Authors on Tap: Lior Phillips and Leor Galil

Please join us in store on Thursday, June 8th at 7:00pm central to help celebrate Lior Phillips' new 33 1/3 book, South African Popular Music.  Lior will be in conversation with Leor Galil! 

About South African Popular Music:

From the storied ache of mbube harmonies of the '40s to the electronic boom of kwaito and the amapiano and house explosion of the '00s, this book explores vignettes taken from across South Africa's popular music history. There are moments in time where music can be a mighty weapon in the fight for freedom. Disguised in a danceable hook or shouted for the world to hear, artists have used songs to deliver important truths and bring listeners together in the face of a segregated reality. In the grip of the brutal apartheid era, South Africa crafted its own idiosyncratic popular musical vernacular that operated both as sociopolitical tool and realm of escape. In a country with 11 official languages, music had the power to unite South Africans in protest. Artists bloomed a new idyll from the branches of countless storied musical traditions, and in turn found themselves banned or exiled-the profound epiphany that music can exist both within the pleasure of itself and for serving a far greater purpose.

About the authors:

Lior Phillips is a South African music and culture journalist originally from Cape Town, now based in Chicago, USA. She writes about music, film, art, and more for international publications, including Dazed and Confused Magazine, The Recording Academy, Variety, Billboard, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, The Quietus, NPR, The Guardian, Consequence of Sound, and GQ South Africa. In addition, she is the creator, producer, and host of This Must Be the Gig, a podcast dedicated to artists' vital memories of their first gigs and passion for live music and performance. She lives in Chicago, wrangling her twin sons with her husband and rescue dog, Buffy. 

Leor Galil is the music writer for the Chicago Reader, which he began contributing to in 2010; he joined the staff in 2012. He's also written for The Washington Post, Pitchfork, MTV News (RIP), RollingStone.com, Forbes.com, The A.V. Club (RIP), The Washington City Paper, Boston Phoenix (RIP), and several other publications he can't remember right now. He's won two Association of Alternative Newsmedia Awards, a Sarah Brown Boyden award, a Peter Lisagor award, and once placed third in the "best pizza" category for the Reader's annual "Best of Chicago" poll. He lives in Albany Park with his wife and their extensive collections of books and records.

About the event:

This event is free and open to the public.  Please click on the link below to register for free! We will have copies of Lior's and Leor's books available at the event and they are both more than happy to sign copies after the event! 

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