Singer/bassist Meshell Ndegeocello hasn't had a hit since her 1994 cover of Van Morrison’s “Wild Night," a duet with John Mellencamp, but she's kept busy and maintained a devoted fanbase with various challenging, genre-spanning projects. With her “Gett Off: Meshell Ndegeocello covers Prince” tour, which arrives at the State Theatre in Falls Church tonight, she gets to be [...]
In 1957, Cardozo High School graduate Reese Palmer put together a singing group called The Marquees with three others including Marvin Gaye. On April 2 of this year, the 73-year-old Palmer sang at Marvin, the restaurant/bistro on 14th Street, on Gaye’s birthday. But Palmer’s health has since taken a turn for the worst. He's received chemotherapy [...]
Before Virginia band Bio Ritmo’s salsa gig at U Street Music Hall Saturday night, folklorist Paulina Guerrero will show her work-in-progress documentary, A Story of Plena. Plena is a Puerto Rican genre in which participants engage in call-and-response chants over funky rhythms tapped on large tambourine-like instruments and on guiros, or hollowed-out gourds. For her documentary, Guerrero [...]
In 1976, then-Havana-based Juan de Marcos González founded Sierra Maestra, a large band that specialized in danceable Cuban son music, one of the root sounds of salsa. Maestra became popular in Cuba, toured Europe, and recorded a number of albums between still beloved by hardcore fans of Cuban music. In the late '90s, González began reaching [...]
The Kennedy Center’s just-concluded Maximum India festival was certainly successful from an attendance standpoint, with sold-out ticketed shows and packed free events. A number of music and dance performances received rave reviews, but not everyone was completely wowed by the festival's curating—at least in India.
Outlook India's Seema Sirohi wrote an article criticizing some of the art exhibits as [...]
Performing on the Millennium Stage, Panjabi MC brought the Kennedy Center’s Maximum India festival to a close last night in front of a crowd of about 1,500. With CD turntables for sampled bhangra beats and snippets of melodic vocal melodies (plus a Jay-Z verse from the “Beware of the Boys” remix), the British-raised Indian’s sound also included his [...]
While most of the Maximum India festival's remaining ticketed performances are sold-out (except for the Ishara Puppet Theatre and some film screenings), there are some free events this weekend worth investigating. Tonight, if you can't get tickets on Craigslist for Sunny Jain & Red Baraat (an outfit that blends bhangra with go-go, soca, and jazz), you can catch [...]
Teedra Moses’ 2004 album, Complex Simplicity, was an R&B triumph. On it, the New Orleans-born singer applied her sweet, light vocals to catchy hooks supported by a seamless blend of hip-hop-accented beats and lush neo-soul rhythms. Then her label, TVT Records, collapsed, and Moses started releasing mixtapes. She's put out four of them and continues to play [...]
Past the late Celia Cruz, there aren't many well-known women in the musical genre of salsa. But tonight at Artisphere, salsa dance teacher and educator Eileen Torres is offering, as part of Women’s History Month, a multi-media program called “Fifteen Women in Salsa.” The evening will highlight Cruz, of course, as well as lesser-knowns like Myrta [...]
We're four days into the Kennedy Center’s Maximum India festival and there’s still plenty to see and do before this spectacular ends on March 20. Although many events are sold out, some are not, plus there are a number of free performances and artwork–contemporary visual art, saris, hand-fans, jewelry and more–on exhibit in the building. [...]
