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Virtuosic technique, electrifying improvisation, rapid tempos, daring key changes and eclectic musical literacy. One of the popularizers of Bulgarian Romani (Gypsy) Wedding music (along with Ivo Papasov), Yuri Yunakov is Bulgaria’s most renowned saxophonist. The band features the next generation of Romani music stars— Selaidin Sal Mamudoski, clarinet; Muhamed Ismailov, keyboard & accordion; Kujtim Ismailov, bass; and Severdan Azirov, percussion.

The New York Times has compared the 1999 arrival of Dafnis Prieto in the U.S. from his native Cuba, to the landing of an asteroid. His groundbreaking drumming techniques have had a powerful impact on the Latin and jazz music scenes, locally and internationally. In the eight years that he has lived in New York, he has played in bands led by Henry Threadgill, Steve Coleman, Eddie Palmieri, Chico and Arturo O’Farrill, Dave Samuels & The Caribbean Jazz Project, Jane Bunnett, Peter Apfelbaum, D.D. Jackson, Edward Simon, Michel Camilo, Chucho Valdez, Claudia Acuna, Roy Hargrove, Don Byron, Andrew Hill, Herbie Hancock, Arturo Sandoval, and Jerry Gonzales, among others. As a composer, he has created highly distinctive music for dance, film, chamber groups and for his own band projects which have ranged from duets to a “Small Big Band.” The Absolute Quintet, which released a Grammy nominated album last year, features Jason Lindner, Hammond B3 organ & keyboards; Yosvany Terry, saxophone; * Ilmar Gavilan, violin; and Dana Leong: cello.

Czech violinist, singer and composer, Iva Bittová describes her work as “my own personal folk music.” Her performances, which feature her simultaneous singing, playing, and acting have been described as “… so intimate and personal you can almost feel her breath on your ears.” New York Magazine calls her music “… a fusion of Old World and New Music sensibilities, infused with the spirit and language of Czech, Slovak, and Moravian folk music.” On her life-long work as a performer, Bittová has said, “I have found the way to myself and thus also to others. I understand there are many hearts in the world, and each beats differently.”

Anne Waldman has been speaking about the “outrider” tradition since 1974 as a way to describe poetry as both “wild mind” and “speaking truth to power.” One of the pioneers in poetry as performance, she always presents a fierce, loving, and exciting approach to what poetry can be. Come hear her at the Outpost.