Photo by Abby Lank.
Photo by Abby Lank.
Jake Blount and Mali Obomsawin
Due to circumstances beyond our control, The Concert in the Courtyard performance featuring Jake Blount and Mali Obomsawin has been canceled. All tickets for the canceled concert will be refunded to the credit card account used at the time of purchase over the next two weeks.
7:30 pm–9:30 pm
Jake Blount and Mali Obomsawin are award-winning musicians who have joined forces on their Smithsonian Folkways release, symbiont (2024). Blount (pronounced “blunt”) is a renowned interpreter of Black folk music who is recognized for his skill as a string band musician and for his unprecedented Afrofuturist work in sound archives and song collections. In his hands, the banjo, fiddle, electric guitar, and synthesizer become ceremonial objects used to channel the insurgent creativity of his forebears. Obomsawin (Odanak First Nation) is a celebrated composer, bassist, and vocalist in free jazz and experimental music. Obomsawin’s work as a composer and bandleader centers on the imprint of Indigenous music traditions in jazz and “American” genres, using historical, archival, and community research as a spine for improvisation.
On symbiont, Obomsawin’s and Blount’s “genrequeer” approach to their respective traditions has earned a place in some of the very same archives from which they extract their repertoire. In defiance of genre categories, revisionist histories, and linear time, Blount and Obomsawin have fashioned an Indigenous and Afrofuturist folklore that disintegrates the boundaries between acoustic and electric, artist and medium, and ancestor and progeny.
Dining
Fresh seasonal meals and grab-and-go items (chips, candy, fruit, cookies)—plus beer, wine, and soft drinks—are available for purchase beginning when doors open.
Wheelchair accessible
Ticket Information
To order tickets by phone, call 1-800-440-6975 ($6 processing fee applies); to order in person, visit any MFA ticket desk.
Event Policies
Courtyard seating is limited; low lawn chairs (3 feet or under when unfolded) and/or blankets are recommended. Outside food and beverages and tall chairs are not permitted. All bags are subject to inspection by Museum staff.
For more information about what you can bring and inclement weather, please see Concerts in the Courtyard Policies.
Bag Checks
All bags are subject to inspection by Museum staff. Backpacks, large bags, all liquids including hand sanitizer and sunscreen, and outside food or drink are not permitted. Exceptions are made for medical or religious needs. All bags are strongly discouraged, and any bags larger than 11” x 15” must be checked in the Coat Room upon entry. Read our full bag check policy.