Tank and the Bangas Visit Saratoga Springs for Live Performance, Free Poetry Reading Nov. 9-10

SARATOGA SPRINGS — New Orleans’ two-time Grammy Award nominees Tank and the Bangas bring their eclectic mix of spoken word, R&B, soul, hip-hop, and jazz to Zankel on Friday, Nov. 10. 

Frontwoman Tarriona “Tank” Ball came up in the strong local slam poetry scene before meeting her bandmates at a NOLA open mic night in 2011. The group went on to win NPR’s 2017 Tiny Desk Concert by unanimous acclaim, standing out among 6,000 entrants. 

Their latest album, “Red Balloon,” is heralded as a celebration of Black life and a reckoning with America’s ills.

This Nov. 10 concert at Zankel Music Center, located on the Skidmore college campus, is the venue’s first in a new series called “Mosaic,” curating events and related networking opportunities that cater to the unique perspectives and needs of Black artists, musicians, and creators. 

One day prior to the band’s appearance on the performance stage, the Tang Museum hosts frontwoman Tarriona “Tank” Ball in a free event at 6 p.m. on Nov. 9, when Ball will read from her debut book of poetry, and be in discussion with Njeri Jennings, Tisch Educator at the Tang. For more information about the reading and the Tang Museum, go to: tang.skidmore.edu. 

For more information and tickets about Tank and the Bangas at the Zankel Music Center, go to: https://www.skidmore.edu/zankel/index.php. With a special reading by frontwoman and poet Tarriona “Tank” Ball at the Tang Teaching Museum on Thursday, November 9.