PhD candidate Ben Barson is one of 15 recipients of the 2018 Herb Alpert Young Jazz Composer Awards. ASCAP (The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) has made the awards since 2002 to encourage jazz composers under the age of 30. Barson received an award for his composition Insurrealista which he describes as an,

“…homage to the revolutionary surrealism of the father of Negritude, Aime Cesaire. In terms of influences, the piece employs a 20-string koto, within a jazz-hip hop rhythmic section.”

He goes on to express that the work is, 

“…a song dedicated to the struggle of the future: artists-revolutionaries who surrender to the power of the artistic imagination to see new worlds and new possibilities within the everyday (surrealism), but who are not afraid to fight to make this a reality (insurrectionsts). This movement of the future will be, and is currently, being led by [indigenous] women, so the -ista suffix seems more than appropriate.”

Congratulations to Ben Barson on this most recent success! Listen to his complete award-winning composition: