Guest: Leon "Kaleta" Ligan-Majekodunmi (Afrobeat guitarist, composer, bandleader)
Host: Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi, aka SoSaLa, MFM President

• Kaleta’s early life in Benin
  • Growing up near the Nigerian border
  • Secretly learning guitar against family expectations
  • First musical breakthroughs through church and street performances
• Moving to Lagos at age 15
  • Learning English while building a music career
  • Immersion in juju, highlife, and early Afrobeat
  • Joining King Sunny Adé’s band as a teenager
• Writing and recording “E Ba Mi Dupe”
  • Kaleta’s composition recorded by King Sunny Adé
  • Breakdown of juju guitar techniques
• Joining Fela Kuti
  • Auditioning at the Shrine
  • Life inside Kalakuta Republic
  • Afrobeat as discipline, politics, and collective thinking
  • Touring globally with Fela through the 1980s and early ’90s
• Immigration and life after Fela
  • Staying in the U.S. after Fela’s final tour (1991)
  • Rebuilding from scratch
  • Founding multiple Afrobeat projects in New York
• Working with Lauryn Hill
  • A chance rehearsal encounter led to touring together
  • Afrobeat’s influence across genres and generations
• “Country of Guns”
  • Writing the song after witnessing gun violence news in the U.S.
  • Music as social commentary, not just entertainment
• Afrobeat in America
  • Thoughts on Antibalas and non-African Afrobeat bands
  • Afrobeat vs. modern Afrobeats
  • Afrobeat as “roots music,” not museum music
• Music, organizing, and musicians’ rights
  • FESTAC 77 FESTIVAL and Pan-Africanism
  • Why musicians must act collectively
  • Parallels between Fela’s activism and MFM’s mission

King Sunny Adé – E Ba Mi Dupe (composed/arranged by Kaleta)

Zozo Afrobeat – Country of Guns

Kaleta & Super Yamba Band – Mr. Diva

Kaleta & Super Yamba Band – Ajogan Blues

Credits
Producer and host: Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi aka SoSaLa
Publisher: Musicians For Musicians (MFM), Inc.
Technical support: Adam Reifsteck (MFM Board)

https://musiciansformusicians.org

ABOUT THE EVENT

Musicians For Musicians Celebrates 10 Years of Music Advocacy with Star-Studded Performance Event at The Cutting Room

"In this crazy time with so much social-political-cultural turmoil happening here in the US and around the world,” says Ladjevardi, “I firmly believe that musicians' vital role is to speak out for their communities and come up with messages that will create solidarity among a particular group of people and unite them to fight for their cause. Musicians are the most powerful artists whose sounds can have an impact on people's conscience in a second." - Sohrab aka SoSaLa

Musicians For Musicians (MFM), a nonprofit association founded in 2015 by saxophonist and activist Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi aka SoSaLa, emerged from a deep need to organize freelance musicians into a unified voice for fair compensation, labor protection, and industry recognition.

Advocating for the rights, recognition, and fair pay of freelance and independent musicians proudly announces its 10th Anniversary Celebration on Friday, September 5, at The Cutting Room in New York City. This special event kicks off at 9:00 p.m., with musical performances starting at 9:30 p.m. Tickets are free for MFM members and $20 for non-members.

Over the past decade, MFM has united musicians across genres and geographies under a single mission: to raise music from a passion to a profession through advocacy, education, and solidarity. From educational webinars and podcasts to championing the Freelance Isn’t Free Act and amplifying national campaigns for fair streaming royalties and AI protections, MFM has been a driving force in elevating music as a profession.

The highlight of the evening will be an exceptional performance by the MFM Unity Ensemble, featuring Grammy Award-winning saxophonist/band leader and educator Joe Lovano and 8x Grammy Award-winning pianist/composer/ band leader and Afro Latin Jazz Alliance founder Arturo O’Farrill. Their collaboration will celebrate both MFM’s mission and the power of collective musical expression.

Later in the evening, there will be another exceptional performance by New York’s Nu NO WAVE band SoSaLa — led by saxophonist/singer SoSaLa—featuring guitarist Mark C. (Live Skull) and drummer Andy Weintraub. Together, they will create music that transcends both rock and jazz.

