Musician and scholar Julian Saporiti, also known as No-No Boy, combines his academic studies with his art to host a concert and post-performance conversation at the Urban Arts Space Thursday. Credit: Loma Smith
For musician and scholar Julian Saporiti — also known by stage name No-No Boy — the love of art and music is practically in his blood.
Raised by his father and mother, a musician and painter, respectively, Saporiti’s creative passions were cultivated as a young child.
Now, as an adult, Saporiti is making his parents proud.
Thursday at 7 p.m., Saporiti will host a free concert and post-performance conversation with performer and friend Dao Strom at Ohio State’s Urban Arts Space to share his passion for music, following the Sept. 29 release of his latest album “Empire Electric.”
The album — produced by Saporiti alongside his wife, Emilia Halvorsen Saporiti, and music producer Seth Boggess — was inspired by Julian Saporiti’s time spent at Blue Cliff Monastery, he said. A mindfulness and meditation practice center located in upstate New York, Blue Cliff allowed Julian Saporiti to reconnect with nature and his roots.
“It was a chance to reset, especially after working on my doctorate,” Julian Saporiti said. “My thinking had become very narrow-minded, and I wanted to get back to seeing the world not only through the things I’d been studying for years — identity, race, war, trauma — and get back to seeing all the beauty and wonder in the world.”
Boggess, also a long-time friend of Julian Saporiti, said he has been working with him on and off since the two were in college, and he feels grateful for the strong connection they’ve built over the years.
“We both value growth and have developed a great dynamic where we feel comfortable pushing each other to reach our peak performance and to discover new ground,” Boggess said. “The great thing about working with Julian is how talented, curious and inventive he is. ‘Empire Electric’ is a great testament to that.”
As far as producing the latest project, Boggess said it is his job to make sure every track on the album is the best it can be.
“On occasion, I might gently guide him to consider certain choices with the hopes of revealing the best possible version of the song,” Boggess said. “This is always musically speaking, his songs are all lyrically fully baked by the time they get to me.”
Now based in Oregon, Julian Saporiti said the places he has traveled to and lived in have shaped his music in undeniably impactful ways.
“You can hear a lot of Oregon on this new album in the subject matter, but also the field recordings woven into the production,” Julian Saporiti said. “Nashville is my roots, Oregon, like every place I’ve lived, has added a new dimension to my music, especially because of the nature.”
Julian Saporiti said his career is all about bridging the gap between art and scholarship, using his music to create conversations about culture and identity.
“I discovered my scholarly interests when I went to get a master’s degree in American Studies at the University of Wyoming,” Julian Saporiti said. “If I hadn’t turned my research into music, I’m not sure I would have produced much scholarship worth consuming.”
Unlike most musicians, Julian Saporiti said he does not necessarily enjoy touring; he does, however, love performing live shows when asked, which is the reason for the tour’s limited number of stops.
“A lovely professor at Ohio State asked me and my friend Dao to come out and share a concert and conversation, and that opportunity sounded worth making the trip,” Julian Saporiti said. More information about the event and ticket purchasing can be found on No-No Boy’s website.
