The Beat Bank

INTERESTING SIGHTS AND SOUNDS SINCE 1998

CHICAGO

OUR MISSION

Highlight Live PA, Experimental Electronic, and progressive music while activating spaces for artist to create, perform and refine their art.

We have expanded to include outreach programs that teach multiple subjects to youth audiences centered around electronic music, science and wellness. One of our ultimate goals is to unlock potential greatness within youth and artist communities in Chicago by empowering them with alternative thinking.

LIONAL "BROTHER EL" FREEMAN

Please press button for a Biography

Upcoming Events

Brother El's Sandbox Symphony VII
Sat, Aug 13
Chicago
Aug 13, 2:00 PM – 10:00 PM CDT
Chicago, Oakwood Beach, Chicago, IL 60653, USA
Details

mind for time
Sat, May 14
Chicago
May 14, 12:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Chicago, 5550 S Greenwood Ave, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Brother El's Sonic Abstractions II "mind for time" is two immersive Live PA electronic music pieces exploring childhood innocence, color, form, environment, and social stimuli of the time through Bob Thompson's art.
Details

Elastro AV
Fri, Nov 19
Chicago
Nov 19, 2021, 8:00 PM – Nov 20, 2021, 12:00 AM
Chicago, 3429 W Diversey Ave #208, Chicago, IL 60647, USA
Brother El is debuting a new sound piece constructed with 16.1 channels of audio in mind. The goal is to place the listener inside a matrix of immersive of healing sound.
Details

Sounds Natural 2
Sat, May 29
Chicago
May 29, 2021, 12:00 PM – 3:00 PM CDT
Chicago, S Lake Shore Dr, Chicago, IL, USA
A live music, art, and nature activation featuring performances by Brother El, AQ & Binky.
Register Now

Sounds Natural
Sun, Apr 18
Chicago
Apr 18, 2021, 1:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Chicago, 3900 S Lake Shore Dr, Chicago, IL 60615, USA
Live Electronic Music, Art, and Nature Activities At Bronzewood Gathering Space
Details

Brother El's Collaborative iPad Symphony
Sat, Nov 23
Apple Michigan Avenue
Nov 23, 2019, 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM
Apple Michigan Avenue, 401 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60611, USA
Explore how to create an electronic symphony with musician and spontaneous composer Brother El.
Details

Live PA Institute Day
Sat, Nov 16
Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts
Nov 16, 2019, 11:00 AM – 10:00 PM CST
Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts, 915 E 60th St, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Artists will gather at 11 am at the Logan Center for the Arts for a day of collaboration experimenting with sound. The day will feature hands-on workshops, live musician sampling sessions, marketing tutelage, a participant dinner, and evening performances that will be open to the public.
Register Now

Sandbox Symphony IV
Sat, Aug 10
Oakwood Beach
Aug 10, 2019, 2:00 PM – 9:00 PM
Oakwood Beach, Oakwood Beach, Chicago, IL 60653, USA
This free, public spectacular features live electronic music, demonstrations by local visual artists, yoga, a mini pop-up farmers market with free nutritious snacks, jewelry making, and mobile toy creation cart.
Details

Bronzeville: An Inquiry in Sound with “Brother El”
Sun, Jul 21
The Art Institute of Chicago
Jul 21, 2019, 3:00 PM – 4:30 PM
The Art Institute of Chicago, 111 S Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60603, USA
Listen to the live electronic music of Lional “Brother El” Freeman along with compositions written and recorded by Dyett High School for the Arts students.
Details

Sliver Room Block Party
Sat, Jul 20
Hyde Park
Jul 20, 2019, 6:00 PM – 6:30 PM
Hyde Park, Hyde Park, Chicago, IL, USA
Brother El rocking a special Live PA set for the Silver Room Block Party
Details

Brother El: Sonic Abstractions (April)
Sat, Apr 27
Smart Museum of Art, The University of C
Apr 27, 2019, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Smart Museum of Art, The University of C, 5550 S Greenwood Ave, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Lional "Brother El" Freeman performs a series of four Live PA electronic compositions commissioned in conjunction with the Smart Museum of Art's exhibition 'Solidary & Solitary.'
Details

Brother El: Sonic Abstractions
Sun, Mar 17
Smart Museum of Art, The University of C
Mar 17, 2019, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM
Smart Museum of Art, The University of C, 5550 S Greenwood Ave, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Lional "Brother El" Freeman performs a series of four Live PA electronic compositions commissioned in conjunction with the Smart Museum of Art's exhibition 'Solidary & Solitary.'
Details

Mobilizing Through Improvisation: A Global South and Southside Chicago Collaboration
Wed, Nov 14
Grey Ceneter
Nov 14, 2018, 6:00 PM
Grey Ceneter, 929 E 60th St, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Stages an improvisational collaboration between local electronic musician Brother El from the south side of Chicago with actors and musicians from Ilkhom and Bata theaters of the post-Soviet south, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
Details

Eat Your Words 2018
Thu, Oct 04
Chicago Cultural Center
Oct 04, 2018, 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM
Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E Washington St, Chicago, IL 60602, USA
A benefit to celebrate and support the students of 826CHI.
Details

Objects in the Midst of Other Objects (Artists Talk + After Party)
Fri, Sep 28
Rootwork Gallery
Sep 28, 2018, 9:00 PM – Sep 29, 2018, 12:00 AM
Rootwork Gallery, 645 W 18th St, Chicago, IL 60616, USA
Objects in the Midst of other Objects: Black Male Formations and Subjectivities in Hyper-racial America Featuring the art work of Stephen Flemister + Spencer Paul Hutchinson with an original sound installation by Lional “Brother El” Freeman.
Details

Quantum Englewood
Sat, Sep 15
Lindblom Math and Science Academy
Sep 15, 2018, 8:00 PM
Lindblom Math and Science Academy, 6130 S Wolcott Ave, Chicago, IL 60636, USA
A Journey Through 100 Years Of South Side Musical History (World Premiere Performance by Ernest Dawkins and Rahul Sharma)
Details

27th Annual 4th Ward Health & Wellness Fair
Sat, Aug 25
Walter H. Dyett High School for the Arts
Aug 25, 2018, 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM
Walter H. Dyett High School for the Arts, 555 E 51st St, Chicago, IL 60615, USA
Alderman Sophia King hosts the 4th Ward Health & Housing Fair and the Brother El will be providing DJ'd vibrations.
Details

In the Company of Black
Thu, Aug 16
University Galleries
Aug 16, 2018, 5:00 PM – Oct 15, 2018, 12:00 AM
University Galleries, 11 Uptown Circle #103, Normal, IL 61761, USA
In the Company of Black presents selected photographs from a recent series of the same name by artist and educator Cecil McDonald, Jr., as well as the premiere of a new video with collaborator Lional "Brother El" Freeman.
Details

Live PA Institute Day

Public Performances

NOVEMBER 16, 2019 @ 7 PM

The “Live PA Institute Day,” will be a day of building among peers, sharing process, technique, love and encouragement. The evening performances with be open to the public.