Boogie Down/Under the Elevated

Boogie Down Booth @ Freeman Street in the Bronx, NY

Here’s something new you don’t see every day: the combination of technology, music produced by local musicians and composers, and the use of street space under an elevated subway track, but that’s what’s happening in the Bronx, New York City.

The news release reads:

The NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Design Trust for Public Space unveiled [on July 19, 2014] “The Boogie Down Booth,” the second prototype for the Under the Elevated project in collaboration with the Bronx Music Heritage Center (BMHC) of the Women’s Housing and Economic Development Corporation (WHEDco).  Located at the Freeman Street station bus stop underneath the 2/5 subway tracks in the Bronx, this temporary resting spot provides solar-powered lighting and directional speakers playing Bronx artists’ music to enhance the space beneath the train tracks. The community, including the Southern Boulevard Merchant Association, provided guidance on the design and function of the installation through multiple workshops. It serves as a test to make the area a more hospitable place for community residents and visitors and has attracted support from the NYC Department of Small Business Services (SBS) through a competitive Neighborhood Challenge grant.

The temporary installation on celebrates the rich culture of the Bronx expressed through music. The speakers installed at “The Boogie Down Booth @ Freeman Street, in Bronx, NYBoogie Down Booth” play tunes by local artists, including Grammy-recognized musicians, to counteract the sound pollution caused by trains above the street and the surrounding traffic. The playlist, compiled by WHEDco’s Bronx Music Heritage Center (BMHC), reflects the thriving music born in or inspired by the Bronx. Although over 10,000 live music seats in dozens of clubs and theaters in the neighborhood have been lost over the years, artists from a wide array of cultural backgrounds make the Bronx their home and create new music in the borough. There are Freeman Street and Southern Boulevard>plans by WHEDco for two additional booths to be installed at a different location on Southern Boulevard and in Melrose, where the BMHC’s permanent home will be housed, providing multiple points to listen to Bronx music in the neighborhood. The installation also encourages users to share their thoughts on how the underused area can be improved.

The installation at the Freeman Street station, which will be installed through September 15, 2014, is the second of several that will be developed as part of the Under the Elevated initiative led by the Design Trust for Public Space. The citywide effort is aimed at developing strategies for maximizing the function, use, and spatial qualities of the millions of Eugene Marlow & Bobby Sanabriasquare feet of space underneath NYC’s bridges, and elevated highways, subways, and rail lines. The temporary installations will pave the way for a systemic change across the city that will transform the environment around its vast transit infrastructure.

Numerous musicians and composers born and/or raised in the Bronx are represented on the soundtrack, including: Afri-Garifuna Jazz Ensemble, Will Calhoun, Circa 95, Akua Dixon, Ilu Aye, Malang Jobarteh, James Lovell, Ray Mantilla, the Mariachi Academy of NY, Norka Nadal and Bambula, Rebel Diaz, Willie Rodriguez, and Bobby Sanabria/Eugene Marlow.

It was my honor that Maestro Sanabria chose the big band piece I wrote for him in 2006, “El Ache de Sanabria, to be one of the Big Band Urban Folk Tales--Bobby Sanabriatwo pieces he chose for the “Boogie Down” soundtrack loop. This piece appears on his 2007 Grammy-nominated album “Big Band Urban Folktales.” Sanabria was born in the Bronx and still lives there. Not so coincidentally, while I was born in London, England, I was raised in the Bronx; went to PS 24 and then JHS 7 in Kingsbridge. I also attended Herbert Lehman College—all educational institutions in the Bronx.

The New York Times reported this story—“Under the Tracks, a Kiosk with a Bronx Beat” on July 26, 2014.  A print version of this article appears on page A19 of the July 26, 2014 New York edition with the headline: “Under the Tracks, a Kiosk with a Bronx Beat.”

About the Bronx Music Heritage Center

The Bronx is the birthplace of thousands of musicians and entire music genres, and was once home to some of the best performing arts spaces in the City. Today, too many communities have limited access to cultural resources and events. WHEDco is celebrating the rich history and creative spirit that defines Bronx music – from jazz and salsa to R&B and hip hop – at the Bronx Music Heritage Center, which will have a permanent home in our newest Bronx Commons mixed-use housing development. Programming for the Bronx Music Heritage Center Lab is organized by Bobby Sanabria and Elena Martinez of City Lore.

About the Women’s Housing and Economic Development Corporation (WHEDco)

WHEDco is a community development organization founded on the radically simple idea that all people deserve healthy, vibrant communities. WHEDco’s mission is to give the South Bronx access to all the resources that create thriving neighborhoods – from high-quality early education and after-school programs, to fresh, healthy food, cultural programming, and economic opportunity.

About The Design Trust for Public Space
The Design Trust for Public Space is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the future of public space in New York City. Our projects bring together city agencies, community groups and private sector experts to make a lasting impact—through design—on how New Yorkers live, work and play.

Please write to me at meiienterprises@aol.com if you have any comments on this or any other of my blogs.

Eugene Marlow, Ph.D.
July 28, 2014

© Eugene Marlow 2014

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