The event will also include remarks from MFM board members, Advisory Committee representatives, and video tributes from supporters.

Supporters can support the organization by purchasing limited-edition MFM merchandise, including event-branded T-shirts. 100% of ticket and merch proceeds will go to benefit MFM’s ongoing programs and campaigns.

Credits
Producer and host: Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi aka SoSaLa
Publisher: Musicians For Musicians (MFM), Inc.
Technical support: Adam Reifsteck (MFM Board)

https://musiciansformusicians.org

In this episode of MFMSpeaks Out, Dawoud Kringle and Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi discuss the birth, history, mission, and future of Musicians For Musicians. Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi's inspiration for founding MFM, the problems in putting the organization together, including how to define its objectives and methods, MFM's relationship with other musician organizations (such as the Musicians Union), how to attract and grow our membership, the economics of the music business and the importance of musicians getting paid fairly for their work, the state of mind many musicians are in where they do not understand how to turn their music into a profession, Sohrab's experience with Justice for Jazz Artists, MFM's accomplishments, MFM's services and value to our members, MFM's activism, the need for organization between musicians, the DYI method and operating as an independent musician, the future of the music business, the empowerment of musicians, and the future of MFM.

Credits
Producer and host: Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi aka SoSaLa
Publisher: Musicians For Musicians (MFM), Inc.
Technical support: Adam Reifsteck (MFM Board)

https://musiciansformusicians.org

"We Had Changes We'd Never Thought of That Created Surprise and a Chaotic Feel."

Our guest for this episode of MFM Speaks Out is Mark Chimples, a.k.a. Mark C. Mark is the guitarist and synthesizer player with Live Skull. Formed in 1982, Live Skull is considered by many aficionados to be the quintessential New York City noise band. Rising concurrently with bands such as Sonic Youth and Swans, Live Skull helped define the post-No Wave underground "noise rock" in the 1980s music scene in New York City. Over the following decades, Live Skull released five albums and three EPs with a rotating cast of 11 members, all of whom added new ideas to the group’s evolving sound. Themes of struggle and chaos permeated and inspired their music. Their constant progression inspired New York Times critic Robert Palmer to call them “as challenging, as spiritually corrosive, and ultimately as transcendent as Albert Ayler’s mid-’60s free-jazz or the implacable drone-dance of the early Velvet Underground. It’s one of the essential sounds of our time."

Topics discussed:

The beginning of the No Wave scene and how it emerged from the savage and atavistic Lower East Side of New York City in the 70s and 80s, how Live Skull formed in 1982, where the term "No Wave" came from, Live Skull's relationship with other bands on the scene like Sonic Youth, The Swans, The Lounge Lizards, Theoretical Girls, Tone Death, Television. Suicide, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, Lydia Lunch, how no wave influenced other art forms such as visual art, dance, and film, how no wave related / coexisted with other scenes such as Downtown music scene, punk, etc., some of the main venues the no wave scene thrived in, the artistic visions behind Live Skull's music videos, how Live Skull was received in other parts of the country, Live Skull's break up in 1990, Mark's involvement in Spoiler, Int'l Shades, Fuse, and SoSaLa, how they translated the No Wave aesthetic into the 90s, Live Skull's reunions, how logistics and economics of touring change since Live Skull began touring and how it works in the post-pandemic era, physical media releases vs. digital releases, music activism and Mark's involvement with MFM, the rise of AI in music and art and how musicians should deal with it, and Live Skull's cultural relevance in the mid 21st century.

https://liveskull.bandcamp.com/

Music featured in this episode:

1) Mad Kingship

2) Hit So Hard

3) Party Zero

(From the album "Party Zero by Live Skull. Used with permission)

Credits
Producer and host: Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi aka SoSaLa
Publisher: Musicians For Musicians (MFM), Inc.
Technical support: Adam Reifsteck (MFM Board)

https://musiciansformusicians.org

"I Didn't Look For The Fula Flute; It Came And Got me!"

Our guest for this episode of MFM Speaks Out is Sylvain Leroux. Sylvian is a flutist, saxophonist, guitarist, composer, arranger, bandleader, educator, inventor, and prominent member of Musicians for Musicians.

