Over the years at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, I have seen and heard lots of great music—zydeco, DC sounds from Rare Essence and Fugazi, weird Bhutan horns, the Cambodian Ray Charles, amazing Malian music, country blues, rockabilly, and numerous Latin styles.  I have also seen many fascinating craftspeople and eaten a fair amount of exciting food (and ya gotta have the real lemonade and the giant pieces of watermelon).  For some reason though, a couple of people at another local DC website would have you believe that the event is nothing but a tedious ‘educational’ experience and a place to dump visiting relatives.  Do not believe that theory. 

The Festival is continuing through Sunday July 5.  This year includes Latin music, songs and culture from Wales, and “Giving Voice”-African-American spoken word, poetry, and classic r’n’b dj chatter.  I recently e-mailed one of the prime movers behind the fest, Daniel Sheehy, for a mid-fest update.  Daniel Sheehy is acting director of the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.  He is also a musician– he founded Mariachi Los Amigos in 1978, the Washington, D.C., area’s longest-existing mariachi ensemble.

Read More “The Smithsonian Folklife Fest (more than an educational experience)–a Mid-Fest Chat with Dan Sheehy” »

The DC Caribbean Carnival is more than just the 11 a.m. Saturday parade down Georgia Avenue and the two concerts in Banneker Park on Saturday and Sunday afternoons from noon till 7.  It is also the late night concerts and dj’d parties going on from, well, Thursday night through Monday morning.  WPFW 89.3 DJ Tony Carr (whose fine show is on Sunday night/Monday morning 12 to 2 a.m.) has most of the events on his dccaribbeanconnection website.  Here are a few  I recommend:

Saturday night brings a Jamaican dancehall host, Beenie Man, along with mostly soca artists to the DC Star Club.  Performers include Fayann Lyons and her husband, rough-voiced Bunji Garlin, Hunter Patch, rising star Benjai, the always catchy Destra Garcia (pictured), and Trini Jacobs at the DC Star Club, 2135 Queens Chapel Road NE.

Read More “DC Caribbean Carnival Concerts All Weekend” »

Nearly 3 years ago Malian guitarist Vieux Farka Toure’s debut release appeared.  It came out shortly after the death of his legendary guitar-playing father, Ali Farka Toure, known for his distinctive Malian Islamic roots in the desert meets John Lee Hooker style.  His father, before passing away from cancer, recorded four tracks with his son. Vieux’s musical mentor, kora (21 string African harp) player and bandleader extraordinaire  Toumani Diabete also appeared on four songs on that debut, so despite its merits, it was hard to hear that cd as that much more than the effort of a still learning musician who was not quite his Dad or his Dad’s pals.  Now on Vieux’s recently released second album Fondo (it means “the road�) he is beginning to establish his own identity.  He will also be back in town Monday night June 22, this time at the Rock and Roll Hotel.

While Toumani Diabete is on one track on Fondo, and veteran Malian vocalist Afel Bocoum is on three cuts, this is very much Vieux’s cd as he penned all but one song (a traditional) and his guitar playing, influenced by Dad but with some rock and Caribbean influences as well, dominates the sound.  However, Vieux also adds some modern touches with the help of bassist/producer/remixer Yossi Fine (he and Vieux produced) from Israel and New York trap drummer Tim Keiper who has played with John Zorn and with the Dirty Projectors. Not afropop ala Amadou & Mariam, this is more Saharan bluesy drone, but with enough distinctive touches in each cut to keep it from being too repetitive.

Read More “Guitarist Vieux Farka Toure Live Monday (and his new cd)” »

While African shows at the 930 Club get plenty of attention, some at other locations go under the radar.  This evening there is a good underpublicized one for free at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage featuring Samba Mapangala and Orchestra Virunga. The show is linked in some manner to today’s celebration of “World Refugee Day.” Born in the ‘50s in the Congo, Samba later moved to Kenya and even lived in DC for a while.  He established his name in the ‘80s in Kenya when he lent his sweet voice to a danceable hybrid of Congolese guitar-driven rumba and Kenyan benga flavoring.  He has a gorgeous warble, and his big band sometimes adds horns to the standard, high-pitched guitar led rumba and soukous sound. His Obama song is not bad but I like his classic Congolese sounding numbers better.

Saturday June 20-Samba Mapangala and Orquestra Virunga  for free from 6 to 7 (and streamed and archived on the Kennedy Center website) at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage

Whenever I tell folks I like New Orleans brass bands, I gotta convince them that the groups are funky like old-school DC go-go combos, not sedate like old-fashioned Dixieland troupes.  That is the case with Mama Digdown’s Brass Band, who are appearing at the Surf Club Thursday night (conflict of interest note—I told them about area clubs when they were booking the tour).  Except Digdown is from Wisconsin not the 9th Ward.

Read More “Mama Digdown’s Brass Band Thursday at the Surf Club” »

Thursday June 11th offers a ton of choices for live music fans at night, and a  fascinating lunchtime event as well.  I will start with the latter. John Cohen, a founder of the old-timey string band The New Lost City Ramblers, an early photographer of Bob Dylan and others, and a producer of unique rural American folk and blues singers, will be speaking from noon to 1 at the Mary Pickford Theater on the 3rd Floor of the Library of Congress’ James Madison Building on Independence Avenue SE between 1st and 2nd Streets.  His presentation is billed “The High Lonesome Sound Revisited: Documenting Traditional Culture in America.�   “The High Lonesome Sound� is Cohen’s 1963 documentary film that offers the songs of Appalachian miners, farmers, and churchgoers. The flick also spotlighted banjo picker Roscoe Holcomb. 

