Ensemble Mik Nawooj
Oakland’s groundbreaking hip-hop orchestra Ensemble Mik Nawooj (EMN) incorporates elements from hip hop and classical, creating a unique hybrid that reimagines the role of music and culture in civic engagement. Founder and composer JooWan Kim, classically trained in composition at Berklee College of Music and San Francisco Conservatory of Music, fell in love with hip hop’s spirit of disruption. Merging the two influences, the innovative 10-piece ensemble – two MCs, winds, strings, piano, drums and a lyric soprano – brings its cutting-edge stylings to renditions of Wu-Tang Clan and original songs alike.
“Hip hop is the new great American art music and Ensemble Mik Nawooj is on the cutting edge of it.” Huffington Post