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Saul Williams, Carlos Niño & Friends
Saul Williams meets Carlos Niño & Friends at TreePeople
(( Photo by Todd Weaver ))
IARC0102:
Saul Williams, Carlos Niño & Friends
Saul Williams meets Carlos Niño & Friends at TreePeople
Releases August 28, 2025
Land Back!
An unadulterated opening statement intoned by Saul Williams three times, as he joins Carlos Niño & Friends in sound ceremony underneath oak and black walnut trees in Coldwater Canyon Park, Los Angeles, on December 18, 2024.
The performance, which was organized by Noah Klein of Living Earth on the grounds of longstanding conservationist organization TreePeople, was the first of its kind for longtime friends and collaborators Williams and Niño. The two have been in contact since 1997 and have worked on a variety of projects together, but had never been moved to present in this way. For the occasion, Niño assembled and directed an ensemble of frequent collaborators including Nate Mercereau (Guitar Synthesizer, Live Sampling with Midi Guitar, Sample Sources), Aaron Shaw (Flute, Soprano Saxophone with Pedals, Tenor Saxophone), Andres Renteria (Bells, Congas, Egyptian Rattle Drum, Hand Drums, Percussion), Maia (Flute, Vibraphone, Voice), Francesca Heart (Computer, Conch Shell, Sound Design), and Kamasi Washington (Tenor Saxophone).
Williams’ inspired poetics both fit seamlessly and guide clairvoyantly the electro-acoustic ecosystem created by Niño & Friends – a constellation of deep connections and intersecting linkups from complementary sound makers. There’s the dialogue between not just Niño & Williams but Niño and Renteria’s reciprocal percussions; the intergenerational woodwind counterpoint between Washington and Shaw; the hovering harmonics of Maia’s vibraphone in aerial resonance with Heart’s digital designs. Heart’s sounds also make a beautiful analogue to synth-guitarist Nate Mercereau, whose live sampling and manipulation techniques turn fleeting moments of sonic presence into musical architecture in real time. Deepening the dimensionality of this constellation, Mercereau and Niño are several years into a shared musical simpatico that has yielded dozens of powerful collaborations, making their particular interaction on this recording as spiritual and transcendent as it is subtle and implicit. And there is yet another connection to be highlighted still.
Late in the set, Williams shares an extended reflection on the Dutch East India Trade Company, the indigenous Lenape people on the island of Manahatta, the origins of Wall Street, and a prayer for the end of empire as he incites an epic crescendo from the ensemble, swirling behind the twin winds of Shaw and Washington, spirited by his repeated call “I’ve seen enough.” The smoke has only begun to clear from this emotional apex as Williams passes the torch to poet aja monet, who arrests the atmosphere with a soft apocalyptic reading of a piece from her notebook, “The Water Is Rising.”
As Monet finishes her poem and steps aside, Williams follows her foreboding words with a solemnly hopeful return – closing the ceremony with a parable about a firing squad, where one member's dilemma is a "system of belief" allowing for humanity in the heart of an oppressor.
Saul Williams
meets Carlos Niño
& Friends at
TreePeople
(( Notes ))
Photos by Sam Lee,
Adam Corey Thomas,
and Hop Nguyen
Mama Claudia Udy
Founder of The Love School in Topanga, California
—
When the music began, something in me opened.
There is a kind of loneliness, I think, that we learn to live with—even amidst a rich and full life. It settles in quietly, almost invisibly, and becomes part of the background hum. But that night, the music—this profound communion of sound and spirit—reached into that quiet ache and gently released it. Carlos and his friends spoke in the soul’s own language.
And in that moment, I felt a sense of home unlike anything I had ever known. It was not just me—something happened to all of us. The entire audience became like one living, breathing organism. We were carried together on the current of this feeling, taking in this first deep inhale as one.
Saul Williams—an extraordinary presence. The moment he stepped onto the stage, he carried with him a gravity, a vitality, a lived wisdom that pulsed through the air even before he uttered a word. You could feel it—his knowledge, his fire, his history—otherworldly yet deeply familiar.
And then he spoke.
