Kamasi Washington releases 'Harmony of Difference'

“Search Artists”

UPCOMING NEW ZEALAND SHOW:
Playing WOMAD NZ – March 2018

Friday 29th September 2017 – Following his universally acclaimed debut album The Epic, Kamasi Washington’s Harmony of Difference is out now via Young Turks / Rhythmethod in New Zealand. Get the new EP, which The New York Times hails as “a liberation theology for fearsome times” where all good music lives.

Furthermore, Washington will play the stunning Taranaki-based music and dance festival, WOMAD NZ over 16-18th March with his full band. For more details, and to purchase your festival passes go to womad.co.nz.

CD & vinyl available in all good record stores near you!

Purchase Harmony of Difference online:
iTunes / Google Play

Praise for Harmony of Difference:

“It’s macro-musical pacifism…” — The New York Times

“Washington’s work eloquently proposes coexistence and collaboration.”
— Rolling Stone

“Like much of Washington’s previous work, “Truth” is incredibly opulent in its maximalist approach. The huge scale makes his music feel like a sacred offering in bleak times.” — Pitchfork

About Harmony of Difference:

Harmony of Difference premiered as a multimedia artwork at the 2017 Whitney Biennial with a film by A.G. Rojas and paintings by Kamasi Washington’s sister, Amani Washington. Made in partnership with WeTransfer Studios, the film features scenes of Washington’s native Los Angeles.

The new explores the philosophical possibilities of the musical technique known as “counterpoint,” which Washington defines as “the art of balancing similarity and difference to create harmony between separate melodies.” Beyond the artistic impulse to expand the possibilities within counterpoint, Washington wanted to create something that opened people’s minds to the gift of diversity.

Each of the first five movements is its own unique composition. “Truth,” the sixth movement, fuses all five compositions into one simultaneous performance. Echoing this fusion, Amani created five paintings focused on raw shapes and colors, each inspired by one of the first five movements of the suite. Amani then combined these paintings to create a sixth: an abstract depiction of a human face.

“My hope is that witnessing the beautiful harmony created by merging different musical melodies will help people realize the beauty in our own differences.” — Kamasi Washington