Thursday, November 13, 2014
7pm–10pm
@ 2A (upstairs)
25 Avenue A (at East 2nd Street)
New York, NY 10009
Join us for SAWCC’s Soirée and Annual Benefit, an evening of incredible live music, comedy, and a silent auction over cocktails (cash bar) and hors d’oeuvres at the swanky upstairs lounge at 2A bar in Alphabet City.
We are very excited to feature a performance by the internationally acclaimed, award-winning musician Kiran Ahluwalia with guitarist Rez Abbasi, comedy relief by the hilarious Aparna Nancherla, and a soulful performance by Ashni. Bid on remarkably affordable art and more in our silent auction while you enjoy the night’s performances, and then join us on the dance floor for irresistible global bass spun by DJ Ushka.
Buy your tickets and celebrate the SAWCC community while supporting the work we do to advance the visibility and development of South Asian women artists and highlight issues important to the South Asian diaspora. We are grateful to all of you for keeping us going over the past 17 years. We can’t wait to see you there!
Individual tickets:
$25 in advance (until November 12)
$35 at the door
Sponsorship tickets:
$200 (acknowledgement with your name/logo on our website and a tax deduction)
Benefactor tickets:
$500 ($100 credit towards your auction purchase, acknowledgement with your name/logo on our website, and a tax deduction)
If you cannot physically attend our fundraiser, please consider donating $25 (or however much you’d like) to SAWCC by clicking here:
Two-time JUNO Award (Canadian Grammy) winning singer Kiran Ahluwalia creates a heady hybrid of Indian grooves and Saharan desert blues. Writing both the words and music, Kiran’s themes are about confronting the civil war, not within a nation but within ourselves, about realizing female desire by throwing away all shame and untying the knots that bind us to stale embraces. Her sixth album Sanata: Stillness (released October 2014) will have a listening party during Basement Bhangra’s happy hour on November 6, 2014 at Le Poisson Rouge. Her CD release concert will be February 21, 2015 at Roulette in Brooklyn, NY.
Pakistani-born jazz guitarist Rez Abbasi’s many accolades include “No. 1 Rising Star Guitarist” in Downbeat magazine’s International Critic’s Poll. His compositions and playing reflect his individuality and create an ideal hybrid of modern jazz and world inflections. For over a decade, Rez has been blazing a new trail as a leading figure in South Asian–American cutting edge jazz. He performs in award-winning groups as Rudresh Mahanthappa’s Indo-Pak Coalition and the Kiran Ahluwalia band. In 2015 he will release his tenth album, featuring his acoustic quartet RAAQ.
Aparna Nancherla has an intimidating name, but don’t be scared! She’s a joke entrepreneur who peddles in both writing and performance (AKA scribble-scrabble and jibber-jabber). In fact, she most recently wrote for and sometimes appeared on the late, great Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell, on FX-then-FXX. Her artistic journey took off in Washington, DC (it’s all about the Washingtons), but she now resides in the biggest apple in the gosh darn world. Aparna’s comedic goggles are dry and observational, and her act is sprinkled with absurdist wit and a whimsical point of view. Other credits include Conan on TBS, @midnight and Adam Devine’s House Party on Comedy Central, VH1’s I Love the 2000s, Time magazine‘s “140 Top Tweeters of 2014,” LA Weekly‘s “12 Comedy Acts to Watch,†and Serial Optimist’s “10 Comics You Must Know.â€
Ashni is a singer, songwriter, pianist, dancer, poetry-lover, expert hugger, and crier. She is currently working on her first EP. Her relationship with the stage began at age 7, with classical Indian dance (Kathak) and western classical piano. As the child of Indian immigrant parents, she grew up listening to her father’s records and her mother’s voice—from Chopin to Ella Fitzgerald to Jagjit Singh. She is inspired by, she is in love with, she is thrilled at the art in, around, and all over New York City. She has performed at respected venues across NYC, including Rockwood Music Hall and Bowery Electric. Ashni is honored to be a part of SAWCC’s event tonight in support of her sisters.
Ushka is a Sri Lankan-born, Brooklyn-based deejay. She is one half of iBomba, one of NYC’s premiere parties for global bass music. She is also a part of the music label Dutty Artz, a collective of deejays and producers creating sonic cultural production and events. Having grown up in several parts of the world, Ushka’s musical influences are as transnational as she is. She deejays from the perspective of a dancer, blending a wide range of music from soca to cumbia, hip hop to South Asian rhythms, kuduro and other African genres to samba, for a wide audience. She does so with the philosophy that global genre-blending connects cross-cultural struggles and tells important stories between communities, but most importantly, she translates this onto dance floors. You can find her on the interwebs through her website, SoundCloud, Tumblr, and Twitter @ty_ushka.
The South Asian Women’s Creative Collective is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and you may obtain a copy of SAWCC’s financial report by requesting it from us or from the Attorney General.