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"Disturbing the dead"

Most revelers at an Art Miami Wreck 2 party in the now-infamous Rectangle ArtSpace on January 10 were completely unaware that a grisly scene was found there the week before. The decomposing body of an artist was discovered in a loft on the same floor that now housed 70 or so art-loving party people. According to Majestic Properties director Gil Terem, 27-year-old Robert Lockwood, who had recently arrived from Virginia, was sneaking into the building's lofts with shady people from around the hood, maybe prostitutes or crazy pimps. Nobody is sure of the whole story. But were the urban hipsters in attendance creeped out? No, apparently grim tales do not ruin good times with this set. Besides, ghastly stories only add to the edgy aura of this burgeoning, bohemian, soon-to-be "cognac sipping" neighborhood. So although the Wynwood Art District, which I enthusiastically insist on calling WAD, is now notoriously linked to a bag of bones found on the site of the future Ice Lofts, none of these macabre details is spoiling the fun.

Humberto Guida

Kronos (right) and his girlfriend at Rectangle ArtSpace
The fun at Rectangle, by the way, was off the chain. The scary second floor was arranged with wood panels underneath bordering unfinished cement and ghostly white drapes hanging throughout the room. A phantasmic setting for performances by underground hip-hop acts Earthworks and Council of the Sun. In between their sets DJ Ape Grapes spun old school for the gyrating backsides of a festive crowd as eclectic as any I've ever seen. I'm talking suburban college kids, snooty Eastsiders, and fellas from around the way all jamming together. And when I asked poet/MC and party organizer Kronos about what he does, he went off on a five-minute freestyle session that could have won an MTV MC battle. On second thought, his rhymes were intelligent and meaningful, ill suited for the Roc-A-Fella style that dominates those rap put-ons. The highlight of the evening? Legendary club kid Amuary poking some guy in the eyes who had touched his boyfriend, all of which happened in front of a giant sketch of a scrotum and dick. WAD is a wonderful place.

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2004-01-22/music/disturbing-the-dead/
- Miami New Times


"Miami's Best Poet 2004"

www.miaminewtimes.com/bestof/award.php?award=16610as

BEST LOCAL POET (2004)
Kronos
The future of poetry is on the streets. Urban angst and inner-city pressure have inspired the hip-hop generation to take up "spoken word," where emotion and intimation flow from moving lips to open ears. In Miami a young, dreadlocked, dark-skinned man known as Kronos (real name: Yves Verela) performs his poetry at art functions as well as popular poetry nights, and often teams with bands and DJs to lend music to his lexicon. His deepest impressions are planted during conversations with strangers, when the engaging but gentle poet breaks into freestyle verses, always leaving the listener with reflective phrases: "One gets the whole truth half the time." Kronos's life experience as a traveler from his original Haiti to Miami's sunny shores, plus an extended stay in Israel, has certainly contributed to an ethereal multinationalism in his phrases: "I betted, you came, I summoned, you added-a smile without the sentimental charge of Motel 6." For members of a generation short on voices that speak directly to them, Kronos represents a youthful renaissance. - New Times (Miami)


"Let's Get Weird"

Let's Get Weird

The Nag Champayons fill the room with a positive vibe.

In the intimate practice space of the Seventh Circuit in North Miami, six guys with varying amounts of facial hair tune their instruments. A fog machine sits on the floor coughing puffs of smoke into the air. On a large screen behind the stage, geometrical shapes and slides from vacations are projected. Then the jam starts. Samples from Noam Chomsky's CD An American Addiction fight with bleats of bluesy sax. The samples become distorted and louder like you just did a Whip-It. "Ladies and gentlemen," a voice announces over the mounting percussive tension, "we present to you, the Nag Champayons..."

The Nag Champayons

Have you ever orchestrated a soundtrack in your mind? It could be a soundtrack for driving through Wendy's, taking a shower, dumping a body, or even trying on shoes at Foot Locker. Whatever. You probably wished you had a way so people could hear it. Or maybe it was just too weird and only warranted the "nod and smile" response.

The Nag Champayons create music that could be a soundtrack to the Apocalypse or maybe to a lazy ride down the Peace River. This six-man collective, composed of guitarist Jose Elias, drummer Nestor Prieto, saxophonist Harold Cardona, bassist Ed Cardona, percussionist/sampler Ryan Cacolici, and urban pundit/vocalist Kronos, gets experimental sound, music, and art together to do the freak nasty.

