Music | Film | Jazz
Real Enemies
By Darcy James Argue, Isaac Butler, and Peter Nigrini
Secret Society
Bandleader and composer Darcy James Argue’s (Brooklyn Babylon, 2011 Next Wave) 18-piece big band Secret Society melds minds with filmmaker Peter Nigrini, writer/director Isaac Butler, and designer Maruti Evans to investigate America’s fascination with conspiracy theories. On projection surfaces teeming with found footage, live video, and historical texts, the narratives behind the Red Scare, the Illuminati, Edward Snowden, and alien sightings are meticulously examined and interrogated. Musical motifs from Argue’s exuberant score mimic the byzantine “everything is connected” inner workings of mass collusion to plumb the grassy knoll and give paranoia itself the probe.
Co-commissioned by BAM, Beth Morrison Projects, and The Fromm Music Foundation. Real Enemies is supported by The MAP Fund, a program of Creative Capital, primarily supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Additional funds come from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
The World Premiere performance of Real Enemies is supported, in part, by public funds from The New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
Real Enemies was made possible by a grant from the Fromm Music Foundation