Mourning A BLKstar

Multi-generational, gender, genre non-conforming amalgam of Black culture, Mourning[A] BLKstar, is dedicated to sharing stories and songs of America’s unfolding apocalypse. Their music melds live instrumentation with hip-hop production creating sonic frequencies that illuminate the African Diaspora. Founded in Cleveland, the US-based Afrofuturist collective continues touring their music globally across Europe and the US, playing festivals from Crossing Borders in Berlin with Lonnie Holley, to Big Ears Festival and Le Guess Who? in Utrecht. Fatboi Sharif from rahway NJ has a style of his own and time after time with each release continues to create his own genre that intrigues and pushes boundaries equally. With a force of energy his stage performance is trance like how it keeps the crowd on the edge of there seat with each moment. Yaz Lancaster is an experimental artist whose practice is grounded in queer, DIY,and liberatory frameworks. Cultivation of care and intimacy, post-genre collaboration, and accessibility are priorities of their artistic ethos. Yaz frequently performs solo sets with violin/voice and electronics that comprise improvisations, songs, and composed music; and as death ambient project "medium." with gg200bpm. They've worked with artists including Charles Gaines, claire rousay, Leilehua Lanzilotti, Miss Grit, Nyokabi Kariuki, OHYUNG and Sean Pecknold; and are a member of PTP Vision artist collective. Yaz was a 2025 Pioneer Works resident (Feb/Mar), and has been recently commissioned by Asia Stewart/The Shed, International Contemporary Ensemble, and the 2025 Gaudeamus Festival. They additionally enjoy powerlifting, music/arts journalism, and summers down South.