Sylvain Leroux grew up in Montreal where he studied classical flute at Vincent d’Indy; and improvisation and composition in New York at the Creative Music Studio where he attended classes by luminaries Don Cherry, the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Karl Berger, Cecil Taylor and many others.

A pioneer of African/Jazz collaborations, Sylvain is a foremost player of the Fula flute, the traditional flute from Guinea.

He was selected as “Rising Flute Star” by the Downbeat Magazine Critics’ Poll for many years, achieving the #2 spot in 2019.

As a bandleader, he brought traditional West African music to Zankel Hall with his Fula Flute Ensemble and held the fort for more than a decade at New York City’s Zinc Bar with his African Jazz group Source. His 2002 CD Fula Flute achieved cult status, and stimulated a worldwide interest in the instrument. His 2012 album Quatuor Creole was hailed as “a perfect contemporary music release.”

He curated New York’s “Griot Summits” that featured performances by 25 West African griots from five countries. He has performed and recorded with Emeline Michel, Adam Rudolph, Karl Berger, Hassan Hakmoun, Billy Martin, and many West African stars.

As a maker and seller of Fula flutes around the world, he invented and patented the Qromatica, a Fula flute capable of chromatic functionality. This led him to initiate L'ecole Fula Flute, a music literacy project that graduated many excellent young flutists who are now re-energizing an endangered flute tradition.

Topics discussed:

Sylvain’s studies of classical flute at Vincent d’Indy; and improvisation and composition in New York at the Creative Music Studio under Don Cherry, the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Karl Berger, and Cecil Taylor, his time with Adam Rudolph's Orchestra, the jazz and world music Canadian music scene at that time and now, how he became interested in the Fula flute, his band “Source” and their time at New York’s Zinc Bar for over a decade. How the combination of Guinean music and jazz has been accepted among Jazz audiences, his 2002 release Fula Flute and how it was received, his new album Qromatica, why he chose Julia Haines on accordion and harp and Mamadou Ba on bass, his performances at Zankel Hall with the Fula Flute Ensemble and curated New York’s “Griot Summits”, his performances and recordings with Emeline Michel, Adam Rudolph, Karl Berger, Hassan Hakmoun, and some of the West African musicians he played with, how and why he founded music literacy program L'ecole Fula Flute, how Covid affected the people's spirit and economy in Guinea, government support of the arts, his business of making and selling Fula flutes, how he invented and patented the Qromatica, his activities in MFM, the present African/world music scene in NY, the cultural separation between African-American musicians and African musicians, NY's GlobalFest for presenting African bands to the US audience, the Visa fee raise proposal to Congress, and his future plans in the areas of music activism.

Music featured in this episode:

1) Zoe

2) Mane Gauche

3) In Walked Bud

"Zoe" and by Sylvain Leroux, used with permission. "In Walked Bud" composed by Thelonious Monk (EMBASSY MUSIC CORPORATION BMI), performed by Sylvain Leroux.

https://www.fulaflute.net/

Credits
Producer and host: Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi aka SoSaLa
Publisher: Musicians For Musicians (MFM), Inc.
Technical support: Adam Reifsteck (MFM Board)

https://musiciansformusicians.org

"I think Live Music Will Always be Very Exciting and There Will Always Be a Market For It."

Our guest for this episode of MFM Speaks Out is Keyna Wilkins. Wilkins holds a Master of Music Composition at Sydney Conservatorium, studied composition, classical and jazz piano, and classical flute with several prestigious instructors, and intuitive conceptual improvisation with Tibetan Buddhist musician Tenzin Cheogyal. holds an MA in Flute Performance at Bristol University (UK) in 2008.She is known as a soloist and leader of cutting edge ensembles, and has written over 60 compositions, including 4 major orchestral works. Her works have been commissioned and/or performed by ensembles such as The Metropolitan Orchestra, Syzygy Ensemble, Elysian Fields, The Sydney Bach Society, and many others. She has released 9 albums of original music on all streaming platforms including 4 solo albums. Wilkins is also an Associate Artist with the Australian Music Centre and has five tunes in the Australian Jazz Realbook. She also writes music for films and theatre including short film Remote Access which won Best Short Film at the Imagine This International Film Festival in New York 2019 and her works are featured on ABC, Triple J, Fine Music FM, Cambridge Radio, SOAS London and many more. Her music is published by Wirripeng and she is a member of Musicians for Musicians.

