Art loft is brought to you by the Friends of South Florida PBS.

Art loft.

It's the pulse of what's happening in our own backyard, as well as a taste of the arts across the United States.

In this episode, we get musical with a Pompano Beach program putting local vocal talent on the map.

We meet the woman behind Electro Dub Tango, a mix of modern and classic Argentine rhythms and catcher in performance, and a legendary bass player takes on a new symphonic direction.

We meet Bela Fleck and the Flecktones.

Victor Wooten.

A city launching a record label.

Yep, you heard that right.

The city of Pompano Beach has supported the local music scene for over a decade, with the lyrics Lab open mic night recently, it took that support up a few notches by dropping its first EP, Lets Meet the Artists Behind the Pompano Beach soundtrack volume one.

We really want to connect people to community to place.

Nothing is going to be able to bring Pompano together or a city together, like the arts and the collection of these artists from a variety of different backgrounds and ethnicities speaks to what Pompano is.

It is very diverse.

It started out with our open mic event, Lyrics Lab, and through that process we had sort of American Idol like tryouts, and we selected the team that we thought would best represent Pompano Beach, and that's who is in the studio tonight doing these recordings.

New Lyrics Lab has been around as an open mic format for some ten years at this point, so a lot of great talent has been on our stage in the past.

And so this is really an effort to celebrate the local talent from Pompano Beach.

It's was really a proposal that was pitched to us by Sarah Peterson of the Round Table Project.

She had some desires to to really kind of showcase talent from Lyrics Lab.

She started her career at Lyrics Lab on that very stage many years ago.

My name is Erica Peterson and I do a lot, but mainly I run the round table project and we are producing the soundtrack for the city of Pompano Beach.

We have rappers, we have musicians, we have spoken word.

There's a group of talented people here in.

You never know what you're going to get when they're combined together, because we're creating all original music.

It's created from a group of people who don't know each other, didn't never knew each other before this unless they were at Lyrics Lab.

But then bringing them together in the studio, you're going to get some, you know, we have Jonas in there.

He's playing every instrument that was ever created.

And then you have Daniel, who's 16 and sings like he's 60 and you know, you have Yasmeen, who has the biggest voice I've heard since Whitney Houston and Alicia Keys.

Like, you have so much talent, so you never know what you're going to get when you're in the studio.

I think that the best musical projects take place when a whole bunch of different ideas come together into one, and that's what we're trying to do with this.

My name is Ezra Hayes.

I'm a musician.

I do R&B and rap music, but I love all genres, and I would love to do whatever genre that I possibly can.

I love experimenting when it comes to music.

Before Lyrics Lab, that was like my second performance ever.

I was the second time that I was ever on stage.

I love doing things that are difficult.

I love doing things.

I love challenging myself.

I learned to, you know, mix and master all my music and do all that.

So before Lyrics Lab, I was mainly just in my room, you know, making bedroom music and just working on my craft.

And I showed up to Lyrics Lab and here I am today.

Oh, my name is Danielle Nicole.

By profession.

I'm a project director by day, and I'm an artist by night.

Ooh, I sang here and there, um, growing up.

But, like mainly in church.

And it just so happened that night I was going to the event to actually support my aunt who was supposed to perform, and then they put me on the list and I freestyled the whole thing from start to finish, got the crowd involved, and that was the end of all, she wrote.

That's why I said maybe it was a hidden talent I didn't realize I had.

That became alive on a day that I just so happened to be there like that.

You want to keep the first half and just punch the second?

Yeah.

Can I hear it back real quick?

Sure.

My name is Jonas Arthur.

I am a singer songwriter, musician.

I've played music all my life.

I'm songwriting, singing, playing, you know, different instruments on the on the songs.

And it's been a it's been a really fun, fun time collaborating with the other artists and producers and, and just everyone involved coming over the summer, I had this, you know, kind of itching and desire to play some original songs just at a local open mic or something.

I was looking online to see what was, you know, what was happening in town and found lyrics lab live online, performed a couple songs and it was really cool, a really fun time.

A few months later, I got a message on Instagram and says, you know, hey Jonas, you know you were selected to be a part of the Pompano Project.

You know, we'd love to have you.

I was like, oh, okay.

Well, I guess it was meant to be.

Da da da da da da da da da da da da.

