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” »

Lupe Fiasco has just been added to the line-up of D.C.’s Hip-Hop Theater Festival, as part of the Voices Remix event on July 7.  Phife from A Tribe Called Quest will be in town, too, to participate in the J. Dilla tribute/fundraiser on July 8. Note to event organizers: keep them away from each other.

The festival runs July 6-11. Check out the complete schedule of events after the jump.

Read More “Lupe Fiasco Joins Hip-Hop Theater Festival” »

From tonight’s pick by Caroline Jones: “One part kitsch, one part political satire, and one part glitter, the Kinsey Sicks, describe themselves as “America’s Favorite Dragapella Beautyshop Quartet.â€� The group returns to D.C. on Saturday night with a new set of parodies, skewering everyone from Condoleezza Rice to Vanna White. What began 15 years ago with four guys attending a Bette Midler show dressed as the Andrews Sisters is now an off-Broadway revue that’s traveled around the country and the world.”

Read the entire Kinsey Sicks pick for details.

Dee Dee Bridgewater.

HAILEY NISWANGER
Winner of last year’s Women in Jazz Festival Competition, Hailey Niswanger is an alto saxophonist—19 years old and a student at Berklee. She thus walks a fine line: How much do you criticize a kid who’s still learning the basics? Is her position one where criticism is more important or more irrelevant than it’ll ever be again?

But it turns out there’s not much to criticize. Niswanger is a gifted and very skilled saxophonist who’s working to develop her own sound. Her tone is hard as sheet metal, but with a softer, piccolo-like whine at the edges; in soloing, she’s awfully reliant on bebop devices, but that’s to be expected from a young student. She audibly strives to break out of them when she can, and it helps that Niswanger chooses quirky tunes like Monk’s “Four in One” and Kenny Dorham’s “Page One,” along with a neat original blues called “Confeddie.” The only substantive critique to make is that she seems afraid to leave spaces in her solos—a sign of insecurity—but that, too, will dissolve as she develops. This kid’s got a very bright future.
Read More “Women in Jazz Festival: Day 2″ »

Esperanza Spalding.

PRELUDE
Host Dee Dee Bridgewater is probably the world’s sexiest 59-year-old bald woman.

ACT ONE
24-year-old Esperanza Spalding’s star is rising—she’s the youngest-ever instructor at Berklee; has appeared on Letterman and Kimmel; and played the White House twice this year. It’s not hard to see why, since she’s even more talented than she is charming and self-confident.

But she’s also callow. Spalding’s dexterous bass playing was completely overshadowed last night by her singing (probably deliberately so, since both acoustic and electric bass were terribly miked), challenging her own statement that bass is her focus and singing is a lark. Unfortunately, her singing needs work; she subserviated it so much to the rhythm, reciting fast and indistinctly, that the lyrics lost too much meaning. She’s also too absorbed in her own material: Spalding’s imaginative 5/4 arrangement of “Body & Soul” was the highlight of her set, and one of only two non-originals. She could use more apprenticeship in the standard repertoire, along with some artistic restraint. But that’s okay…a Women in Jazz Festival should be about potential, too.
Read More “Women in Jazz Festival: Day 1″ »

Mary Lou Williams cut an enormous figure in jazz history. From 1924, when she began playing piano in public (at the age of 14) to her Carnegie Hall duet with avant-garde titan Cecil Taylor in 1977, Williams was involved in every development in the music. She was a pioneering broadcaster, one of jazz’s most sought-after composers and arrangers, and finished her career as a musical educator at Duke University.

But Williams’ name is not well known outside of the jazz aficionados, in large part because jazz isn’t popularly associated with women.

How better to combat that than with the Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Festival, which the Kennedy Center has held every May since 1996? Tellingly, its founder — jazz director Dr. Billy Taylor — had a tough time getting it started, telling City Paper earlier this year that “when I told them I wanted to do a women’s jazz festival, they didn’t believe I’d find enough women to justify a big feature. I was able to immediately give them a list of 100 women.â€�

Since then, however, it’s become a major event in the institution’s calendar, a regular showcase for innovators and virtuosi like bandleader Maria Schneider, clarinetist Anat Cohen, and young bassist Esperanza Spaulding, all of whom are on this year’s schedule.

That schedule, by the way, starts tonight, and continues to Saturday. It’ll be recapped here by yours truly.

On March 19th while many local music fans were in Austin at South by Southwest, or were wishing they were there at that mostly rock-centric gathering, others were getting ready to happily attend DC’s 2nd annual Forward Festival, a techno/electronic dance music and more event.  I recently e-mailed one of the event’s organizers, David Fogel of 88.   In addition to the festival, 88 has been bringing djs to the Muse Lounge, 717 6th St. NW, on Thursdays and to Loda at the Gallery, 1115 East-West Highway, in Silver Spring on Fridays.

