BLACK IS A VIBRATION : ELECTRONIC INSTRUMENTATION

Hosted by Detroit Public Library (Main Branch):

Afro Moone presents : Black is a Vibration series, a sonic study uplifting and exploring the world of electronics in sound/music. Join us for a community discourse with pianist/producer Ian Fink and electronics pioneer + scientist Onyx Ashanti ! We are excited for Egypt Otis specially curated Black Radical Memory Black Is a Vibration honors and celebrates the unearthed fabrics of black culture and it's impact. All are welcome yes the youngins too !

This study explores the innovation of electronics, signal flow and how it shows up in music composistion + cultural frequencies.

Guest are encouraged to share there experience and inspirations connected to electronic music + instruments!

Archivial Exhibit : Hood Archivist

Literature Selection: Imagine the Sound: Experimental African American Literature After Civil Rights, by Carter Mathes

300 | Vinyl + Literature Selections

330 | Electronics Dialogue with Ian + Onyx Ashanti

415 | Live Composition

Ticket Options

Free Admission

Donations are welcome to uplift cultural narrative initiatives produced by Afro Moone + Partners, your intetnion and support is greatly appreciated! Your donations help support the artists and archivists whom help create cultural legacy within our communities and abroad.

For further Inquiries please email [email protected]

Who are the architects?

Ian Fink Ian Finkelstein, who performs under the name Ian Fink, is a pianist, producer, composer and bandleader based in Detroit. Globally renowned for his lyricism, versatility, and musical fluency, Ian is a transcendent performer, sought after for his skills as a collaborator and session musician. Ian was taken under the wing of some of Detroit’s greatest educators and musicians, such as Marcus Belgrave and Rodney Whitaker, as a young teenager. He began to gig professionally at the age of 14, going on to study at the University of Michigan’s School of Music, Theater and Dance, where he was a student of the great Geri Allen. He received two BFAs in Jazz Piano Performance and Performing Arts Technology, graduating in 2013.

With a firm foundation in the jazz piano tradition of Detroit, Ian was equally influenced by the city’s house and techno scene. He began to self-release music and press up vinyl in 2017, forming a record label entitled Freak Press, which contains a discography that is extensive and musically diverse, including but not limited to jazz, house, and ambient music.

Hood Archivist (Egypt Otis) is an archivist, collector, and cultural worker dedicated to preserving radical Black memory through rare books, underground newspapers, zines, audiovisual collections, and obsolete physical media. Through the ongoing work of Hood Archives, Egypt creates immersive pop-up archival experiences that merge sound preservation, archival technology, and community storytelling through transforming archives into living, participatory spaces for reflection, research, and cultural remembrance.Rooted in practices of audiovisual preservation and digital archiving, Egypt’s work explores how sound, voice, and physical media carry the emotional and political histories of Black communities. Drawing from a growing personal collection of rare and community-rooted materials, Hood Archives invites visitors to engage directly with archival technology by browsing collections, scanning pages, listening to preserved recordings, and documenting their own reflections through recorded voice notes. These interactions encourage participants to actively build their own digital archives while contributing to a broader ecosystem of collective memory and preservation.

Who are the producer + co-facilitators?

Founded by Sophiyah E. , Afro Moone

is a Detroit-based wellness resource rooted in narrative agency, integrative medicine and community advocacy. Our organization focuses on wellness as the basis for engagement through these 3 modalities as holistic space and place making : accessible health resources & support services, music+event production, advocacy for quality care standards in practice.

Brian Edwards

Media and Facilitation management

Founder of Roti Baby an immersive West Indian Street food pop up that explores lineage, alchemy, and personal transformation through interactive dining experiences.

Who is providing the space?

Detroit Public Library (Main Branch)

The Detroit Public Library opened for service on March 25, 1865. The 5,000 book collection was located in one room of the old Capitol High School on Griswold Street. A committee of the Detroit Board of Education governed the library until 1881, when the six-member Detroit Library Commission took over.

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