James Stewart has been organizing his Black Atlantic Club nights for several years now. This season, with Opéra Underground, he is presenting concerts by musicians from Africa and the African diaspora.
The Scorpios, founded in the U.K. by refugees, are part of a Sudanese Afro-funk tradition that dates back to the 1970s. Most of the group members learned their craft playing at weddings and religious festivals. The concert version they have developed in exile is more inspired by the Sudanese jazz and funk tradition that had its moment of glory during the “Swinging Khartoum” of the 60s and 70s - with one group in particular, The Scorpions, as a clear influence.
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