 1.When did 88 start?  Who did you found it with?
+++ Myself and Albert Sohn officially started 88 in 2005.

 
2. Did you founders grow up in this area, or come here more recently or something else?
+++ Albert and I both grew up in the DC Met, and love this place.

3. Were you pleased with the way the 2nd Forward Fest worked out?
 
+++ Most definitely. That isn’t to say that there aren’t aspects to improve upon and ideas that we had that we’re looking forward to implementing next year. However, the fact that we brought artists from 3 different countries, the west-coast, east-coast and the mid-west to perform with some of our local favorites was great. Forward was another step in helping put DC on the electronic music and digital creatives map. We received nothing but positive feedback from the artists we worked with and most important, the people that came out. 
Read More “Q & A: 88’s David Fogel on their Techno/Electronic Dance Events” »

A number of Kennedy Center “Arabesque” music events sold out in advance including this weekend’s show with wonderful Lebanese oud player Marcel Khalife, and another likely good one with Simon Shaheen, a 15-piece orchestra and guest vocalists in a program entitled “Aswat-Celebrating the Golden Age of Arab Music -1920’s to 1950’s.â€� However, there are a handful of gigs left that are free or with tickets available (and maybe you can score tickets for the sold-out shows somewhere). Do not think that because these performances are at an upscale bastion, that these performers are bland and offering stereotypical middlebrow, overly safe “world music.” Nope, these acts are the real thing, and many of them are challenging and innovative or at least entertaining.

Sunday evening March 8 begins with Hoba Hoba Spirit. They are a Casablanca, Morocco electric guitar and drums led group who play self-described “Haiha Music,” loosely translated as “Wild Partying Music,” inspired by metal-punk, Gnawa, and Sufi sounds. They will be playing for free from 6 to 7 tonight at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage.

The night closes with Fathy Salama and orchestra’s “Sultany.” He is an Egyptian pianist, producer, arranger, and composer who combines traditional middle-eastern harp, tambourine, and percussion sounds with modern influences (funky programmed beats and jazzy piano). He first came on my radar when he collaborated with Youssou N’Dour on that vocalist’s daring and likeable Senegalese meets Arabeque album Egypt. Salama and company will be at the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater at 7:30. This program just sold out.

On Thursday March 12, the Oriental Music Ensemble of the Edward Said National Conservatory of Music in Palestine will be playing classical and contemporary Arab music for oud, nay, clarinet, qanun, and percussion for free from 6 to 7 at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage.

I will be highlighting the final March 13 to 15th weekend of Arabesque musical performances later in the week.

Iraqi vocalist Farida Mohammad Ali  said in 2005

Everyone knows that Arab society has not given women the chance to appear on stage,to be free and emancipated and thus take part in transmitting this musical heritage. But in this male-dominated society 1 was lucky enough to have tolerant, open-minded parents who created an environment for me that was favourable to my emancipation.

Farida headlined an impressive  Arabesque doublebill with fellow female artist Malouma(pictured above) at the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater  Monday night.  Like Farida, Malouma, from Mauritania, received encouragement regarding music from her parents.  Female empowerment notwithstanding,  I was still expecting merely a folkloric educational evening, but the performers and their groups delivered more than that.

Read More “Malouma and Farida Last Night” »

“Arabesque,” the Kennedy Center’s massive three-week festival of Arts of the Arab World, kicks off its evening performances tonight/Monday with a bit of grrl power. “Oud Knights with Amina and Shayma: When Oud Speaks ” is a one-hour presentation of traditional playing on that lute-like instrument by two youngish women from Bahrain. They do not have a myspace site or any youtube videos that I could find, but according to the Kennedy Center, they learned under Iraqi legend Saad Mahmoud Jawad, and have been playing festivals in Europe and Asia. We will be highlighting other performers in the festival over the next few weeks. The event will include artists from 22 countries (including Palestinian performers but no one from Iran). Some upcoming musical highlights this week include Chabab Al Andalous Rabat Orchestra with Bajeddoub Mohammed and Ronda Bahae , a Moroccan ensemble that keeps alive Andalusian music using Arabic poems and traditional instruments, and onetime Rolling Stones member Brian Jones’ favorite trance music outfit from the Moroccan mountains, Bachir Attar & the Master Musicians of Jajouka.

Chabab Al Andalous Rabat Orchestra with Bajeddoub Mohammed and Ronda Bahae

Monday February 23-Oud Knights from 6 to 7 p.m. for free on the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage

Wednesday February 25-Chabab Al Andalous Rabat Orchestra with Bajeddoub Mohammed and Ronda from 6 to 7 p.m. for free on the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage

Bachir Attar & the Master Musicians of Jajouka at 8 p.m. at the Kennedy
Center Eisenhower Theater, $18 to $35.