Click on the poster above
for more information about the KlezCalifornia Yiddish Festival,
and click on the first image below (ancestors) to find out more about
the remarkable band Veretski Pass.
Kapelye Verecke, 1895
Unusual music, intimate setting...
From
West Africa to the Middle East: Concert of African Kora and Turkish
Classical Music
Kane Mathis — Kora, Oud,
Voice
Rowan Storm — Percussion, Voice
Phaedon Sinis — Kanun, Turkish Kemence
Friday 12 February 2010 -
7:30 pm
Open Secret Bookstore
923 C Street
San Rafael, California 94901
415 ~ 457- 4191
$15 admission
Saturday 13 February 2010
Red
Poppy Art House 2698
Folsom Street @ 23rd Street San
Francisco, CA 94110
415.826.2402
A journey from West Africa to the Middle East with
traditional songs, melodies and dazzling improvisation. Rooted in the
ancient traditions of Middle Eastern philosophy and poetry, the members
of this trio have traveled far and wide in pursuit of their musical
ideals.
Kane
Mathis has spent the last 12 years studying the music of West Africa
and the Middle East. Kane has made several trips to the The Gambia,
West Africa and Istanbul Turkey to study with generous masters. Kane
performs on the 21-string African harp, Kora and the Oud a middle
eastern lute. http://kanemathis.com
Phaedon
Sinis specializes in the performance of Ottoman music on Klasik
Kemençe
and Kanun. He has traveled extensively to Greece, Turkey and upstate
New York to study modal theory and performance practice with master
musicians Sokratis Sinopoulos and Dr Münir Nurettin Beken. http://amansaki.org
Rowan
Storm travels widely in Europe and the Middle East, researching,
teaching and performing Frame Drums and singing. For six years Rowan
collaborated with Iranian Master musician Mohammad Reza Lotfi. Rowan's
signature Dayereh Frame Drum is produced by Cooperman Drum Company. http://rowanstorm.com.
Mighty
fine...
Sursringar
Concert
with
Jody
Stecher
Saturday
February
13th,
8pm The Sangati Center
3049 22nd Street
SF, CA 94110
Jody is a
renowned singer and multi-instrumentalist, whose recordings
have been Grammy finalists, Indy Award winners and perennial favorites.
In the mid 1960s he became interested in, and then devoted to, raag
sangeet, the modal classical music of India, and had the good fortune
to study intensively with the sons of Ustad Ziauddin Khan Dagar, the
chief musician of the royal court of Udaipur. Jody learned sursringar,
a rare string instrument now in the early stages of revival in India,
from Ustad Zia Mohiuddin Dagar during the decade spanning the mid
1970s-80s and later received significant input and guidance from Ustad
Zia Fariduddin Dagar. Sursringar is a superb instrument for dhrupad
alap, able to bring out the subtle microtonal shadings, long sweeping
meend and curvilinear melodic contours of Dagar bani dhrupad.
The
powers that be at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London are
intending to place in long-term storage its entire collection of
historic musical instruments, one of the world's great collections of
musical instruments. The
reason for this outrage, given by a V&A spokesman, is so that
"the gallery can be redesigned to show the fashion collections."
Musical instruments have been part of the collection since its
inception in 1851: the museum has received adverse comment on this plan
from curators worldwide. The removal is to take place in Spring 2010,
and is a short-term decision which will have long-term negative results
for scholars and music lovers alike. Click on this photo above to find
out more.
Signing these
things may only be a futile gesture, but I reckon it's
better than doing nothing.
San Francisco Tamburitza
Festival
13 and 14 February2010
The Gypsy Stringz will headline the
festival. They can play just about anything that's Croatian, Serbian,
Macedonian, Italian, Rumanian, Hungarian, or Slovak. They are famed as
the house band at the Gypsy Cafe, Southside Pittsburgh, where they hold
forth every Thursday evening. It's a rare treat to hear their hot
tambura music on the West Coast. Join us for Valentine's Day weekend at
the San Francisco TamFest. Also playing will be the Kolo Festival Band,
St. Anthony's Tamburica Orchestra, Novi Stari Tamburasi with the
Dalmacijo Singers, Slavonian Traveling Band and Sidro Tamburitza
Orchestra.