Topics discussed:

Wilkin's beginnings with the European classical tradition and her interest in the piano and flute, her interest in jazz, the influence indigenous Australian culture has on her music, details from her albums, including her modal jazz improvisations on the music of J. S. Bach on So What Bach, her use of natural sounds in several of her recordings, her collaboration and other projects, her work as a music educator, the effects the pandemic had on the Australian music scene, her methods of music distribution, funding for the arts in Australia, her upcoming US tour, her decision to join MFM and her association with music activism in Australia, and her views on the future of the music scene in Australia.

Music featured in this episode:

1) Air in Motion 6, Floating in Space

2) Bach Reflections 2, Little Prelude in D Minor

3) Set Me Free (music collaboration album with Ahwaz Arab (Iran) refugee poet Jalal Mahamede, made via zoom)

(All music by Keyna Wilkins. Used with permission)

keynawilkins.com

Credits
Producer and host: Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi aka SoSaLa
Publisher: Musicians For Musicians (MFM), Inc.
Technical support: Adam Reifsteck (MFM Board)

https://musiciansformusicians.org

Our guest for this episode of MFM Speaks Out is Adam Reifsteck. Adam is a New York-based composer, electronic music artist, producer, entrepreneur, and music activist. He writes for small ensembles, produces electronic music, and performs improvised group compositions on Wi-Fi-connected laptops. He has collaborated with string quartets, university choirs, and visual and electronic artists. His approach to composition includes elements of improvisation.

He is a recipient of grants from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation, and the Kalamazoo (MI) Community Foundation. His music has been performed by the Attacca Quartet, Amernet String Quartet, Cadillac Moon Ensemble, Duquesne University Chamber Singers, Flutronix, Gaudete Brass Quintet, Mana Saxophone Quartet, Western Michigan University Chorale, and many other ensembles.

Adam is also an active recording engineer and producer whose studio alias SONIC FEAR has become synonymous with lush, genre-bending sounds—from dance floor ready tracks to downtempo meditations. He is the founder and CEO of Teknofonic Recordings, an independent record label and artist development platform providing electronic musicians with learning resources, networking opportunities, and career support.

Adam holds a master’s of music degree in composition from Western Michigan University and a bachelor’s of music in music technology from Duquesne University. He is a member of Broadcast Music Inc., the Society of Composers and Lyricists, the Recording Academy, the Audio Engineering Society, and Musicians for Musicians (MFM).

Topics discussed:

Adam's beginnings with the European classical tradition and modern electronic music, his use of elements of improvisation, his methods of classical and electronic composition, how they overlap, and descriptions of a few of his pieces, the origins of the name Sonic Fear, his collaboration with artists such as She's Excited!, how he approaches the art of remixing, what he looks for in an artist and how he brings out the best in them, the ways he finds and creates ways to monetize his music, his label Teknofonic and what he sees as the most important aspects of running a record label, Teknofonic's distribution and promotion, his involvement with the iConcert project and the use of the Blind Ear software, his founding of the Music Producer's Alliance, their Mentorship program, courses, and instruction, the future plans for Teknofonic and MPA, new methods of promotion and marketing that have and will arise in light of new changes and innovations in business, economics, and technology (which include blockchain technology, cryptocurrency, NFTs, and Artificial Intelligence), how his longtime membership in MFM affected his career in a positive way, MFM's primary strengths and assets to musicians, and what MFM needs to do regarding its marketing and promotional methods in order to reach the larger music community it needs to survive, prosper, and empower itself and its members.

CLICK HERE to download the PDF guide "21 Income Streams for Music Producers" mentioned in this episode.

Music featured in this episode:

1) Gloria (from Misa Cor Inflammatus) featuring Western Michigan University Chorale, conducted by Karl Schrock

2) No Way Out (from Excursions for Clarinet, Violin, and Piano) featuring Michael Tolbert, Nelly Smukler, and JP Calitz

3) Aurora by Sonic Fear

(All music by Adam Reifsteck. Used with permission)

Credits
Producer and host: Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi aka SoSaLa
Publisher: Musicians For Musicians (MFM), Inc.
Technical support: Adam Reifsteck (MFM Board)

https://musiciansformusicians.org