There’s a whole wide spectrum of interesting international music events in the D.C. area this weekend. While there’s no denying that some international music is marketed to 50-something white guy NPR listeners, here in the D.C. area many international concerts are instead aimed at emigres from the respective countries. That’s the case with many of this weekend’s shows. But whether or not one fits into a targeted demographic, these shows are worth checking out.

Friday night May 2nd brings the first of a trio of May salsa shows. Orquesta Guayacan from Colombia meshes polished, romantic vocals with booming horns and a percussive clave beat. They’ll be with Los Internacionales del Vallenato con Wilmer Manga & Pete Rodgers at El Boqueron II, 1330 East Gude Drive, in Rockville. Advertised only in the Spanish-language media, expect the club’s large dancefloor to be filled with dancing couples (many familiar with the group from back home).

Meanwhile, back in-town at the Kennedy Center, Luciana Souza, a Brazilian female singer most recently heard on Herbie Hancock’s Grammy album of the year, brings her folk, bossa nova and jazz stylings to the Center’s Family Theater for two shows at 7:30 and 9:30.

Nothing ever starts early at Zanzibar on the Waterfront, but if you’re willing to wait around till well after midnight Friday night (Saturday morning), longtime Jamaican sweet-voiced crooner Luciano headlines a reggae triple-bill. His latest “Jah is My Navigator” has received much acclaim.

Saturday night May 3rd offers a tribute to an artist, the late Andy Palacio from Belize, whose 2007 CD did impress those middle age American world music tastemakers and fans. Sadly, the 40-something Palacio suddenly died in January just as he was preparing for a U.S. tour. So instead Lisner Auditorium will be offering a free homage at 8 p.m. to Palacio’s pop, which combined West African, Arawak Indian and European influences. The show will feature Palacio’s band the Garifuna Collective, all women group Umalali, and others.

Sunday May 4th is the 2nd salsa show of the month–the Spanish Harlem Orchestra at the University of Mayland’s Clarice Smith Center at 7:30(the third one is El Gran Combo de Puerto Rico on May 17th at the Dulles Expo Center). This frequently touring ensemble that includes “salsa dura” (hard salsa) trombonist Jimmy Bosch, is sneered at by some purists simply because they play more crossover gigs and get more Anglo media attention than other salsa combos, but don’t hold that against them. Plus, I’ve seen folks dance in the aisles at the Clarice Smith Center, so this may just as lively a function as the other weekend Spanish-language gigs (none of which have received any Cinco de Mayo related publicity, by the way).

In Sunday’s Washington Post, Jason Cherkis checks in again with Jack Carneal, the Malian music enthusiast and label owner of Baltimore’s Yaala Yaala.

Cherkis and I tackled Carneal’s first trio of recordings almost a year ago in City Paper (“Griot Grand” and “Interview with Jack Carneal”).

Now Carneal’s got a fourth Yaala Yaala disc, a self-titled release from Yoro Sidibe, a Malian hunter and musician who is “around 70.” The album came out last week.

According to Drag City, the Chicago label that distributes Yaala Yaala, “the grooves are as uplifting as any pep talk could be. They’re low and hypnotic — and after an hour of them shaking and rattling, you too will be loose and ready for what may.”

Given that there’s no music on Yaala Yaala’s MySpace page, we’ll just have to take their word for it.

Friday night is apparently retro night at the Velvet Lounge as the three bands on the bill all look back. While revivalism has its drawbacks, this trio appear to reach into the past in interesting ways.

Locals Black & Tan Fantasy, featuring onetime Fugazi percussionist Jerry Busher, bassist Ashish Vyas (who has played with Thievery Corporation), and busy keyboardist Will Rast go for American funk and soul.

B & TF, named after a film featuring Duke Ellington, cite James Brown, Stax, Sly and the Family Stone, although the cuts on their MySpace page remind one of the Meters.
On a visit to Peru, Frenchman Olivier Conan, owner of the Barbes club and indie label in New York City, discovered ’60s Peruvian chicha music. Named after a corn liquor reportedly favored by the Incas, chicha was Latin American cumbia gone garage rock. Conan quickly snatched up all the records in the style that he could find. Last year he released a fine collection of some of these songs entitled “The Roots of Chicha: Psychedelic Cumbias from Peru.” Not satisfied with simply reissuing this stuff, Conan was also playing it himself. Soon Chicha Libre was born. With Conan on cuatro and other band members on farfisa, bongos, bass, and guitar, the group recently released “Sonido Amazonico!” At times more loungey than psychedelic, the cd nevertheless is a fascinating look back on an era that most never knew existed.

Os Magrelos, from Richmond, rounds out the night by looking back instead to Brazilian samba and funky ’70s jazz-rock sounds.

The show starts at 10 p.m.

Thanks to the 2003 focus on Mali at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, repeated appearances by Tinariwen, and the recent “Art of Being Tuareg” exhibit (with art and video) at the Museum of African Art, North African desert nomad music is not a complete novelty in this town. But it’s not a sound you hear regularly, so tonight’s Etran Finatawa appearance at Iota should still prove unique. Formed in 2004 from members of the Tuareg and Woodabe tribes that have often feuded in Niger, this ensemble’s second effort, “Desert Crossroads,” melds hypnotic African blues electric guitar with calabash percussion and chanted folkloric vocals. While the vocals are an acquired taste, the guitar and percussion draw you right in.