Two locations to celebrate! On Saturday 2/13 at 8PM the traditional
Welcome Dance will be held for the first time at the Ashkenaz Dance and
Music Center in Berkeley. The Gypsy Stringz and the Kolo Festival Band
will play for dancing including kolos. Jerry Duke will teach the kolos
to start the eveing. Eszterlanc Hungarian Dance Ensemble will perform
later in the evening. On Sunday 2/14 at 1PM the music moves to the
Croatian American Cultural Center in San Francisco for the finale with
the Gypsy Stringz and all the performing groups. The Center will host a
full Concert, sing-a-longs, participatory dancing, exhibits and the
lively music of the tamburitza resounding from two halls. Food will be
available from 1PM on Sunday.
Feb 13 - Welcome Dance
Ashkenaz Dance and Music Center
1317 San Pablo, Berkeley, CA
8PM Dance Lesson
9PM Gypsy Stringz and Kolo Festival Band
Advance tickets for Saturday $12 at www.ticketweb.com $15 at door
Feb 14 - Concert, Dancing, Sing-a-long
Croatian American Cultural Center
60 Onondaga Ave. SF, CA
1PM-8PM Gypsy Stringz, Sidro, Novi Stari Tamburasi, Slavonian Traveling
Band,
Croatian American Cultural Center
60 Onondaga Ave.
510-649-0941
San Francisco, CA 94112 www.CroatianAmericanWeb.org
Not
to
forget... Tuck and
Patti Monday 15
February 2010 Kuumbwa
320-2 Cedar Street
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
(831) 427-2227 kuumbwa@kuumbwajazz.org 7:00pm:
$25/Adv $28/Door 9:00pm:
$20/Adv $25/Door No
Jazztix or Comps Doors and dinner beginning at 5:30pm
Vocalist
Patti
Cathcart and
guitarist Tuck
Andress
met by chance, at an audition in the late 1970’s. Three decades and
fourteen albums later, they endure as the sole occupants of an
extraordinary niche on the fringes of popular music and jazz. With an
encyclopedic repertoire of originals, standards and reinterpreted
rock-n-roll classics, every Tuck and Patti performance is a unique
occasion without so much as a planned set list. No composition ever
comes out the same way twice; the couple decided early on that the
freshest tune is, by necessity, a perpetual work in progress. And no
band of any size so sincerely interprets love songs. Come prepared for
an evening of romantic revelry that will sweep you off your feet.
Special
Valentine’s Dinner
available. At the door only. More info: www.tuckandpatti.com
By
reservation
only...
Marc Silber
Strings, a private club in Emeryville that you can go to
Wednesday
17 February 2010 at 7:30 pm
Marc Silber: vocals and guitar,
with Rod Glaubman on bass, and other friends
Performing
“All
kinds of songs: Blues,
Folk,
Mountain
Songs, Own-Made Songs,
Rock & Roll Songs, Ragtime Songs.”
No Valley Songs, apparently. There’s no
one like Marc, who says:
“Last year was way crowded and was the largest crowd
they ever had at STRINGS so I want to thank you for that support.
The phone at STRINGS is 510-653-5700, and if you are coming from
a
distance maybe call first and tell them to hold some places for you.
Tell your friends about this and be sure to come by for an evening of
the Roots
of USA Music.
I
hope to see you there."
Call
Strings and get directions.
City Folk
Thursday 18 February 2010, 8:00 PM Freight & Salvage
Coffeehouse 2020
Addison Street Berkeley, CA 94704
Price: 18.50/19.50
Friday, February 19th, 2010
Don Quixote's
8:00 PM
6275 Highway 9
Felton California 95018
US (831)335-2800
Saturday, February 20th, 2010
Pacific Coast Church
City Folk with Alisa Fineman - 7:30 PM
522 Central Ave.
Pacific Grove California 831-726-2759
Price: 20.00
The venerable City
Folk is/are
comprised of Keith Greeninger, Kimball Hurd and Roger Feuer. As the
name implies it is “folk” in the sense that it is music of
and for the people with substantive and topical lyrics, yet with a
contemporary urban edge. Their meticulous three-part harmony is
underscored by rich acoustic instrumentation;
handcrafted material that speaks to the complexities of our modern
landscape as well as the intimacy of an evening of friends and family
around the kitchen table with candlelight, conversation, good food and
wine. The subtext of their music is a healthy and whole community.
Passion, integrity, respect and gratitude and a “hands and voices-on”
approach to making this world a healthier, happier and better place for
all its inhabitants. City Folk is a positive experience and a
positively uplifting one.