One of the first things he offered—woven into the long, soaring braid of his poetry—was something I can only paraphrase: If we want to be truly alive in 2025, we must stop moving in 4/4 time.
It struck my core. The entire audience felt it. There was a collective intake of breath, heads nodding slowly, murmurs of yes rippling through the trees and night air. He is more than a poet, more than an artist—he is an alchemist. And in speaking these words, he gave us permission to step entirely into the sacred pulse of our own becoming.
From there, the evening unfolded as something more than a performance—it became a communion. He spoke the world as it is, and as it could be. He gave language to what so many of us feel but do not always know how to say. He stretched us, too—inviting our minds and hearts into new landscapes of possibility.
The evening came to a close with one final offering: We are each doing exactly what we are meant to be doing in this time of transition.
We are not meant to do what he is doing, or what she is doing—what we are doing is enough. And we can simply allow ourselves to be devoted to our giving.
There was such relief in those words. A great exhale moved through us—musicians and listeners alike. A loosening. A softening.
And we all seemed to land ever more deeply into our own selves, and into us as a community, each of us sharing our best.
It must be said that the music and the poetry were never separate things. The sound and the meaning, the rhythm and the revelation—they were one piece. One living, breathing force that moved through all of us, elevating us home.
When Carlos first shared with me about the remarkable organization TreePeople and the upcoming concert, he extended the invitation not only to me—but also to my daughter, Enchantée Shanti Magee.
Enchantée is in her own way a musician.
Music is one of her primary forms of self-expression. She is a unique soul—non-verbal, and yet so very expressive. She holds within her a wondrous paradox of being both baby and woman fully expressed at the same time. She has been diagnosed with Down syndrome, autism, and Tourette’s, yet these descriptions barely touch the surface of who she truly is. Music is her language. It is how she connects, how she communicates, and most crucially, how she lives.
I was both hesitant and joyful about bringing her to such a beautiful concert in such a sacred venue. Her responses to music can be raw, guttural—expressions that some may find uncomfortable, or even disturbing. And yet, from the moment we arrived, the energy was so warm, so embracing, that she relaxed into it completely—even before a single note was played. She was attentive when Carlos spoke, listening with bright focus as he introduced the musicians. And then, when the music began—when the sounds started weaving together into a living, breathing tapestry—Enchantée, like all of us, became radiant. She began to communicate through her own sound, in conversation with the music itself. She felt every shift in rhythm and every unfolding tone, and she responded—not as a passive listener, but as a participant in the shared language of sound.
I was deeply aware of her presence and how it might be received. I worried that her vocal expressions might distract or disturb. But something in me told me to trust Carlos and his inclusiveness.
And I looked around, checking in with my fellow audience members. There was a warmth, an openness, an aliveness in the space that held her and welcomed her. Carlos, in his infinite grace, introduced Enchantée and me to the audience in the end, and in doing so, he gave her the remarkable gift of being truly seen out in the world—and the wonderful feeling that she really belonged. And in this way, we all felt we did, as we beamed at each other, having all experienced this potent love-in.
Haize Hawke
Birthworker, Dancer, Educator
—
It was a journey of the heart, soul, and mind—of conscious beings creating a path of transformation, understanding, and change.
I went from deep, heavy inquiry to the lightness and freedom that only poetry and music can grant. I felt every word that Saul uttered and merged with every note of music shared. They literally left me open and empty, ready to be filled with love and purpose.
I left there ready to be a changemaker, ready to have my voice heard, ready to make a difference. The way Saul and his guest aja monet can bring you into their world and take you on this extraordinary ride is to be reveled in and appreciated. A shimmering standout moment in time was created—one that we will look back on as pivotal and important. I, for one, am grateful.
Noah Klein
(Living Earth)
—
This evening is co-created in community, in ecological time, in dialogue with the mountains of Tovaangar, guided underneath a canopy of native oak and endangered Southern California black walnut trees.
All love to TreePeople for their stewardship of this city that we love, for inviting this stage to be a hearth, to this land for bearing witness, and to you for sharing this moment in your home and in your life.
