Tag: Val Jeanty

Spotlight on Val Jeanty

On November 22nd, sound artist Val Jeanty and performance artist Risha Rox—two Caribbean American artists whose work explores the diaspora, death, ritual, the ancient past and an envisioned future—present a live art show in which they create a ritual, merging Jeanty’s soundscape and projection work with Rox’s live painting of human canvases. Ritual Emerging uses the black body as focal site of breath work, movement, projection, sound and visuals.


Tell us about yourself and what you do.

My name is Val Jeanty; I am a Vodou-Electronic Music composer. Being born and raised in Haiti until the age of 12 exposed me to a merging in sound structures and left an impression on the way I hear and create musical compositions. Living and creating in New York City for over a decade has granted me access to advanced study and knowledge of electronic sound composition. This knowledge in sound merging and design inspired me to create a new genre called Afro-Electronica, which is the incorporation of Haitian traditional ritual music with electronic instruments, the past and the future.

Who would you ideally like to collaborate with?

Diamanda Galas, Shelley Hirsch, Pamela Z, Sun Ra, John Cage, Phillip Glass. These great minds inspire me.

What is influencing your work right now?

Voudou Culture and the current state of the world.

What is your first musical memory?

Listening to my heartbeat.

What is the best advice you’ve ever been given?

Be humble.


Val Jeanty and Risha Rox: Ritual Merging premieres Friday, November 22 at 8pm.

This piece was commissioned by Roulette and made possible with funds from the New York State Council on the Arts and New Music USA.

James Brandon Lewis: UnRuly Notes // Val Jeanty Duo

What: James Brandon Lewis + Val Jeanty present live spontaneous composition followed by new ensemble UnRuly Notes.
When: Monday, September 18, 2017, 8:00pm
Where: Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave Brooklyn, 2/3/4/5/A/C/G/D/M/N/R/B/Q trains & the LIRR
Cost: $25/20 Online $20/15 Doors
Info: www.roulette.org / (917) 267-0368
Tickets: General Admission $20, Members/Students/Seniors $15, $25/20 Tickets at the door

Brooklyn, NY – Former Roulette artists-in-residence James Brandon Lewis (saxophone) and Val Jeanty (electronics) join forces to present live spontaneous composition in a duo format, followed by Lewis’ new ensemble UnRuly Notes playing works inspired by Czech composer Antonín Dvořák.

Saxophonist and composer James Brandon Lewis has received accolades from cultural tastemakers such as Ebony Magazine, who hailed him as one of the “7 Young Players to Watch” in 2013. Lewis has shared stages with icons such as Benny Golson, Geri Allen, and Dorinda Clark Cole, as well as Roulette artists Ken Filiano, Darius Jones, and Jason Hwang. Lewis attended Howard University and holds an MFA from California Institute of the Arts.

Haitian electronic music composer Val Jeanty creates esoteric sounds that tantalize the subconscious while creating a healing / cosmic frequency. By synergistically combining acoustics with electronics and the archaic with postmodern, Jeanty incorporates her African Haitian musical traditions into the present and beyond.Her AfroElectronica installations have been showcased in New York City at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Museum of Modern Art, The Brooklyn Academy of Music, and The Village Vanguard. She is also recognized internationally and has performed at The SaalFelden Musical Festival in Austria, Stanser Musiktage in Switzerland, Jazz à la Villette in France, and the Biennale Di Venezia Museum in Italy.

[RESIDENCY] Val Jeanty: AfroElectronica Dancing The Divine

What: Haitian electronic music composer Val Jeanty explores sound, body, and spirit in collaboration with Ra Nubi.  
When: Monday, May 22, 2017, 8pm
Where: Roulette, 509 Atlantic Ave Brooklyn, 2/3/4/5/A/C/G/D/M/N/R/B/Q trains & the LIRR
Cost: $25/20 Online $20/15 Doors
Info: www.roulette.org / (917) 267-0368
Tickets: General Admission $20, Members/Students/Seniors $15, $25/20 Tickets at the door

Brooklyn, NY – For her first residency of the 2017 season, Haitian electronic music composer Val Jeanty explores the correlation of sound, body and spirit in a collaborative sound + dance performance with fire dancer Ra Nubi. Jeanty’s AfroElectronica soundscapes combine the spiritual medium of electronic voudou with a the fire spirit element in order to inspire and engage a wider depth of spirituality.

Haitian composer Val Jeanty creates esoteric sounds that tantalize the subconscious while creating a healing, cosmic frequency. By synergistically combining acoustics with electronics and the archaic with postmodern, Jeanty incorporates her African Haitian musical traditions into the present and beyond.Her AfroElectronica installations have been showcased in New York City at the Whitney Museum of American Art, Museum of Modern Art, The Brooklyn Academy of Music, and The Village Vanguard. She has performed internationally at The SaalFelden Musical Festival in Austria, Stanser Musiktage in Switzerland, Jazz à la Villette in France, and the Biennale Di Venezia Museum in Italy.

Ra Nubi is a Washington, DC-based performance artist and creative director. Her work is focused on the use of movement and dance as a channel to connect to the deep seeds of the Spirit and soul memory. Her most recent works include a self-produced interdisciplinary collaborative performance entitled “The Evolution of Blackness” and a featured performance alongside NagChampa at The John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Nubi is currently working on her role as the deity Osun in Shaina Simms “AFROFUTURO,” which will be staged in Havana, Cuba in March 2017.