I won't fight.

It.

I am Yasmeen Mitri.

I make R&B soul music, and my role in this project is to create some music for the city of Pompano Beach.

Growing up, I was operatically trained, so I was trained to sing opera.

But I also have an immense love for R&B, jazz, soul, the blues.

And when I realized that was a whole other octave lower than what I was used to singing, I had to reboot a few things, but while keeping the range.

So now I have four octaves.

Pretty much.

I met a couple of friends at one open mic that I used to go to, so then I was like, oh, you know, let's hit up every open mic.

This is fun.

And then I found Lyrics Lab through Facebook and we're like, let's check it out.

And we keep going ever since.

From the time that I've been since like 2017, going to the open mics and stuff, I've never heard of a city putting together an EP, so the chance to be on one is incredible, especially the first ever one.

I'm like, oh, oh, okay.

We're going to listen back.

We're fortunate to also have a great partner with the Power Station studio, which is of course based here in Pompano.

So just a lot of things came together from the roundtable project, pitching the project, our desire to incubate local talent, this partnership with Power Station Studio.

So it was kind of a coalescing of all the right elements to get us to where we are today, to get in a studio and go through the process of creating music and creating an EP.

You know, it's a learning experience.

I am working with a group of producers that are amazing.

David Kennedy is such a teacher with the artist and teaching them how to record and what he hears from a producing and engineer standpoint.

Avi and Ty, they're all professionals and I appreciate them working on this project with us, because it has been a task.

When you're not working on your project, it's other artists project, and it has given me an opportunity to see that, hey, I'm a producer.

More albums, so.

We'll have individual songs from each artist and, you know, we'll find songs that work well for collaboration and, you know, just find moments in each song and even the whole song to collaborate as a as a team.

Each person brings their own flavor to the EP, and we kind of created like a little family.

Like we are excited to see each other.

We check in, we make sure everything's good and it's great.

Truly, we make some friends for a lifetime.

So how are y'all doing?

What you're about to hear is nothing but people sharing what it is that they do with people like you, who want to hear what they have to say, what they have to show, what they have to share.

Because everybody is sharing a little piece of themselves like we always do, in the hopes that we'll get back something from that sharing.

Pop pop pop pop pop.

This lady is calling me to take me to the beach.

Pompano is where we are.

Here to celebrate the soundtrack.

The Pompano Beach soundtrack, volume one.

Make some noise for that, ladies and gentlemen.

Make some noise for beach.

Pompano is where I wanna be.

This is a year and a half in the making to reach this point.

All I know is.

Where I want to be.

Next track is called fantasy.

I myself, I produce it, I play guitar, Azriel on the vocals.

So hope you all enjoy it.

Uh, that's pretty much it y'all.

Enjoy the rest of the album.

Thank you all so much.

Fantasy.

Show me your heart.

We gon be alright.

Racing, racing.

Mind in the matrix.

You get me so high.

Just with our conversation.

Patience baby, just have.

Patience when you speak I swear mama got you on.

Cadence.

Everybody.

No matter what style of music, what where you come from.

We all connect and unite under the same thing of music.

So that in itself is the initial spark that brings everybody together.

It was man, this song is called Different Love.

It's a kind of love that's different.

This is definitely opened me up to opportunities, even for myself, to realize that nothing is a straight arrow.

Nothing is a straight path.

Everything has curves and whistles in it.

And so just following life where it takes you is definitely opens the door to different opportunities.

Sometimes I just want a friend I know I can trust and hold.

We all come from different sorts of backgrounds, but we all relate in music and I think that's a big thing that a lot of us should learn that music is a universal language.

The beauty of being able to come together with people that you've really never met before, being able to hear their stories and collaborate with them musically, and just to be able to create something new has been really enriching.

For you in trying to be out.

There and then, a farmer, a multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer is creating a new generation of tango.

She writes, performs, and records all her own music, both under her name and as electro dub tango.

We caught up with her at a recent performance on the Plaza at the Arsht Center.

My name is Jimena Fama and I'm the composer of Electro tango.

I'm a multi-instrumentalist and I'm the producer as well.

Basically, the albums I do it from zero, from scratch till they are released.

This song is called Vida en Invierno.

Most of my work I use the name Electro Tango.

