M.T.A. Picks 23 to Perform in Subways
By The New York Times
It’s the New York City subway’s version of “American Idol”: an annual competition among musicians for the right to perform on platforms and in subway stations under the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s Music Under New York program. Today — two weeks after about 55 acts performed before a panel of judges in the 21st annual auditions — the authority’s Arts for Transit program announced that 23 of the acts had been selected.
The annual auditions are for spots on the permanent roster of musicians entitled to take part in 125 weekly performances at in 23 transit locations around the city. Arts for Transit, which is part of the authority, has managed the program since 1985.
The 23 acts include the Baby Soda Jazz Band; the harpist Hugo Barahona; the singer-songwriter Heidi Burger; the Cantonese Trio, a Chinese classical music trouple; Leah Coloff, a “classical punk” cellist and singer; Gibran Soul, a self-styled “ghetto folk singer”; Halcones de la Sierra, a “Tex-Mex” duo; Colin Higgins Band, a classic-rock group; the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, a New Age jazz group; Jami Jackson, a rhythm-and-blues singer; the jazz band Kragh-Miller; La Strada, an orchestral indie-folk ensemble; Sean McCaul, a vibraphonist; Movimiento, a Latin fusion group; Billy Rogan, a “finger-style tap guitarist”; Kip Rosser, who plays the early electronic music instrument known as the theremin; Sidetrack, a dance act; the country singer Ray Starr; the finger-style acoustic blues guitarist Dan Stevens; Joe Taylor, a pop rock singer-songwriter; Tin Pan, an old-style New Orleans jazz and blues band; Balla Tounkara, a Malian kora player; and the Ukuladies, a “sister act” who use ukuleles and tap dancing.
Jigar Mehta, a video journalist for The Times, shot the accompanying video this afternoon when the M.T.A. announced the selection of the winning acts at Grand Central Terminal. Several of the musicians performed.
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/20...rm-in-subways/