Telling quotes:
“WOW…these guys can REALLY sing!!!” - David Crosby
(Crosby, Stills and
Nash)
“Shimmering,
awe-inspiring music that has captivated audiences with engaging rhythms
and enchanting three-part harmonies….most comparable to the 'super
group' Crosby, Stills and Nash. City folk is a gem of a band
….NOT TO BE MISSED!" - Santa Cruz Goodtimes ‘09
North of the Monterey
Bay this
time...
Martin Hayes & Dennis Cahill Freight & Salvage
Coffeehouse 2020
Addison Street
Berkeley, CA 94704
Saturday, February 20, 8:00 pm (doors open one hour before
show time)
$26.50 advance / $27.50 at door Purchase tickets online
And:
Kuumbwa
320 Cedar St.
Santa Cruz
Sunday 21st February 2010, at the early start time of 7pm.
Admission is $20 or $18 to Celtic Society members.
Irish
fiddle virtuoso Martin Hayes and Chicago-born guitarist Dennis Cahill
possess a rare musical kinship, ranking them among the most memorable
duos of our era. The twosome holds listeners spellbound with their
slow-building, fiery performances, releasing the pure, distilled beauty
and vast emotional depths of traditional Irish music. The New York
Times calls them, "a Celtic complement to Steve Reich's quartets or
Miles Davis's 'Sketches of Spain." Their new CD, Welcome Here Again
(Compass), captures the amazing fire and chemistry of their duo playing.
Martin
plays in the unhurried, lyrical style of his native Ireland's East
County Clare. His father, P. J. Hayes, was the leader of the famed
Tulla Ceili Band and Martin developed a great reverence for the older
generation of players, whose music, as Martin puts it, "contains the
longing and essence that moves you at the level of your soul." Now
residing in Seattle, Martin has been an All-Ireland fiddle champion six
times over, and has taken home a National Entertainment Award, the
Irish equivalent of the Grammy, for Traditional Musician of the Year.
Dennis
studied at Chicago's prestigious Music College before working with
Martin. The musical rapport he has with the fiddler is so strong that
it is often said they appear to be playing one instrument, working on a
seemingly telepathic level: their live performances weave tunes in what
Martin describes as "a three-way conversation between the two of us and
the music."
The Santa Cruz Baroque Festival rolls on...
Shakespeare's London Saturday 20 February 2010 -
7:30pm
UCSC Music
Center Recital Hall (map) View: Event Poster
Julianne Baird
(soprano), with Richard Savino (lutes), Linda Burman-Hall (virginals)
and
Audrey Stanley (Shakespearean reader)
Music of Elizabethan composers such as Thomas Morley and Robert
Johnson, who
worked with Shakespeare to produce their settings, and music of Baroque
composers such as Matthew Locke and Thomas Arne. Location: UCSC Music
Recital
Hall.
Special related
events: Youth Competition awards (Saturday) & Locavore
Artist Dinner with Julianne Baird (Sunday).
Sunday, February 21, 2010:
Join us for an exclusive
artist dinner and musical interlude with our visiting artist Julianne
Baird. This Locavore & Wine dinner is a post-concert fundraiser and
social event including dinner, desserts & wine. Advance
reservations only ($50 subscribers & donors, $65 general). Please
view the invitation and reservation form for more information
(forthcoming). More
information
And at everyone's
favorite venue...
Does that mandolin player look familiar?
Too much of a good thing? No way.
Mike Marshall and Darol Anger with Väsen Freight & Salvage
Coffeehouse 2020
Addison Street
Berkeley, CA 94704 Friday, February 26, 8:00 pm
(doors open one hour before show time) A quintet creating a new landscape between Appalachia and
Sweden
$24.50 advance / $25.50 at
door
Purchase tickets online
Oh
baby—we're in heaven! Fans of strings of all stripes should drop
everything and sprint straight over to the Freight to catch this
jaw-dropping, eye-popping double whammy of virtuoso plucking,
strumming, picking, and bowing.
Wild invention reigns supreme
whenever pioneering fiddle maestro Darol Anger and mandolin wizard Mike
Marshall get together. On albums like their recent The Duo Live: At
Home and On the Range
(Compass), and even more so on stage, their duo playing, brimming with
passion, prodigious technique, and goofy humor, is not to be missed.
