MIDI@40 and Hip-Hop@50 Anniversary Celebrations Await at The 2023 NAMM
hip-hop and MIDI, and the relationship between technology and music creation. Together, hip-hop and MIDI — as an underlying, enabling technology — have had a global impact in breaking down barriers and making music more accessible.
As part of the MIDI@40 celebration, the MIDI Zone in the front of Hall A of the Anaheim Convention Center will celebrate a wide range of products and innovations using MIDI. In total, 30 companies will be displaying the latest in MIDI innovation, and The MIDI Association will be demonstrating MIDI 2.0, the most important upgrade to MIDI since its debut at The NAMM Show in 1983.
"MIDI@40 not only showcases all of the amazing MIDI products that have impacted music over
Athan Billias, President of the MIDI Association
the past 40 years but also looks forward to the future with MIDI 2.0 products that will continue to
shape the way music is made for decades to come,
On Friday, April 14, from 4:00 – 5:00 p.m., A3E: Advanced Audio Applications Exchange will present "MIDI 2.0: What Developers Need to Know About Free Tools for Developing MIDI 2.0 Products and Apps." The panel discussion will feature members of the MIDI 2.0 working group, including Pete Brown, Florian Bomers, Mike Kent, and Torrey Walker, as they discuss recent changes to the core MIDI 2.0 specifications and the MIDI 2.0 API on Apple, Google, Linux, and Microsoft operating systems. They'll also explain the tools that The MIDI Association is providing to all developers to help make MIDI 2.0 devices easier.
The MIDI@40 and Hip-Hop@50 celebrations will come together on Saturday, April 15 from 3–5 p.m. on the Yamaha Grand Plaza Stage with a performance by Resonant Alien, the new band featuring Brian Hardgroove and DJ Johnny Juice of Public Enemy.
The musicians, composers and performance artists selected as MIDI brand ambassadors represent the beautiful diversity of cultures and people from all over the world and music from different genres and generations brought together by music and MIDI.
- Rick Feds and Cécile Delaurentis will be showing off the Embodme Erae Touch next generation MIDI Controller, Mimu gloves and the Ableton Push.
The show will climax with a performance from The Ambassador of Soul, Ellis Hall. Blind since the age of 18, Hall has written nearly 4,000 blues, gospel, and soul songs and performed with the likes of Ray Charles, Natalie Cole, Herbie Hancock, Tower of Power, Bobby Womack, and Stevie Wonder.
Joining Ellis onstage will be Willie "Bamm Bamm" Parker who is currently on tour with R and B singer Joe.
"The MIDI@40 and Hip-Hop@50 celebrations have come together in a perfect creative storm.
Brian Hardgroove, Resonant Alien and Public Enemy
Hip-hop and MIDI have both made music more accessible to more people and changed our global music culture.
The MIDI@40 and HipHop@50 celebrations are truly joined together musically in a finale written by Brockett Parsons, keyboard player for Lady Gaga where many of the performers from HipHop@50 and MIDI@40 will join the stage for a final JAMM at NAMM.
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