Published:
Trans-Atlantic Soundscapes: A journey through charted waters by DMV DJs
As a part of Freedom and Resistance: an exhibition inspired by The 1619 Project, DC Public Library, in-collaboration with author and music curator Adrian Loving, presents a series of soundscapes developed by local DMV DJs that creatively map a diasporic history from Africa through to the United States.
This creative response is informed by the 1619 Project exhibition, with genres ranging from funk, soul, gospel, hip-hop, and house/electronic sounds. The project is presented as an auditory listening engagement during the run of the exhibition and include some materials from the DC Public Library audio archives collection.
Learn more about the contributing artists and listen to their soundscapes below, or visit the exhibit and experience their work in person throughout the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library.
Kokayi
Artist|Musician|Author|Speaker|deal architect
KOKAYI is a GRAMMY-nominated musician, improvisational vocalist, producer, author, speaker, and multidisciplinary fine artist. A Guggenheim Fellow for Music Composition—the first emcee to receive the honor—he is also a Halcyon Arts and Nicholson Arts Fellow, and a TEDxWDC presenter. He appears on many recordings spanning jazz, hip hop, rock, and R&B, and is the author of You Are Ketchup: and Other Fly Music Tales (Globe Pequot). His work has appeared in museum and cultural institutions, including the Hirshhorn and The Phillips Collection, and through international residencies and curated exhibitions in the US and abroad.
Adrian Loving
Adrian Loving is a published music historian, educator, visual artist, and DJ. Throughout his 20+ year career in the arts, Loving has curated art exhibitions, music festivals, and public programming at various museums, cultural institutions, and art fairs including the Smithsonian's National Museum of African Art (NMAFA), National Gallery of Art (Washington, DC), (IDB) International Development Bank, the Andy Warhol Museum (Pittsburgh), Miami Art Week and CAN Art Fair Ibiza. Loving’s consistent participation in global cultural events and conferences has further developed his unique perspective on contemporary pop culture and developing research for future creative projects.
In his most recent book Fade to Grey, Loving explores the intersection of androgyny, art, and fashion with a focus on musicians from the 1980s including David Bowie, Grace Jones, and Prince. Loving was invited to speak at the Disco Conference at the University of Sussex, UK in 2018 and the Harvard / NYU Black Portraitures Conference in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2016. His continued research in club culture has resulted in a series of panel discussions entitled Shoot to Thrill: Picturing Identity In Underground Dance Music (New York Armory Fair, 2018) and Walk The Night: Nightclub Culture 1977-1990 (Miami Art Week, 2023). Adrian has also appeared in the 2021 PBS documentary Making Black America, and the forthcoming 2024 PBS short feature Black History in 2 Minutes (or so).
Listen to Adrian Loving's Soundscape
John Murph
John Murph is an award-winning journalist, who writes about the legal profession for Washington Lawyer magazine, and an accomplished music journalist who's written for DownBeat, JazzTimes, Washington Post, New York Times, NPR Music, The Root, and The Atlantic. Murph is also a Washington, DC-based DJ, who has performed at the Winter JazzFest (New York City), DC Jazz Fest, the Quebec City International Jazz Festival, Jazzahead (Bremen, Germany); and at various Washington, D.C. venues such as LaBetty, Cana, Florería Atlántico, Eaton Hotel's Allegory, and the Ned Club.
Listen to John Murph's Soundscape
DJ 2-Tone Jones
DJ 2-Tone Jones is a multifaceted DJ, producer, member of Sound of the City band, co-owner of Fireplace Records and co-founder of the award-winning Shaolin Jazz brand. After graduating from Morehouse College in 2001 he relocated to Washington, DC and quickly immersed himself into the creative economy. In 2005 2-Tone became one of the founding members of the Decipher Hip Hop programming strip on WPFW 89.3fm, which still airs to this day. He spent 15 years working in arts education as an instructor at Words Beats & Life, Inc., and a teacher at Ballou Senior High School. In 2022 he released his debut album entitled Contraband from India, inspired by a trip he took as part of the Next Level Hip Hop diplomacy program.
Throughout his career DJ 2-Tone Jones has had the pleasure of sharing the stage with the likes of De La Soul, Kendrick Lamar, Masta Ace, Robert Glasper, N’Dea Davenport, Brand Nubian, Oddisee, Jabba (HHP), DJ Spinna and Frédéric Yonnet just to name a few. One of his most notable endeavors is the CAN I KICK IT? movie screening experience produced by Shaolin Jazz. Each event features a martial arts/action film that is scored live by 2-Tone (scene-by-scene) with a mix of Hip Hop, Jazz, Soul and other genres. Since 2013 he has live-scored over 150 different film titles featured at the Lincoln Center, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, SXSW, Smithsonian National Gallery of Art, New York Asian Film Festival, UNC School for the Arts and several other locations.
