Roulette presents an evening of two acts, beginning with folk singer, composer-improviser, and musicologist Miriam Elhajli, who will perform a collaborative piece that combines music and theater titled The Center for Vibrant Expression featuring Elhajli (vocals) Desmond Scaife Jr. (soul singer-cook), Jenny Funkmeyer (storyteller), Kofi Hunter (afro-panamanian percussion), Hannah Fullerton (doula), and Genesis (herbalist).
Elhajli’s piece will be followed by double bassist Henry Fraser, whose solo performance aims to foster communal, intensive listening, with the audience playing an essential role as partners in the creative process.
From Fraser:
Over the past decade, I have been developing an approach to solo playing on the double bass, building a vocabulary, bit by bit, into a grammar, and in recent years, a more complete integration of elements that I hope can imply something as large as all these slowly-reared elements are small. This work is grounded in my relationship to my instrument, its particular tension, resonant frequency and peculiarities, often fragile and unpredictable. That foundation has been augmented through collaborative work with other artists specializing in acoustics, amplification, deep listening, and other practices.
Most recently, these efforts led me to write and record Breath Line, which was released on Dinzu Artefacts in the fall of 2024. That recording features a particular sounding of a framework I have been investigating for several years now, and continue to play with as I prepare to record a follow-up album this summer. This framework has grown out of a sensibility around proportions, scale, and sound design, as well as broader values that guide me. Having come up in a musical tradition that is both Afrological and highly improvisatory has instilled a particular stance in my work regarding individual-group dynamics. This ethos is no less central to my solo practice; which is intended to foster communal, intensive listening that includes the audience as essential partners in the creative act – to open up a shared space where we are all keenly aware of our particular attention, body, etc. while listening our way through the experience together.
A livestream will be available free of charge at 8pm on the day of the performance and archived for future viewing. Watch below or on YouTube.
Miriam Elhajli is a folk singer, composer-improviser, and musicologist whose work is influenced by the rich musical traditions of her heritage. Elhajli lives in New York City where she performs & works as a researcher at The Association for Cultural Equity founded by Alan Lomax. Moving in the intersection of the vibrant avant-garde and the folkloric communities of Brooklyn, she has collaborated with musicians such as Mali Obomsawin, Adam O’Farrill, Jason Lindner, and Chris Dingman.
Elhajli has released four records on her label Numina Records, a label she founded to aid in the documentation of traditional women’s music in the Maghreb and beyond. Numina is set to release Moroccan chaabi ensemble, Bnat El Houariyat’s work in June of this year.
“A haunting voice” – The New York Times
Born in Boston, MA in 1991, Henry Fraser moved to NYC in 2014, and has been actively working on a diverse array of projects since. Collaborating with such artists as John Zorn, Ka Baird, Uniform, Mary Halvorson, Lea Bertucci, and Ryan Power, he has toured throughout the US and abroad, playing venues including the Panama Jazz Festival, Moers Festival, Unsound Festival, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, and Lincoln Center. Fraser’s raw working materials – the ultimate treatment of which can vary greatly – emerge through collaboration and by engaging with myriad musical forms unto which an improvisational framework can be mapped; these are often communal, ceremonial, psychedelic, and/or religious forms. This dialogical approach privileges no particular sound world or aesthetic, but rather implies a value system whereby the musician(s) themselves – their personal history – are salient in the work. Since 2019, Fraser has focused heavily on solo music for the double bass, culminating in three releases and establishing him as a technical and creative force among his generation of bassists – the latest, Breath Line, was released in the fall of 2024. Fraser was selected as a fellow for the Art OMI Music residency (2021) and was named a NYSCA/NYFA Finalist in the category of Music/Sound (2022). In 2023, he joined Carnegie Hall’s Future Music Project as a Teaching Artist, facilitating music workshops with incarcerated youth in NYC, and in 2025 he will be one of Pioneer Works’ music residents and have his first residency at The Stone in NYC.