The Nag's sound is like a game of Whack-a-Mole. Just when you think you've nailed it, another instrument is introduced, another sound is made, another sample is tweaked. Cacolici, whose long, well-manicured beard could well be the seventh member of the band, describes it as "world garage," "an organized improv unit," and "psychedelic jazz practice." Take those descriptions and add a few of these instruments: marimbula (a large box you sit on to pluck metal keys), rackett (a small German instrument that sounds like a cross between a weed whacker and a bassoon), Boomwhackers (colored plastic tubes of different lengths that create different pitches when whacked on the ground), didgeridoo (a long, wooden, pipe-like Australian instrument that emits a haunting sound), a sax, bongos, a baby intercom, a synthesizer, a cowbell, a penny whistle. Confused yet? Eeeexcellent.

"We work towards cohesion of chaos," Elias says. "It's danceable and ambient, but we're also an ensemble. And we're comfortable having an odd-instrument department. We jam, we document, we develop. That's the only way to keep track." Elias has been friends with brothers Ed and Harold Cardona since they were kids, and they've jammed in local bands since their teens. Prieto and Cacolici have been the percussion junction for about a year, and Kronos stepped up to the mic a month ago.

Perhaps what is most refreshing about the Nag is its rejection of the traditional drums/guitar/bass lineup. Watching the group for the first time, the light bulb comes on. Of course! Electronic, dub, dance, hip-hop, Afro-Cuban, and free jazz can mix! Then, anything seems possible. Why not make music by banging on empty margarine containers, shaking a jar of jellybeans? Playing human skulls! It's Frank Zappa and Serge Gainsbourg wrestling Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra. It's Sonic Youth's plane crashing into Fela Kuti's boat in the Everglades on the hottest day of summer.

Despite the comparison to politically fueled bands and the inclusion of samples from conspiracy theorists like Chomsky, the Nag isn't necessarily politicked-off. "We are not at all a political band," Cacolici says. "But we do read a lot, and you know where that leads. I incorporate the Noam Chomsky sample as an intellectual spur, with the focus on content, not intent. Really, we're about everything. We started out with didgeridoo, sitar, percussion, and it grew from there. We're still an organic band, even though the electronic aspect is there. We've all experienced very different lives to this point, creativity being the common ground. So we get together as friends and contemporaries to make beautiful."

"What we do is ethereal but still a little hip-hop," Kronos continues. "We all come from different musical backgrounds, so it works."

And the music is beautiful, but there is also a climactic quality to it. Like soundtrack music, each piece fits together in the puzzle to resolve the tension of six people. On one of their untitled songs, they each grab a different-colored Boomwhacker and whack two cinderblocks until they all find a groove. When they do, it sounds like the Fourth of July. The song then sneaks off into a dub reggae dirge in which Kronos raps about an old roommate who used to do martial arts after smoking pot. Bassist/marimbulist Ed Cardona also takes over vocal duties on one song, dropping disjointed spoken word over a menacing drumbeat. The words somersaults and pancakes are intelligible. By the end of every jam, each member is vibrating in place like a powd - By Audra Schroeder-Published on June 03, 2004


"Deep Roots"

During the seventh-annual Afro Roots World Music Festival, local artists will showcase Mama Africa's life-giving reach into the community through vibrant performances. A cappella Haitian gospel ensembles the Heavenly Brothers and Young Witnesses for Christ voice praise for soulful synchronism on February 25 at St. John's. Finally, the flavorful concoction of sounds mixed up in Miami's multiethnic blender yields a massive musical outpouring through performances by the city's hottest Afro-Latino fusion groups -- Locos Por Juana, Siete Rayos, Suenalo Sound System, Aina, the Nag Champayons, and DJs Plastico Domingo and Mi Yerbita from the Earthnoize collective -- on February 26 at I/O Lounge. Meanwhile, Louinés Louinis leads a dance and drumming workshop that explores Afro-Haitian styles at FIU's University Park campus.


