping vision, a new and beautiful object. A wider perspective.”
King Britt presents Transmissions #34: A WINTER IN HAWAII
The first time I met King Britt (b. 1968), he shared this work with me: a Transmissions episode based on field recordings from a trip to Hawaiʻi. Now based on the West Coast as a professor at UCSD, Britt is the creator of the incredible Blacktronika course there.
“My Heart Dreams” by Black Belt Eagle Scout
Four little words that make my heart dream: Indigenous queer indie rock. Yes, please!
find by Leilehua Lanzilotti
My work, find, is part of a virtual exhibition at Shangri La Museum of Islamic Art, Culture & Design. The exhibit, #8x8_shangrila_22, features eight visual artists and eight performing artists (all based in Hawaiʻi) in eight different spaces of the museum. Shoutout to Adam Morford of Morfbeats for sending me the incredible metal attachment that was used in my original recording!
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