Darol has spent the last 25 years or so reinventing the American string
ensemble to incorporate his explorations into American traditional,
bluegrass, jazz, and world musics in groups he helped found, such as
the Turtle Island String Quartet, the David Grisman Quintet, and his
Republic of Strings ensemble. Acoustic string virtuoso, Mike is the
leading proponent of an ebullient and fascinating brand of
folk-jazz-classical music that explores territory stretching from
Brazil through Appalachia to Europe and Africa, by way of Manhattan and
the Florida swamps. He first gained acclaim for his groundbreaking
"newgrass" work with David Grisman, and more recently founded the
Modern Mandolin Quartet and the Brazilian ensemble, Choro Famoso.
Together, Darol and Mike have created amazing music in groups like the
avant garde bluegrass quintet, Psychograss, and the folk-jazz fusion
group, Montreux.
The Swedish word Väsen has three
meanings—essence, spirit, and hullabaloo—making it the perfect name for
a band that is part Nordic tradition and part whirling dervish. To its
roots in the musical traditions of Uppland, Sweden, Vasen brings
playfulness and vitality, transforming venerable polskas and marches
into modern groove masterpieces, yet retaining the consummate playing
skills and ageless appeal of the best traditional music. Väsen's
unique
sound showcases the playing of Olov Johansson, a virtuoso of the
nykelharpa, a bowed, 16-string instrument-thingy related to both the
hurdy-gurdy and the fiddle, along with violist Mikael Marin and
guitarist Roger Tallroth, in a ensemble that swings through dense,
sinuous arrangements with amazing intensity and deft interplay, on
stage and on albums like their recent Väsen Street. Public
radio's All Things Considered said of the group, "The absurdly broad
term 'world music' is rendered useless in the face of these musicians
who play with such passion and glee that everything on the globe seems
to disappear except their hometown fires. This is 'local music' in the
best sense of the word—believable, human-scaled, and fluent in the
international language of musical interplay." As one member of
Väsen
(one of the tall ones) put it more succinctly: "We can promise you one
thing. You never know
quite what's going to happen."
This double bill brings the
two groups to the Freight stage for a show that focuses on innovative
quintet ensemble pieces like the ones the five included on their
self-named 2007 CD. Whatever it was called.
Väsen
(without Elvis, or whoever that is)
Tuesday 2 March 2010, 7:30pm
Holy Cross Church*
126 High Street
Santa Cruz
$15 at the door
I am assuming this will be an acoustic concert, and if so, oh boy! Not
quite a stave church, but, jeez, what a room!
Community Music comes through on this one.
*Holy Cross means Santa Cruz. And the church, which now occupies the
site of
the original mission of Santa Cruz, is situated on what locals know as
the Mission Plaza. I know, Mission Plaza sounds like it should be a
strip mall on Mission Street, but it's actually a nice square on the
hill just above downtown Santa Cruz. And thanks to a freeway, it's on a
tiny isolated stretch of High Street.
Far from home Allen
Toussaint Friday 5 March 2010 Kuumbwa 320 Cedar
St. Santa Cruz
Multi-Grammy
nominated pianist/composer Allen
Touissant
has written and arranged music for a dizzying array of artists,
including fellow New Orleans mainstays like Dr. John, the Meters and
Lee Dorsey, as well as Etta James, Little Feat, The Band, and most
recently Elvis Costello. His earliest solo recordings helped to launch
instrumental music into the popular limelight. Touissant has more
recently earned induction into the Rock-n-Roll Hall of Fame, a
remarkable achievement for a musician who’s always stayed true to his
roots in R&B and jazz.
This solo appearance will undoubtedly
highlight a few gems from his newest release The
Bright Mississippi
(Nonesuch, 2009), which has been recognized as one of DownBeat’s “Best
CDs of the 2000s.”
TICKETS AND INFORMATION 7:00
and 9:00pm
$27/Adv $30/Door
No Jazztix or Comps
Doors and dinner beginning at 6:00pm www.allentoussaint.com
Friday
19
March
2010 8:00 PM
Tickets: $18 advance, $22 door
Advance Tickets: Streetlight Records 831-421-9200 and www.ticketweb.com
Tour info:
: HERE
Also at
Slims, 333 11th Street in SF Thursday the
18th, doors at 7:30, show at 8. 415.255.0333
Malian
n’goni
maestro
Bassekou Kouyaté has, since 2005, led N’goni Ba, the
first-ever
group built around not one but (count'em) four n’gonis, all played by
members of
his
family. They formed the core of the group that accompanied the late Ali
Farka
Toure on his last album, Savane. Their first album, Segu Blue, recorded
a short
time after that, was my album of the year for 2008, and is now
ensconced in my
desert island collection. This tour herald’s their second CD, I Speak
Fula, and
their first US tour. I don’t need to tell you I am excited about this
band
coming to the Bay Area!
