MINNEAPOLIS— Omnivorous musician and visual artist Papa Mbye will soundtrack Sound for Silents 2023. Returning for its 7th year, this summer’s experience features a newly commissioned score from Mbye and his collaborators Symbioscia, Zak Khan, and friends.
Join us at sunset on the hillside for an electrifying evening of live music paired with films from the Walker’s Ruben/Bentson Moving Image Collection.
The event begins at 7 pm with DJ Diane Miller from The Current’s “Local Show,” along with food trucks, and full food and drink options at the Walker’s Cardamom restaurant.
7 pm DJ and Food Trucks
8:30 pm Screening and Performance
Sound for Silents
Thursday, August 17, 7 pm
Wurtele Upper Garden
Free
When Papa Mbye was a teenager, he’d go to the park, set up shop, and draw caricatures for willing passersby. It was a hustle, but the mischievous exaggeration also provided a much-needed valve. Mbye had been raised to be quiet and dutiful since his family had immigrated from the Gambia/Senegal to North Minneapolis when he was two years old. But he was an eccentric at heart, an artist. He developed a sound influenced by the music his parents played, such as the Senegalese artist N’dongo Lo, and supplemented it with ’80s alt-rock, 2000s pop, UK drum and bass, and increasingly, the sounds of the burgeoning DIY rap and R&B scenes in the Twin Cities. That breadth of influence is on display in his 2021 debut MANG FI, his post-everything, shape-shifting album, with sounds ranging from the middle of the mosh pit yelps and chest-thumping sh*t talk to distorted melodramatic electro garbles and breezy lover boy crooning. As the best caricature artists do, Mbye pays homage to the source material while showing us something we’ve never seen before.
Accessibility
There will be accessible seating space off a paved path on the hillside. Staff members around the hillside will be able to assist with seating.
For information about accessibility, or to request additional accommodations for this program, call 612.375.7564, or email access@walkerart.org.
For more information about accessibility at the Walker, visit our Access page.
