Red Baraat’s musical approach almost seems too contrived: Bhangra meets New Orleans brass meets jazz and funk and go-go. But since this Brooklyn nine-piece group formed a little over three years ago, it's made this largely instrumental style work, and garnished a following to show for it. The group includes three percussionists and six horn [...]
Even from my nose-bleed seats at Carnegie Hall last month, Chucho Valdes’ hands looked huge and commanding as they swept across the piano. The reputation of the renowned 70-year-old Cuban musician got a bump 12 years ago in the film Calle 54, in which he reunited with his now 94-year-old piano-playing father, Bebo. Valdes and his band the [...]
On Tuesday the Washington Area Music Association announced the nominees for the 26th annual Wammies, which take place Feb. 19 at the State Theatre. It’s no secret that I and others have long been critical of the local awards ceremony's mistakes, omissions, and policies. I'd hoped this year would be very different but, alas, I [...]
When Takoma Park Celtic folk musician Jennifer Cutting promises that tonight’s CD release party at the Birchmere will be "a veritable three-ring circus," she isn't exaggerating. Cutting, Anglo-Irish by descent but raised by Indian swamis in a Florida ashram, has long brought diverse aspects to her music, including 16th-century Scottish folk, French carols, ‘70s prog-rock, and [...]
When Arlington County Manager Barbara Donnellan presented in late November a new business plan for the financially troubled Artisphere that included closing the building on Mondays and Tuesdays, I wondered what would become of the arts center's "Salsa Tuesdays" events. While tonight’s Cuban salsa and timba event with DJ Reyna is being billed by dance instructor [...]
D.C. fans of African sounds have a tough choice to make tonight. Tuareg guitarist Omara Bombino Moctar and his band bring their desert psychedelia to the Black Cat with local pan-African openers Sahel, while Nettle, an international band including two Moroccans plus Jace Clayton (aka DJ Rupture), Andy Moor from The Ex, and others, will be [...]
Saturday night at Glen Echo Town Hall, singer Carol Freeman and her two-piece band will be performing rebetika—a style of Greek music from the early 20th century first played in hash dens, which often features lyrical themes involving alienation, drug culture, prison, and unrequited love. Freeman’s program, “Four Women of Rebetika," will focus not on that [...]
Senegalese singer Baaba Maal’s “Tales from the Sahel” show tonight at the Birchmere should prove to be very different from his last local appearance a year and half ago. That gig offered his 13-piece band Daande Lenol adapting songs from his 2009 album Television, which featured programmed beats and guest vocals from members of New York band [...]
The D.C. area has plenty of club DJs spinning popular Latin dance music, and various promoters and clubs bringing in big-name reggaeton, bachata, salsa, and rock en español acts, but Maracuyeah is carving a unique niche. Since March, the D.C. DJ duo has been assembling evenings that feature an eclectic mix of cutting-edge tropical dance [...]
Like the Washington City Paper theater and dance critics who've seen Fela! during its ongoing run at the Shakespeare Theatre Company's Harman Center, I found much to like about this musical bio of Nigeria’s most controversial musician. But I found one thing in the production a bit curious. While the actors and dancers all seemed to be of [...]
