The New York-based hip hop band Soul Inscribed is gearing up for a series of concerts and events in Taiwan to promote cultural exchanges, as part of the American Music Abroad program.
The four-member group gave a performance at a news conference on Thursday in Taipei, the first leg of a program that is to take the band to southern Taiwan.
Featuring a unique style, Soul Inscribed mixes a heady brew of hip hop poetics and R&B/soul vocals, propelled by a sonic blend of jazz, funk and dub instrumentals, according to Alys Spensley, a cultural affairs officer at the Taipei Office of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), one of the organizers.
Photo courtesy of the Taipei City Government Department of Cultural Affairs
In Taipei, Soul Inscribed was to teach beatbox skills and hip-hop songs at a workshop yesterday, followed by a pop-up event in Ximending District (西門町), said the Taipei Department of Cultural Affairs, which is co-organizing the events.
Today, the group will stage a free concert at Daan Forest Park in Taipei and will be joined by Taiwanese performers, the AIT said.
Following the Taipei events, the group will travel to Taoyuan and Tainan to hold concerts there on Sunday and Tuesday, respectively, the AIT said.
The American Music Abroad program is being produced by the AIT, in collaboration with the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs and a US performing arts institution called Jazz at Lincoln Center.
“American Music Abroad is a people-to-people cultural exchange program designed to communicate America’s rich musical contributions and diverse culture to the global music scene,” the AIT said.
In addition to concerts, the program in Taiwan this year will include workshops, talks and other outreach events, held in partnership with the local governments and various organizations in Taipei, Taoyuan and Tainan, it said.
Soul Inscribed has been selected to participate in this year’s American Music Abroad program, touring Russia, Indonesia, Taiwan and Mauritius as cultural ambassadors, the AIT said.
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