Stacy Willyard, a graduate student a George Mason’s Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution has spearheaded the organization of the first annual Hip Hop & Peacebuilding Frestival. This six day festival brings together an international coalition of artists and peacemakers and looks to define the roll hip hop can play in empowering youth to obtain a future of peace.

Its a pretty lofty idea, but one that is certainly welcome when violence seems to be increasing and hip-hop’s relevance as an agent of social change seems to be decreasing. Stacy and her co-organizers have put together a full schedule of events definitely worth checking out.

Full schedule inside…
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I can’t really disagree with Anne Midgette, who reviewed the Washington National Opera’s new production of “The Flying Dutchman” in the Washington Post. It’s a mixed bag (Senta, who was played by Lori Phillips last night, was excellent). But I will say this: the most Wagnerian elements of the opera—the creepy ghosts, the enormous bass riffs, the lines about doomsday and eternal damnation—were enough to ward off the after-work sleepiness that I was feeling at the beginning of the overture. For a metal and horror fan such as myself, it’s a great story, and the abstract expressionist staging was well suited to the telling. Playing through April 10th.

Ballrogg, a Norwegian duo, is coming to Blues Alley for two sets on Wednesday, April 2. The band’s bassist, Roger Arntzen, is a member of In the Country, a Keith Jarrett-esque piano trio that records for one of my favorite boutique labels, Rune Grammofon. I wrote a piece about the Oslo indie and two of its records in the spring of 2005 (”The Fjord Foundation“). Since then, I have yet to hear weak Rune Grammofon disc.

Ballrogg’s debut is on a label called Bolage, not on RG, but that shouldn’t keep you away from this unusual Blues Alley booking. According to its PR, the band will be “exploring the music of Eric Dolphy in a small format, stripped down to only bass and reeds.”

A month or so ago, Soundway released an afro-pop/funk/soul comp called Nigeria Special. It is not the first such compilation from Soundway. They’re responsible for a lot of amazing Africa-based stuff. I mean records like this.

With the Nigeria Special comp., Soundway may not have topped themselves. But they come damn close. The album even has an amazing fansite that includes sound and video clips. You can listen to one tune. You can watch this awesome clip here:

[But please visit the fansite and buy the damn album].

Yesterday afternoon, Pitchfork announced part of the lineup for its popular Pitchfork Music Festival, which returns to Chicago’s Union Park on July 18 - 20.

One of the bands included in this partial list is the semilocal Afropop quartet Extra Golden. This is especially welcome news, because the African portion of the band has been caught up in Kenya’s recent unrest.

When I enquired with the band’s label, Thrill Jockey, they told me that the PFMF is going to be just one part of an upcoming American tour, “likely including a DC date,” and more recording, too. Good news.

Here’s yours truly on the band’s most recent, Hera Ma Nono, which was released just prior to the post-election chaos in Kenya.

And here’s the band’s Web site, where you can make a donation to help the Kenyan members of Extra Golden.

Baltimore’s Human Bell—seen here performing at the Adams Morgan record store Crooked Beat—just announced a national tour with Japan’s Boredoms, a band that Washington City Paper’s Aaron Leitko described as the most bizarre “ever to have graced the roster of a major label.”

Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band might dispute that claim, but I can say for certain that the Boredoms are one of the top-five best live acts I’ve ever seen (Brown’s Island, in 1994, with Sonic Youth and Superchunk).

Human Bell is Dave Heumann, frontman of Arbouretum, and Nathan Bell, best known as bassist for Lungfish. According to both bands’ label, Thrill Jockey, the Boredoms “handpicked” them for this tour.

Here are the dates. Alas, no DC:

Mon Mar 10 Lousiville, KY Ear X-Tacy (in-store)
Wed Mar 12 Dallas, TX Good Records (in-store) w/ Kid Dakota
Thur Mar 13 Marfa, TX TBA
Sat Mar 15 San Diego, CA Canes w/Boredoms
Sun Mar 16 Los Angeles, CA Family (in-store)
Sun Mar 16 Los Angeles, CA Henry Fonda Theater w/Boredoms
Mon Mar 17 San Luis Obispo, CA Boo Boo Records (in-store)
Tue Mar 18 San Francisco, CA The Fillmore Auditorium w/Boredoms
Thu Mar 20 Portland, OR Crystal Ballroom w/Boredoms
Fri Mar 21 Seattle, WA Neumos w/Boredoms
Sat Mar 22 Anacortes, WA Department of Safety w/ Mt. Eerie, Photosynthesis
Mon Mar 23 Missoula, MT The Palace (Badlander downstairs, free show)
Tue Mar 25 Minneapolis, MN First Avenue w/Boredoms
Wed Mar 26 Chicago, IL Congress Theater w/Boredoms, Soft Circle
Thu Mar 27 Chicago, IL AV-Erie

The Boredoms will be at the 9:30 Club on April 3rd