(NORTH ADAMS, Mass.) – Legendary Canadian DJ King Khan will spin a mash-up of vintage soul, classic R+B, and wicked funk in a dance party in the Hunter Center that caps off MASS MoCA’s 3-2-1! A Gala Celebration on Saturday, April 6, 2013 at 8:30pm. It will be a worthy send-off celebration of the largest assemblage of Canadian artwork ever exhibited outside of the country. Oh, Canada is also the largest collection of art MASS MoCA has ever exhibited.
Arish Amhad Khan began his music career in the mid-’90s garage punk scene of Montreal with groups such as Maury Povitch 3 and The Spaceshits. On a 1999 European tour with the latter, he opted to remain in Berlin and adopted the pseudonym King Khan. Since then, many collaborations and musical projects have emerged with King Khan as the centerpiece, including King Khan and The Shrines (1999-present), The Black Jaspers (2001-2009), King Khan And His Lonesome Guitar (2005), Buttflower (2008), The Almighty Defenders (2009-present), Tandoori Knights (2009-present), King Khan & GZA (2009), Vomit Squad (2010-present), King Khan & Pat Meteor (2010), and Khanwood Clarke (2012-present).
Attempts to describe King Khan’s sound have included “garage punk,” “psychedelic soul,” “rad-o-rama,” “gospel supergroup,” and “vintage boogaloo.” The Village Voice has raved about Khan’s “manic, James Brown-meets-Andy Kaufman antics” and his group’s “psych-funk extravaganza.” Pitchfork similarly lauded King Khan’s musical group as “more than just revivalists, but pranksters too, from their tongue-in-cheek lyrics, unpredictable live shows, impenetrable self-mythologizing press, and ‘live’ albums… Buying into the act isn’t just a question of suspending disbelief and taking their hand for a magic carpet ride; it’s being willing to smile after the shock of the hand buzzer.”
At MASS MoCA, King Khan will apply his diverse musicality to the turntable and fill MASS MoCA’s Hunter Center with dance-provoking sounds as unique and perplexing as his own musical identity.
MASS MoCA’s 3-2-1! A Gala Celebration features the opening of three new exhibitions – Mark Dion: The Octagon Room, One Minute Film Festival: 10 Years, and Life’s Work: Tom Phillips and Johnny Carrera – as well as the closing of Oh, Canada. In addition to the dance party with King Khan, the evening will include a cocktail party in the galleries and a benefit dinner in Building 5.
Tickets for the dance party are $13 for adults in advance and $10 for students. MASS MoCA members receive a 10% discount. Details and tickets for 3-2-1! A Gala Celebration and the dance party with DJ King Khan are available at the MASS MoCA box office located off Marshall Street in North Adams, open from 11 AM to 5 PM (closed Tuesdays) through June 30 and 10 AM – 6 PM every day from July 1 through Labor Day.
MASS MoCA, the largest center for contemporary visual and performing arts in the United States, is located off Marshall Street in North Adams on a 13-acre campus of renovated 19th-century factory buildings. MASS MoCA is an independent 501(c)(3) whose operations and programming are funded through admissions and commercial lease revenue, corporate and foundation grants, and individual philanthropy. Except for an initial construction grant from the Commonwealth, and competitive program and operations grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Massachusetts Cultural Council, MASS MoCA is privately funded: 90% of annual operating revenues are from earned revenues, membership support, and private gifts and grants.