The Afro Roots World Music Festival takes place from Thursday, February 24, to Saturday, February 26. Tickets range from $5 to $15. Call 786-218-6854. - By Julienne Gage


"Wahoo Music and Arts Festival"

As a fan of live music I explore many musical events in my area; as a result I meet many people involved in the music industry. A musician myself, I was blessed to be exposed to a completely new realm of music outside of my provincial taste for "American" and "Western" musical acts. Through Andy Greenburg, the brains behind Miami Wahoo Festival, I have been shown the vast tapestry that is contemporary world music, which draws heavily from the rich Latin and African musical cultures. These sounds place a heavier emphasis on complicated rhythm and percussion, the foundation of modern music from rock and jazz to electronic. Since this discovery, I have been absorbing like a sponge literally a world of new rhythms and the emotions emanating from these sounds. This emphasis on rhythm is what to me seems to be at the foundation and soul of most modern music.
Following in the tradition of large festivals, such as Coachella, overnight camping and late night music sets will provide a great experience. Wahoo Festival is the only one of its kind to display the talent of some of the biggest world music acts. Based mostly out of Miami, these bands are at the forefront of the contemporary world music movement, a melting pot of ethnic flavors that is finding more receptive ears to fall upon as mainstream musicians find themselves incorporating Latin or African sounds into their songs. The Wahoo Festival’s headlining act, The Spam Allstars, are spearheading this movement. This group has established itself in Miami, and through a residency at SOB’s in NYC is beginning to warm up the northeast. They have played every Langerado Festival since its inception five years ago, an event which has attracted approximately 30,000 at its largest. “The Spam Allstars” can hardly be labeled under a narrow description of any one specific genre. Skillfully fused bass grooves and samples, played by the group’s director and turntablist "DJ le Spam,” are backed by flute, guitar, drums and a horn section. The bass samples are actually played on an electric bass by DJ, Le Spam himself, then run through a mixer in which he alters the sound making it more unique, deep and hypnotic.
Afromotive is another contemporary world music group that has been touring recently, playing this summer's Smilefest and The Asheville Music Jamboree as well as headlining their own small festival in North Carolina. In The style of large afrobeat orchestras, this band consists of a large group of nine musicians powered by a three piece horn section with the rest devoted entirely to the rhythm section. Afromotive is also scheduled to play Wahoo ushering world music into the twenty first century.
When responding stereotypes of bands that typically play these camping festivals, Andy says this:
"Lanzallamas's is just off a world tour, Elastic Bonds does 8 hour sets, Suenalo's CONCH SHELL player Conjunto Progresos is a master of “SON” music, and most of all, Monkey Village is an ever changing Enigma that is indefinable and best heard live. We get more world coverage than domestic, this April Lanzallamas is sharing the stage with legend Salif Keita, performing for an African king,"
Aside from these bands, the two Florida giants Nag Champayons and festival veterans Burnin Smyrnans will be slated to play Wahoo.
The real treasures here are the bands that are little known in the States, yet revered outside the U.S. Lanzallamas is a fusion of complex, hypnotic rhythms and melodies with the soul and flavor of Latin music. As I was listening to the samples on their website, www.lanzamusica.com, I was convinced they must have been using samples; I stood corrected as Andy, also their manager, insisted that all music comes directly from their instruments and can be recreated live on stage. This increases my anticipation to see them perform at Wahoo, as it will mark my first experience at a concert dedicated to truly expanding the horizons of the festival scene.
This festival is small and more intimate than most, you can park anywhere you want and the tickets are a paltry $40 opposed to the $175+ price tag that larger festivals such as Langerado can carry. As with most overnight music festivals, people are respectful of one another, making for a calm and non-violent atmosphere that has given the Miami Wahoo Festival a reputation of being one of the most fun, relaxing and utopian festivals in Florida

at 10:23 AM Posted by MusicAndArtsBlog - MusicAndArtsBlog


"Best Band Name (Nagchampayons)"

Have you ever gotten a whiff of Nag Champa? It seeps into your clothes. It does strange things to you. It makes you want to turn on your black light, stare at your Pink Floyd poster, and just "be cool, man." It turns anxious Type A's into mellow love and peaceniks. Now, Afro-Cuban free-jazz groups aren't often known for a sense of humor, but this international band (based in Miami) makes the dreaded dorm room incense (all right, now you know what we're talking about) sound clever, and that deserves a round of applause. Or, at least a "right on."

http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/bestof/2004/award/best-band-name-14382/
- New Times (Broward Palm Beach)


"Local Motion by Abel Folgar"

This is a weird EP. I'm talking a spacey trip through a beat-infested jungle of paranoia and psychedelic effects that resembles a milkshake flavored with Tomita, Ferrante & Teischer, and Goblin. Trip-hop, jazz, sinister electronica, and aboriginal organic sounds all collide to form an eight-track, 40-minute-long voyage. Opener "Sk3th (Intro)" reminds me a little of Kid Kadian's retooling of the Dead Kennedys' "Kinky Sex Makes the World Go 'Round." Meanwhile, the other tracks go for sci-fi minimalism (is that a fucking theremin I hear?), as in "Beneath the Equator"; or let's-make-love piano stuff, as in "Ketch"; or the straight-up carnivalesque, as in "Lowres."

