Newbies of MUNY announced

Here's a reprint from WNYC's Music Hub

MTA Announces Next Class of Subway Buskers

Wednesday, June 01, 2011

By Marlon Bishop : WNYC Culture Producer

  • The Lost and Wandering Blues Band are one of the acts chosen to join the Music Under New York program

    The Lost and Wandering Blues Band are one of the acts chosen to join the Music Under New York program (Marlon Bishop/WNYC)

Coming soon to a subway station near you: a Japanese mandolin player playing Italian classics, Baroque harp music, and a full blown Afro-jazz group. They're just some of the 19 individuals and groups chosen by the MTA's Music Under New York (MUNY) program to join the roster of musicians officially sanctioned to perform underground.

Last week, 68 groups tried out for the program in front of a panel of judges culled from New York's cultural scene in an alcove of Grand Central Terminal. The new acts will join about 350 sanctioned groups already in the program. Although anybody can play in the subway legally, MUNY artists can display official banners, use amplification, and have dibs on some of the best and busiest spots underground.

Check out the list of the winning artists below -- or listen to what one of the winners, the Lost And Wandering Blues Band, sounded like at the MUNY auditions last week.


 

  • Marcella Louise Adame (opera singer)
  • Harold Allen (country singer)
  • Brazilian Quarter (Brazilian & New Orleans music)
  • Lindsay Dragan (singer songwriter and guitarist)
  • Meta Joy Epstein (Baroque harpist)
  • Erik Hegar (contemporary and classical harpist)
  • Keizo Ishibashi (Italian mandolin player)
  • Tom Larsen (guitarist and singer songwriter)
  • Lost Wandering Blues & Jazz Band (swing band)
  • Mike Lunapiena (cellist improvisation)
  • Metro Brass Quintet (classical, pop, jazz)
  • MetropoliTones (female a capella)
  • Eric Reimers (classical & Argentinean guitarist)
  • Ron Service (saxophonist)
  • The Body Electric (Afro-beat jazz ensemble)
  • The Connections (Motown, R&B duo)
  • Threeds (Oboe trio)
  • Matt Vorzimer (electro improvisation)
  • Christopher Worth (contemporary & traditional singer)

Several of the artists chosen, including Tom Larsen and the Body Electric, are featured in the audition video below produced by the MUNY staff.

reprinted from Music Hub by Marlon Bishop WNYC Culture Producer