Wednesday December 17 * doors at 7, music at 7:30 * $15-25 * TICKETS
FÖR is a new collaboration between percussionists Kweku Sumbry (Washington, DC) and Shakoor Hakeem (Philadelphia) and Swedish saxophonist Isak Ingvarsson. Rooted in the spirit of Don Cherry’s arrival in Sweden in the mid-1960s, the project bridges Swedish folk traditions with the rhythmic folklore of the Afro-Diaspora—fusing into a deep sonic eruption of energy and expression.
Isak Ingvarsson – Saxophone, Clarinet, Flute
A rising voice in the European jazz scene, Ingvarsson has performed with Per “Texas” Johansson, Kresten Osgood, Fredrik Ljungkvist, and others. A graduate of Jazz Institut Berlin and currently pursuing a Master’s at City College of New York under Tim Berne and Vincent Herring, his sound blends avant-garde jazz, Scandinavian minimalism, and raw emotional depth.
Kweku Sumbry – Drums, Djembe, Percussion
A key member of the Immanuel Wilkins Quartet, Kweku brings West African rhythmic traditions to a contemporary jazz setting. He has performed with Ambrose Akinmusire, Shabaka Hutchings, Solange, and Reggie Workman.
Shakoor Hakeem – Percussion
A fearless, deeply expressive improviser rooted in Afro-diasporic mysticism and ritualistic tradition. Hakeem has worked with Graham Haynes, Maria Grand, Joel Ross, and Wallace Roney, among others, and is known for his powerful yet restrained presence on stage.
Shakoor Hakeem & Kweku Sumbru - Transcendence Live at Minaret Records
Isak Ingvarsson - Live at Amager Records, Copenhagen
MORE THAN A DRUM PERCUSSION ENSEMBLE/ABASI JOHNSON FEATURING POET BERNARDINE “DINE” WATSON
DC artists Abasi Johnson and Dine Watson return to Rhizome for a set of boundary challenging percussion and poetry.
Abasi Johnson, master percussionist and founder of More Than a Drum Percussion Ensemble, has played and taught percussion for more than 40 years. For more than three decades, he was a member of the acclaimed reggae band, Black Sheep, eight-time winners of the Washington Area Music Association’s WAMMIE Award for best reggae group. He is a recipient of a D.C. Arts and Humanities Commission grant for artistic excellence, has recorded with many renowned musical artists and traveled to six continents playing and studying music.
Dine Watson is an award-winning poet and non-fiction writer who has read and performed her work at the Folger Shakespeare Library, the DC and Philadelphia Ethical Societies, the Painted Bride Art Center, the DC Writer’s Center, and numerous public libraries and bookstores in the DMV. Her poetry has been published in Beltway Poetry Quarterly, Gargoyle Magazine, Washington Writers’ Publishing House (WWPH) Writes, and Mid-Atlantic Review. Dine’s memoir, “Transplant,” won the WWPH 2023 nonfiction prize and was named one of NPR’s “Books We Love” for that year.