Mankwe Ndosi/Jamal R. Moore duo & Erik Ruin's Ominous Cloud Ensemble

Name: Mankwe Ndosi/Jamal R. Moore duo & Erik Ruin's Ominous Cloud Ensemble
Start: 2026-05-29T20:00:00-04:00
End: 2026-05-29T22:00:00-04:00
Location: Pageant : Soloveev

Schedule

Fri May 29 2026 at 08:00 pm to 10:00 pm

UTC-04:00

Location

Pageant : Soloveev | Philadelphia, PA

Co-presented with Clavius Productions:
Mankwe Ndosi & Jamal R. Moore duo:
Mankwe Ndosi is Vocalist, Composer, and Interdisciplinary Culture Maker who conjures sound, story, and movement into transformative experiences. A sonic shape-shifter, she bends melody and rhythm into a living practice that amplifies the resonance between people, land, and ancestral memory. Rooted in Black ritual legacies of music and performance, Mankwe’s work explores the power of voice—not just as an instrument, but as a force for healing, connection, and liberation. Drawing on the Pan-African sensibility of artists like Nina Simone and Miriam Makeba, she honors her Tanzanian and Black American heritage, weaving together global soundscapes and ancestral wisdom. Her artistry is deeply influenced by collaborations with Douglas R. Ewart, Laurie Smith Carlos, Sharon Bridgforth, Amoke Kubat, Nicole Mitchell, the Give Get Sistet, Davu Seru, Medium Zach, Tomeka Reid, ancestors, and creative kin across disciplines and species. A member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians since 2022, and a Resident Community Engaged Artist at Pillsbury House + Theatre in Minneapolis, Mankwe works at the intersection of sound, movement, and earthwork—crafting immersive experiences that engage the body, spirit, and collective imagination. Whether on stage, in community gatherings, or in experimental sonic landscapes, she invites audiences into spaces of deep listening, serious play, and radical re-membering. Her sonic explorations are embodied in albums such as Do Gooder’s Blues (2009) and Science and Spirit (2012), both collaborations with Hip-Hop musician/producer Medium Zach. The latter was named one of the best albums of 2012 by the now-defunct City Pages in Minneapolis. Her most recent work, Felt/not said (2021)with ensemble Body mEmOri , features fellow AACM members Davu Seru, Tomeka Reid, and special guest Silvia Bolognesi, and was celebrated in Jazz Times for its experimental spirit and transformative energy, blending rhythmic intricacies with deep ancestral resonance. Brit Robson of Jazz Times describes her work in Felt/not said as, “Bring[ing] a brand new dictionary to music. Her sonic language is a string of spontaneous combustions that nod toward Jeanne Lee and Meredith Monk, informed by the African village…” Off-stage, she is an embodied cultural strategist, weaving creative practice into social transformation. From arts-rooted community engagement gatherings to equity workshops infused with improvisation and ritual, she builds bridges between disciplines, generations, and ways of knowing. She is most alive in fertile engagements of earth, sound, and movement—regenerating and re-membering the connections that sustain us.
Jamal R. Moore is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, improviser, educator, and native of Baltimore, Maryland. Moore’s research-driven practice incorporates percussion, woodwinds, and electronic synthesis, exploring African American/Diasporic traditions and global indigenous aesthetics.
Moore leads several groups—Akebulan Arkestra, Napata Strings, Black Elements Quartet, Organix Trio, and Mojuba Duo—and has received numerous chamber ensemble commissions. Sawud Rayay (2022), which translates to "Black Sun", is a four-movement symphony composed for Mind on Fire, an arts organization presenting contemporary music in Baltimore. The work explores the Egyptian cosmology of the sun and its impact on human creation and existence, employing a graphic notation language Moore developed called "Tasu-Re" to guide collective improvisation through composed movements.
Moore has worked and recorded with luminaries such as Wadada Leo Smith, Roscoe Mitchell, Nicole Mitchell, Archie Shepp, David Ornette Cherry, Tomeka Reid, Dr. Bill Cole, DJ Lou Gorbea, George Duke, Sheila E., David Murray, J.D. Parran, Ras Moshe, Hprizm, Tatsuya Nakatani, Hamid Drake, and Yahya Abdul Majid (Sun Ra Arkestra). He is an affiliate of The Pan African Peoples Arkestra, founded by Horace Tapscott; Black Praxis of David Boykin; and is a member of Konjur Collective.
Moore holds an M.F.A. from California Institute of the Arts and a B.M. from Berklee College of Music. He was a member of the Eubie Blake Jazz Orchestra (2000) under the direction of Christopher Calloway Brooks, and graduated from the Frederick Douglass High School, whose notable alumni include Thurgood Marshall, Cab Calloway, and Ethel Ennis.
Erik Ruin's Ominous Cloud Ensemble:
Erik Ruin’s Ominous Cloud Ensemble is an ever-evolving, collectively-improvising large ensemble for projections and music, led by visual artist Erik Ruin, lauded by the New York Times for his “spell-binding cut-paper animations.” Erik manipulates intricate paper-cuts and painted films on overhead projectors to create abstract landscapes and fragmentary scenes that are nonetheless charged with meaning, merging with music that ranges from dark atmospherics to ecstatic peaks of dissonance. Members of the ensemble include a rotating cast of Philly’s finest musicians, who have collaborated with everyone from Anthony Braxton to the Sun Ra Arkestra to Bardo Pond. This performance will be a "throwback" all-analog overhead projector set and feature musicians Tara Middleton and DM Hotep, both of the Sun Ra Arkestra, and percussionist Scott Verrastro of Kohoutek.
venue is wheelchair accessible