The whole idea was to mix, to keep it organic, and I think that's the difference, you know, of what we do and the sound that we have.

Have all the tango Elements and the electronic elements, but keep it organic.

And also I wanted to always make it accessible.

Like tango can be very complex and very kind of like intense and the dynamics are everywhere.

My plan was to make it accessible and to be able to play it everywhere.

I tried to catch a little bit of, you know, the essence and sounds of the rest of the world, always with the rhythm and, you know, traditional items from my culture, from Argentina.

It's about finding the right blend, you know, between acoustics and electronics and technology and something that comes from the heart.

I think it's a it's a good balance and a way to translate the message.

This is neo tango.

It's very uptempo.

It's milonga, which is a style of tango.

Nuevo tango.

It's kind of a movement.

It started by combining drums with tango normally don't have drums.

Neil Tango came with like more like a four over four drums and start to use different sounds, more electronic sounds, or maybe keyboards like electronic keyboard.

But the concept and the root and the harmony that should be from tango, not from electronic music.

I started this project in 2004, so that gave me enough time to get to know the industry.

Production is kind of like a language, so I was basically speaking and somebody was translating that for me, and at one point I decided, okay, I need to do this by myself.

I need to be able to translate the whole message from the beginning until the end myself, so I can really express what I want with the music and with the instruments.

For example, in a song you put an acoustic guitar or an electric guitar, and it would take the song completely different places.

So once I have a concept and I wanted to express something and share something, I make sure that, you know, all the pieces make sense until the end.

I try to only compose when I'm starting a project.

Otherwise I have many ideas all the time, you know?

But I try to.

I make it organized.

Inspiration is something that it really doesn't, doesn't stop.

You know, I think tango is something that comes with time, with age.

Growing up, I remember my dad would put tango in the car and I was like, ah, this happens to everybody that I talk to.

It's like, oh, that's so cool.

It's so depressing.

It's like, so.

Nostalgic and.

And then with time you start to appreciate your roots and appreciate the deepness.

And it's not sad, it's dynamic and it's and I also wanted to make it happy.

I'm releasing a new album called Hermosa Vida, which is like Beautiful Life.

It's very up tempo and very happy, and my goal is to make people have a good time, you know, with music, with what I do.

I also play traditional tango songs that you will hear on the concert.

I like both, you know.

It's not like, oh no, it's the old stuff.

It's like, no, I'm one of the people that's like, okay, no, totally.

We have to respect I'm very conservative in that way and many other ways, you know, to really, like, understand the origins of tango, you know, harmonies and everything to keep that pure.

Then you can mix it up, but also don't go super far away because this is culture, right?

We always want to keep the culture.

Keep it growing, you know, keep it evolve.

Thank you, thank you.

Hermosa Vida.

It's officially out in Miami.

Next we head to Norfolk, Virginia, where Public Media brings us a bass virtuosos return home after winning multiple Grammys, playing with Béla Fleck and the Flecktones for decades.

Victor Wooten shares what drives his music and his latest symphonic performance.

Coming home is always more special, especially when you've been away for a while.

I get to be a hometown hero, and that's not what I'm in it for, but I'm going to use it for everything I got because I want you to succeed.

I want you to know that you're worthy.

You're enough.

You can achieve your dreams.

And I'm proof.

I'm from Newport News and I'm the youngest of five brothers.

Music has played a big part in my life, probably before I was born, because my brothers were already Plan and they needed a bass player.

My earliest memory of playing was right around two years old.

And because I was literally learning to speak music at the same time as I was learning to speak English.

Music became a very natural.

I was on stage by kindergarten, if not before.

And we're opening for war and Curtis Mayfield, The temptations.

And we didn't know any better.

It's just what it was.

And my older brothers, who were superheroes to me, they're treating me like an equal.

And I'm the baby brother, but no one's beating me up.

Instead, they're holding me up, giving me all the credit.

We did a lot of gigs, and we caught the attention of a lot of different people.

A guy named Kashif brought us brothers in to Arista Records.

Big record company.

The record deal didn't go so well.

And it was the cause of the five of us brothers not playing together.

And all we know is music.

We find out about Busch Gardens and my life has never been the same.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Canadian Millennium.

At this time, would you please put your hands together and welcome.

Busch gardens own good time country.

They announce Busch Gardens.

