And The Roots Of Rhythm Remain: Legendary Producer Joe Boyd in Conversation with David Byrne
Sep 11, 6 PM ET • New York City: Albertine Books • 972 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10075
“What an amazing book! I doubt I’ll ever read a better account of the history and sociology of popular music than this one. It has me saying ‘Wow’ on every page.” – Brian Eno
Known to many as the legendary producer behind notable recordings from Nick Drake, Pink Floyd, R.E.M., Joe Boyd will discuss his latest book, And The Roots Of Rhythm Remain: A Journey Through Global Music (ZE Books) with David Byrne.
Informed by decades of travel, research, interviews, deep listening, and many years spent producing groundbreaking music in Cuba, Brazil, Bulgaria, Mali, Hungary, Spain, India, the UK and beyond, And The Roots Of Rhythm Remain is a riveting tour of the music that shaped how our world sounds.
Filled with engaging anecdotes (did you know that Frank Sinatra owed his career to a tango singer from Buenos Aires?) and vivid personalities, And The Roots Of Rhythm Remain is a work of breathtaking scale from a keen observer and gifted raconteur who’s been there and seen it all.
The conversation will be in English. It is free with RSVP. Click here for tickets.
This event is co-organized with the World Music Institute.
About the Book
“You haven’t heard this before!" the accordion flourish seemed to proclaim. Paul Simon told Joe Boyd that he immediately knew it would open Graceland, the multi-platinum album that helped usher in the 1980s “world music” boom. Yet that movement had roots extending back through the decades and across continents: tango on the eve of World War I, Latin dance across the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s, reggae in the ’70s, pre-War samba and pre-Beatles bossa nova, Eastern European ensembles filling capitalist concert halls during the Cold War, Indian ragas changing rock and roll in the 1960s, the folk music–inspired classical composers of the 19th and 20th centuries.
In this sweeping history compiled from more than a decade of travel, research, interviews, and deep listening, Boyd sets out to explore centuries of fascinating backstories to these sounds. He shows how personalities, events, and politics in places such as Havana, Lagos, Budapest, Kingston, and Rio are as colorful and momentous as anything that took place in New Orleans, Harlem, Laurel Canyon, or Liverpool. And, moreover, how jazz, rhythm and blues, and rock ‘n’ roll would never have happened if it weren’t for the notes and rhythms emanating from over the horizon. The one-of-a-kind result is And the Roots of Rhythm Remain: a glorious, symphonic celebration of the music that shapes our world.
About the Author
Joe Boyd is a record producer and writer, known for his acclaimed memoir, White Bicycles. Artists he has produced include Nick Drake, R.E.M., Toots and the Maytals, Richard Thompson, Pink Floyd, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, and ¡Cubanismo! among many others over the course of a nearly sixty-year career.
After graduating from Harvard in 1964, he tour-managed Muddy Waters, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Sonny Rollins, Stan Getz and Astrud Gilberto, and others before serving as production manager for the historic 1965 Newport Folk and Jazz Festivals. He then moved to London to open Elektra Records’ office and started the famous UFO club, which became the center of London’s psychedelic revolution. In 1979 he launched his own label, Hannibal Records, which was at the forefront of bringing global artists to western audiences. As a film producer, his credits include Amazing Grace, Scandal,and Jimi Hendrix. A gifted raconteur, he appears frequently on radio, podcasts and documentaries.
About the Interlocutor
David Byrne is a musician, performer, writer and multidisciplinary artist whose creative ventures have captivated audiences since 1975 when he co-founded the renowned group Talking Heads. Recent works include Here Lies Love, a musical with music by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim (2023), Theater of the Mind, an immersive journey co-created by Byrne & writer Mala Gaonkar (2022/23), SOCIAL! at The Park Avenue Armory, the Broadway production of David Byrne’s American Utopia (2019) as well as the Spike Lee directed film version (2020), the launch of his Reasons to be Cheerful online magazine (2019) and the solo album American Utopia (2018). To date, Byrne has published five books including How Music Works (2012).
About the Venue
Tucked inside the historic Payne Whitney mansion, Albertine is the only bookshop in New York devoted solely to books in French and English with more than 14,000 contemporary and classic titles from 30 French-speaking countries.
As an integral part of the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, the Albertine bookshop brings to life the French government’s commitment to French-American intellectual exchange. The space reflects its belief in the power of literature and the humanities to increase understanding and friendship across borders, and in the power of books as a common good for a better world.
In partnership with the Cultural Services, Albertine hosts lively debates and discussions exploring popular and classical culture through a modern and global lens.
French books at Albertine comply with the French law that states that book prices cannot be reduced more than 5 percent. Fixed book prices protect a rich network of publishers and booksellers in France and nourish its “biblio-diversity”
For more information on And The Roots Of Rhythm Remain, please reach out to Matt Hanks (mhanks@shorefire.com), Chris Taillie (ctaillie@shorefire.com), and Henry Thomas (hthomas@shorefire.com) at Shore Fire Media.
From the legendary producer of Nick Drake, R.E.M., Toots and the Maytals, and Pink Floyd and author of White Bicycles: Making Music in the 1960s comes a riveting, world-spanning tour de force illuminating the artists, histories, controversies, and collaborations that shaped global music.
Release: Sep 24, 2024
Hardcover ISBN: 9798988670025 • 960 pages • two 16-page full-color photo inserts