Read More “A Music Packed Thursday-High Lonesome Sound Lecture & Lots of Gigs” »

Amadou & Mariam, who will be at the Birchmere Wednesday, have been performing together since 1980. However, only in recent years has this blind Malian couple started reaching a sizable audience on this side of the Atlantic.   Their wonderful latest cd, Welcome to Mali, is catchy, creative Afropop, not purist traditional Malian folkloric music or obscure abrasive Sublime Frequencies style international sounds (and I like those approaches as well btw). Mali came out in 2008 overseas, but Nonesuch only recently released it here.  Just as their 2005 Dimanche a Bamako went global via mixing traditional Malian desert blues guitar, Afropop melodies, and Islamic-rooted vocals with producer/collaborator Manu Chao’s ska  and Western pop, Welcome to Mali mixes their home country’s sounds with psychedelic guitar, African rap courtesy of K’naan, and some programmed funky beats.  Plus Malian kora great Toumani Diabate.  Damon Albarn of Blur did some production this time around, and Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour recently joined them onstage for a set as did Johnny Marr.  These guests have helped the duo get attention beyond the world music ghetto.  But what makes their music special is not their patrons, but the stringwork and vocals of 54 year-old guitarist Amadou Bagayoko, who started in the 1970s with legendary Malian group Les Ambassadeurs.  Mariam Doumbia’s enchanting, high-voiced lead vocals and harmonies are often hypnotizing, but it is Amadou’s rhythms that drive their songs forward, and his joyous feeling choruses (I don’t speak the languages) that make the tunes transcendent.

Wed. June 10 at 7:30    Amadou & Mariam and band with openers Farafina Kan (local dance and percussion group) in the Birchmere Bandstand room,  3701 Mt. Vernon Ave., Alexandria, VA  (703) 549-7500. $35

Who knew that D.C. had its very own Cuban timba and salsa band?  Yep, Orquesta Ashe, led by Cuban Aramis Pazos Barrera will be at the Left Bank in Adams Morgan tonight.  Timba is a modern Cuban brand of salsa that adds funk beats and hornwork to the traditional clave rhythm.  Barrera was a dancer in Cuba’s National Modern Dance Company and a guest artist with the Bolshoi Ballet in 1988.  In DC he has taught dancing at Danceplace and percussion in schools. His international band (3 singers, 3 percussionists, bass, piano, sax, flute, trombone, and trumpet) includes members from Senegal and Cape Verde as well as locals like noted percussionist Sam Turner (a New Yorker who played with Lionel Hampton and on boogaloo records but who’s been in DC for awhile).  I haven’t seen them yet, but their background sounds promising.

Friday June 5  Orquesta Ashe at 11:30 p.m. (and dance lessons at 10:30) at Leftbank, 2424 18th St NW, DC. (202) 464-2100; $12, age 21 +

There’s a big Southern soul show outdoors at the grounds of  Lamonts, in Pomonkey, Maryland near the Wilson Bridge,  today, Saturday, at 2 p.m. featuring veteran r’n’b performer Clarence Carter (“Patches,â€� Slip Away,â€�and “Strokin’ fame), Roy C. ,  Miss Jody , locals the Hardway Connection and more.  You won’t find this event in the listings in the Washington City Paper, the Washington Post, or Brightest Young Things.  Online I could only find one mention, a Ticketmaster link.  I first heard about this show via a flyer I picked up at a big Southern Soul gig at the Showplace Arena I wrote up here a little while back. The Saturday afternoon WPFW 89.3 blues and soul programs have also mentioned the concert.  However, Lamonts has no website. Once when I called there, Lamont himself said he would mail me flyers. Yes, mail as in postal snail-mail.  According to WPFW, Saturday will be Miss Jody’s first local appearance.  This Mississippi vocalist’s 2008 cd I Never Take a Day Off was one of my faves for the year. While lyrics like “I’ll be your part-time lover but not your fulltime foolâ€� may be formulaic, there is no denying the upbeat catchiness and sassy melodic power of “It’s the Weekend,â€� “Lonely Housewife,â€� and “Miss Jody’s Thing.â€�

Read More “Live Southern Soul Saturday and Sunday” »

      

It is a busy month for live reggaeton, Latin pop, and tropical sounds. On Thursday May 14, veteran Puerto Rican rapper Voltio will prove at Terra Mare that there’s more to reggaeton than just Daddy Yankee.  Voltio’s been rapping for years.  On his 2007 En Lo Claro cd he flows in Spanish over salsa and other island sounds in addition to the steady, insistent beat of reggaeton.  Below is a list of May’s impressive live events:

May 14-Voltio at 10 at Terra Mare, 6108 Arlington Blvd., Falls Church, VA
May 15-Zion y Lennox (reggaeton) at Fur, 33 Patterson St. NE
Fri. May 22-Bio Ritmo (salsa and funk) at the Rock n Roll Hotel, H. St NE
Sat. May 23-Tito El Bambino (reggaeton) at the Star Lounge, 7203 Little River Tpke, Annandale, VA
Thurs. May 28-Arcangel (reggaeton, r’n’b, pop) at Ibiza, 1222 First St. NE
Fri. May 29-Gilberto Santa Rosa and Victor Manuelle (salsa singers) at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, VA