If you listen deeply, you can hear the rustling of leaves, children joining, the voice of a great-horned owl, and breaths of communal determination. As music has always been. As music will always be.
When you wish to find these tones, these rhythms, these words, they’re held in the soil if you keep your ear to the ground: 34°07'46.8"N 118°24'23.5"W.
Sham-e-Ali Nayeem
Interdisciplinary sound artist, poet, and filmmaker
—
In a time of relentless mass atrocities, where so many are unjustly displaced even after death, this evening felt like a white funeral shroud—a kafan—perfumed with rose water and starlight, a means to pay respect to those brutally massacred.
Beautiful poems were held with care by intricate sonics that offered dignity to those lost. Every piece felt like candles, flowers, sandalwood, and cool water to the earth. The evening was imbued with love to elevate the soul of souls. A prayer. A call to action toward truth.
Dee Barnes
Journalist, Broadcaster, MC
—
Music is a life force—a universal language that forms a harmonious connection between soul and spirit.
Saul Williams meets Carlos Niño & Friends is a powerful blend of the majestic and the magical, showcasing the healing power of sound.
Def Sound
Artist & Educator from South Central LA
—
The night opened a portal within us.
We gathered around the warmth of truth. I arrived early, as the sun slow-danced its last steps across the leaves. Noah Klein gave me the gift of being the first to greet people as they entered the space, and we all left changed. There was a reverence in the air.
The first words—“Land Back!”—boomerang through the halls of my memory as we sat in meditation with Saul, as he caught messages on our behalf. Each word felt like a visitor reminding us of our humanity while reconnecting us to our mission to memorize each other. Some of us need permission to remember we are a collection of moments.
Saul ebbed and flowed somewhere between invitation and incantation. Kamasi, Carlos, Nate Mercereau, and more guided the space for the words to rest with us a lil while. Even the babies joined the chorus. aja monet stepped on stage, shared the climate with us, told us what outside whispered, and under the oak trees we held it all.
Retail Locations
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Notes
Saul Williams - Voice, Words, Shaker
Carlos Niño - Bells, Chimes, Cymbals, Surdo Bass Drum, Floor Tom Drum, Gong, Mexican Ceramic Aerophones, Percussion, Rattles, Shakers, Voice, Whistles . . .
Nate Mercereau - Guitar Synthesizer, Live Sampling with Midi Guitar, Sample Sources
Aaron Shaw - Flute, Soprano Saxophone with Pedals, Tenor Saxophone
Andres Renteria - Bells, Congas, Egyptian Rattle Drum, Hand Drums, Percussion
Maia The Artiste - Flute, Vibraphone, Voice
Francesca Heart - Computer, Conch Shell, Sound Design
Kamasi Washington - Tenor Saxophone
*aja monet - Voice, Poetry (on 4.)
Produced by Carlos Niño
Concert Presented by Noah Klein and Living Earth LA
Concert Sound by Adrian Garcia-Romano
Recorded by Ken Barrientos at TreePeople,
Los Angeles, California, Wednesday, December 18, 2024
Mixed by Dave Vettraino
Mastered by David Allen
Front & Back Cover Photos by Todd Weaver
Insert Photos by Sam Lee, Adam Corey Thomas, and Hop Nguyen.
Liner Notes by Mama Claudia Udy, Haize Hawke, Noah Klein, Sham-e-Ali Nayeem, Def Sound, and Dee Barnes
Design by Aaron Lowell Denton
*aja monet appears courtesy of drink sum wtr
About
Saul Williams came to worldwide attention as a writer and performer with his debut film, SLAM (dir. Marc Levin) winning Sundance's Grand Jury Prize and Cannes Camera D'Or in 1998, introducing the world to the phenomenon of slam poetry competitions and Saul as a global ambassador of modern poetry.
A prolific album Producer, expansive Percussionist, experimental Composer, connector, communicator, Carlos Niño is known primarily for his main project Carlos Niño & Friends, and for his extensive work on André 3000’s New Blue Sun. Previously Niño made albums as/with Ammoncontact, Build An Ark, The Life Force Trio, and others.