Bassekou
was
born in a village called Garana, almost 40 miles from Segu, in the
remote
countryside on the banks of the Niger River. He was raised in a
traditional
musical environment, his mother a praise singer and his father and
brothers
exceptional n’goni players.
Bassekou moved to Bamako when he was 19 years old where he met
the young Toumani Diabaté.
By the late 1980s Bassekou was part of Toumani’s trio and they recorded
their
first albums together, ‘Songhai’ and ‘Djelika’. Bassekou married the
singer Ami Sacko (the
so-called “Tina Turner of Mali”) and they have been in high demand for
the
traditional Sunday wedding parties that happen in the streets of
Bamako. Bassekou has now he
has put together his own band, N’goni Ba (meaning “Big N’goni”), Mali’s
first n’goni
quartet.
The
n’goni,
an ancient traditional lute found throughout West Africa, is a
cousin/ancestor of the banjo. It is the key instrument for the griot
culture.
Unlike the kora whose history goes back only a few hundred years, the
n’goni
has been the main instrument in griot storytelling way back into the
days of Soundiata Keita (the
grave of Sundiata’s grandmother who died in the 13th century is near
Garana).
The repertoire Bassekou
plays is from the region of Segu, the heart of Bambara culture. Unlike
Mandinka
griot music, Bambara music is pentatonic in nature, a music as close to
the
blues as you can get in Africa.
‘Segu
Blue’ features guest musicians Kasse Mady Diabaté, Lobi
Traoré,
Lassana Diabaté
(incidentally, there is no Kora and no djembe on this album) and
singers Zoumana Tereta and
Bassekou’s wife, Ami
Sacko. The album was produced by Lucy Durán, recorded
at studio Bogolan in Bamako by Yves
Wernert and mixed in London by Jerry Boys (the man responsible for
recording and mixing ‘Buena Vista Social Club,’ among others). Consult
Youtube,
of course, and if you can, try wading into
www.myspace.com/bassekoukouyate
There will be more here soon.
You know it.
I
usually
list things here that I personally think are interesting, but I find it
impossible to be comprehensive. Please forgive oversights on my part.
It takes a lot of time and I don't even get comps to the gigs for doing
this. A
generous benefactor would probably help make it more regular though!
If
you want to check broader listings, from the sublime to the ridiculous,
here are two fat links that I think may be of help:
My pal Bruce Bratton has an online weekly
newsletter with the latest news and (gasp - can you handle it?)
opinions about Santa Cruz that
I cannot recommend highly enough. He also covers music, local films,
community
events, and so on. He also runs Tim Eagan's weekly strip - alone worth
the price of admission. Bookmark this
link, or better yet, simply subscribe
and get the nudge in your email regularly. Invaluable, yet it doesn't
cost a penny.
Be very glad there is no
sound to go with this image.
Support
local (and locally presented) music!!
Yes, that's a sandstorm in the background.
Music is a service industry.
Ever
hear Bob Dylan's weekly radio show?
Did you even know he had one?
Did you ever think he had a sense of humor?
It was on XM Satellite radio every week from 2006 to 2009,
totalling about 100 one-hour shows, and may be history.
But you can download individual shows free.
Click on the mic above to go to one
of the sites that have all the shows archived.
You'll be glad you did! Great
radio!
I erratically update and then gladly email
this listing to anyone who is interested
and
who can receive BCCed (undisclosed recipient) messages.
This means they have to have me on their
"whitelist" for accepted addresses in
their spam filters, because "to" names
are
concealed in my emails to protect privacy.
If you or someone you know of would like
to join this list,
just drop me a note by email.
Same
thing
if
you
want
off
this
list.
Berkeley, CA 94704 
Special related
events: Youth Competition awards (Saturday) & Locavore
Artist Dinner with Julianne Baird (Sunday). 
Väsen
(without Elvis, or whoever that is)