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2008-07-24/music/local-motion/

- Miami New Times


Discography

Upcoming
Kronopolis rising "States Of Slumber!"-ep- streaming this summer!

Photos

Bio

yKRONOS

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BIO
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Is there Life After Conception?

There is a certain private country that fantastic music can transport you into. A place where your only required passport is a sense of adventure and the ability to listen intently. It is often in these climates that you can meet inhabitants with multi faceted aspects like Kronos, Habbit9, da-jits, and Code Poet. Four distinct personalities tightly wrapped in one burning mind.

Kronos’ life experience as a traveler from his original Haiti to Miami’s sunny shores and an extended stay in Israel and the Yucatan peninsula has certainly contributed an ethereal if not subliminal multi-nationalism to his music. At once Kronos draws influence from the 10hz resonance of a bass drum to the quiet intellectualism of groups like FSOL & Autechre and the synth driven hip hop beats of the mid 90s while maintaining soundscapes that are as individual as dawn. Couple this sonic alchemy with the fast forward world of his poetry turned lyric and new landscape emerge morph and engage the listener into a state of quiet introspection and self discovery.. Kronos is currently based out of Miami, Fl, producing Kronopol. The follow up to his acclaimed EP, kronopolis Rising- “States of Slumber!” Kronopol available summer 2009!

Following his own internal compass he continues to plot a multi-meteoric path through the minds of listeners and media.

Press –

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/issues/2004-05- 13/bestdiversions/diversions2.html
http://www.newtimesbpb.com/issues/2004-06-03/music2.html
http://www.miaminewtimes.com/issues/2004-01-22/music/buzzin.html
http://www.unlikelystories.org/old/kronos.html
http://www.paradoxpoetry.com/userinfo-conceptkronos.html
www.thewomb.com
http://www.dyingdays.com/archive02.html
http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2008-07-24/music/local-motion/
http://www.edgeradio.org.au/musicstock/allmusic1.html
http://u92.wvu.edu/loworbit.cfm
http://www.imeem.com/cmjcollegeday
http://mog.com/ykronos
http://jitbitsyndicate.blogspot.com/
http://www.kvrx.org/node/32889
http://taintradio.org/author/kenfield/

Performances and Media -

- 1998 South Miami’s Poet’s Cafe slam Champion
- 2001 Meta Media Dorsch Gallery (curator/producer)
- 2002-current Formed Bedouin Circuit Collective and together with Robin Relish, Dogsimas produced the online radio show Zoomorph Anthem on TheWomb.com (www.thewomb.com)
- 2004 Co-founded the Afro-galatic band the Nag Champayons (www.nagchapayons)
- 2004 Miami New Times Best Band Name “The Nag Champayons”
- 2004 Miami New Time’s Best Local Poet
- 2004 Produced a composition for INDAMI (Intercultural Dance And Music Institute) a Florida International University (FIU) based organization.
- November 2004 – EarthDance Festival (www.earthdance.org)
- December 2004 – Evolution Of Culture an Art Basel affiliated event (www.artbasel.com)
-January 2005 – Virgin Mega Store’s Tsunami Relief Benefit (http://www.virginmegamagazine.com/default.asp?aid=CC5)
-February 2005– Afro-Roots World Music Festival (www.communityartsandculture.com)

- March 2006- Fette de la music festival at the Guzzan Miami theater

- March 2006 - Postion South winter music event coordinator and curator.
- June 2006 - Guzman Theater (Refugee Allstars)
- June 2006- “A bend in a river” (Ingles and Assoicates gallery ) sound installation and composition for FeCuOp
- www.fecuop.com
- September 2006 – oldjitmusic corp. imprint is born
- January 2007 – Praxis Interational Art Studios (Miami) sound installation with Augusto Zanela of Argentina
www.praxis-art.com
- June 2008 - Kronopolis Rising States of Slumber released

- December 2008 - Art Basel –Alex Grey sound installation

Education:

Bachelors in History
Minored in Cultural Affairs
Ft. Lauderdale Art Institute (photography)