Roulette presents an evening of two acts, beginning with folk singer, composer-improviser, and musicologist Miriam Elhajli, who will perform a collaborative piece that combines music and theater titled The Center for Vibrant Expression featuring Elhajli (vocals) Desmond Scaife Jr. (soul singer-cook), Jenny Funkmeyer (storyteller), Kofi Hunter (afro-panamanian percussion), Hannah Fullerton (doula), and Genesis (herbalist).
Elhajli’s piece will be followed by double bassist Henry Fraser, whose solo performance aims to foster communal, intensive listening, with the audience playing an essential role as partners in the creative process.
From Fraser:
Over the past decade, I have been developing an approach to solo playing on the double bass, building a vocabulary, bit by bit, into a grammar, and in recent years, a more complete integration of elements that I hope can imply something as large as all these slowly-reared elements are small. This work is grounded in my relationship to my instrument, its particular tension, resonant frequency and peculiarities, often fragile and unpredictable. That foundation has been augmented through collaborative work with other artists specializing in acoustics, amplification, deep listening, and other practices.
Most recently, these efforts led me to write and record Breath Line, which was released on Dinzu Artefacts in the fall of 2024. That recording features a particular sounding of a framework I have been investigating for several years now, and continue to play with as I prepare to record a follow-up album this summer. This framework has grown out of a sensibility around proportions, scale, and sound design, as well as broader values that guide me. Having come up in a musical tradition that is both Afrological and highly improvisatory has instilled a particular stance in my work regarding individual-group dynamics. This ethos is no less central to my solo practice; which is intended to foster communal, intensive listening that includes the audience as essential partners in the creative act – to open up a shared space where we are all keenly aware of our particular attention, body, etc. while listening our way through the experience together.
A livestream will be available free of charge at 8pm on the day of the performance and archived for future viewing. Watch below or on YouTube.
Miriam Elhajli is a folk singer, composer-improviser, and musicologist whose work is influenced by the rich musical traditions of her heritage. Elhajli lives in New York City where she performs & works as a researcher at The Association for Cultural Equity founded by Alan Lomax. Moving in the intersection of the vibrant avant-garde and the folkloric communities of Brooklyn, she has collaborated with musicians such as Mali Obomsawin, Adam O’Farrill, Jason Lindner, and Chris Dingman.
Elhajli has released four records on her label Numina Records, a label she founded to aid in the documentation of traditional women’s music in the Maghreb and beyond. Numina is set to release Moroccan chaabi ensemble, Bnat El Houariyat’s work in June of this year.
“A haunting voice” – The New York Times
Born in Boston, MA in 1991, Henry Fraser moved to NYC in 2014, and has been actively working on a diverse array of projects since. Collaborating with such artists as John Zorn, Ka Baird, Uniform, Mary Halvorson, Lea Bertucci, and Ryan Power, he has toured throughout the US and abroad, playing venues including the Panama Jazz Festival, Moers Festival, Unsound Festival, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, and Lincoln Center. Fraser’s raw working materials – the ultimate treatment of which can vary greatly – emerge through collaboration and by engaging with myriad musical forms unto which an improvisational framework can be mapped; these are often communal, ceremonial, psychedelic, and/or religious forms. This dialogical approach privileges no particular sound world or aesthetic, but rather implies a value system whereby the musician(s) themselves – their personal history – are salient in the work. Since 2019, Fraser has focused heavily on solo music for the double bass, culminating in three releases and establishing him as a technical and creative force among his generation of bassists – the latest, Breath Line, was released in the fall of 2024. Fraser was selected as a fellow for the Art OMI Music residency (2021) and was named a NYSCA/NYFA Finalist in the category of Music/Sound (2022). In 2023, he joined Carnegie Hall’s Future Music Project as a Teaching Artist, facilitating music workshops with incarcerated youth in NYC, and in 2025 he will be one of Pioneer Works’ music residents and have his first residency at The Stone in NYC.
