Exotic Sin featuring Neneh Cherry

In concert with Blank Forms’s recent exhibition, “Organic Music Societies: Don and Moki Cherry,” presented in New York from April 8 to July 16, 2021, Blank Forms has organized a two-night program at the Bourse de Commerce—Pinault Collection in celebration of the life, art, and collaborative spirit of free jazz legend Don Cherry and visual artist-designer Moki Cherry.

With a contorted, cosmic sound that fuses the free-form expressions of spiritual jazz with the compositional strategies of classic minimalism, Exotic Sin—composed of visual artist, archivist, and musician Naima Karlsson and multi-instrumentalist and improvisor Kenichi Iwasa—revels in the exhilaration of sonic contrast. Karlsson and Iwasa initially collaborated in a tribute Karlsson’s forebears, Don and Moki Cherry, and subsequently formed Exotic Sin,—playing Don’s trumpet and jerry-rigged “zen saxophones” alongside their own synthesizers, celesta, bells, a Yamaha keyboard and a guitaret to make a sound entirely their own. Their interdisciplinary roots and commitment to tonal and stylistic juxtapositions continue and update the synergistic approach that defined Don and Moki’s art and life. In this special performance, Neneh Cherry—mother to Karlsson, daughter of Don and Moki, and pioneering singer, trip-hop icon, and post-punk performer—will share the stage with Exotic Sin.