Welcome to the Good Time country show.

And in four black guys walk out cowboy hat.

It's like.

That quiet.

But when the music started.

Oh my goodness, it was great.

At the time.

I was too young to work in the live entertainment department, but they were about to open in a couple of weeks or so, and they needed a bluegrass fiddle player.

And then one of my brothers says, well, I got another brother who could probably play fiddle.

I never played fiddle in my life.

So I researched and found three of the top fiddle songs, and I went in and I won the audition.

For us, music is music.

A string is a string.

We can make a sound out of it.

We had a lot of people tell us back then, y'all need to move to Nashville.

And at the time, man, I ain't going to Nashville.

Never say never.

All of us moved to Nashville.

Good for you.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

In 87, my friend introduced me to Béla Fleck, and we just hit it off.

Béla asked me to be a part of a television show called the Lonesome Pine And specials.

It was definitely Béla Fleck and the Flecktones that put me on the global map, and I thank Bella for that, because Béla understood that the band would be better if he allowed every musician to have freedom.

Bass player magazine was just hitting the scene, so I wound up in Bass Player magazine a lot.

We did The Tonight Show five times.

Béla Fleck and the Flecktones.

These two would make a four-bar phrase.

Exactly.

Then it would be out here.

To eat?

Oh, yeah.

That's nice.

I think so.

Backside of.

It's a little longer with the four bars.

It's whatever helps.

Solidify that rhythm.

Right.

I'm improvising.

I'm rarely reading.

But if I put my head here, I start playing this rather than playing this.

It's so flavorful.

That whole section.

It's really neat.

Thank you very much.

I have a lot of respect for the symphony.

As a child, I played in orchestras, but in being asked to write a piece, I have an idea that they want classical, but they want something different.

The main thing that I wanted to do was not leave me as I was writing.

The instrumentation is going to make it different enough.

To hear people playing something that I wrote.

Wow.

Amazing.

Right now it's my first time sitting out and listening to it.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

I can't listen because I'm right here.

I've got a bad case of focal dystonia.

I hate to even say it, but my hands curl up trying to play, so it's a huge struggle for me to play simple things.

I didn't write anything hard for me and this piece just because of that, but it's gotten a little worse.

So I'm going to be scratching and clawing at this whole thing.

You all make me sound good.

Oh, yeah.

Thank you.

Awesome.

Thank you.

Over 20 years ago.

I just noticed that my hands were slowing down.

Didn't know why.

I just felt I need to practice.

I started working on stuff, running scales, all the stuff people say, warming up and all this stuff that I never did.

It's not getting better.

It's kind of getting worse.

So now it is so difficult for me to play one, it's kind of taken over my brain and I'm having to do all the things I tell students how to relax, breathe.

Don't think about that.

Think about this.

Mhm.

As they're saying, I heard we teach what we most need to learn.

All that stuff I say I'm working on it.

Right now I'm playing this concerto that I wrote.

That I can barely play.

Fortunately I have a symphony around me that I can hide behind.

I wrote a book called The Music Lesson.

At the beginning of each chapter of the book is a measure of music.

So if you read all the chapters, put the music together, you get a song called The Lesson.

And then when I thought about writing a concerto, I wanted to really flesh it out with real instruments.

If anyone knows that song, you'll hear bits and pieces broken up and spread out between movements, as well as spread out between the instruments.

I wanted a base that I could bow and nobody made one, so I asked Vinny Fodera if he could get a bow base made, and he said, I think I can, and the easiest way to think of it is a cello on its side.

It's fun for me to get to play because it's a one of a kind.

I think of a concerto as a musician out front, virtuoso playing a lot of stuff, and the orchestra is back behind me and I like that idea, but I didn't really want to do just that.

I want the audience to see what a bass does, but also see what a bass can do.

There are times in the symphony where I'm supporting the oboe, supporting the violins, and doing what the bass does with the bass section, but then I'll step out front and let you see that the bass can play chords, the bass can play melodies, the bass can solo.

So that is an education for all of us.

If you continue to pursue your dreams and just don't quit, you will live them.

It may take longer than you took.

It may be harder than you think.

But if it was easy, it wouldn't mean as much.

Music is about sharing it and giving it to other people.

Living our dream with us.

And that's a beautiful, a beautiful life.

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