Buika @ Stewart Theatre TONIGHT (11/6)

Having spent a week trying to describe Buika, I don't have a lot of energy left except to say: see this indescribable songstress on Tuesday (11/16), 8 pm at NC State's Stewart Theatre, you won't regret it.

Oh, and yours truly will give the Pre-Concert Talk from 7:00-7:30 pm in Talley, Room 3118 (3rd floor, same building as the Stewart Theatre). There will be audio and video. Come on down!

LINKS:

--event listing I wrote for Indy

--Lovely interview I did with Buika by phone, on Indy blog scan

--NPR "50 Great Voices" Story on Concha Buika

FREE Concert SUNDAY: Paco Band in Raleigh

Ed Stephenson and the Paco Band will give a FREE concert Sunday (1/10), at 3 pm at the North Carolina Museum of History. Cuban soprano Teresa Fernández will sing songs of Spain and Latin America with the nuevo flamenco quartet.


VIDEO: Paco Band at Marsh Woodwinds 9/26/09

One hour program; seating in the NC Musem of History's Daniels Auditorium is limited, so early arrival is recommended.

The Music of the Carolinas concert series is co-sponsored by Pinecone.

Flamenco on a Flatbed

Yes, one more video of Ed Stephenson & Paco Band...with a different lineup this time. This is regular percussionist Sara Romweber, rather than Beverly Botsford, and Ryan Johnson, rather than Peewee "Poquitico" Watson on bass.

I'll be honest, I miss Beverly and Peewee, but this is how the regular lineup sounds playing Sting covers on a flatbed stage:


[VIDEO]

The good cause was a barbecue chicken dinner to benefit an afterschool program for Latino children. As soon as I get a contact from the church for volunteers, I'll pass it along.

fall flavor digest

A few things - -

Mosaic Fall Music Fest is ongoing NOW through Oct. 11. Lots of out-of-town, soulful house deejays (East Coast, West Coast, Europe, Canada, etc.) EVERY NIGHT, and a Noche Latina next Thursday (10/8) featuring LIVE Dominican jazz with Guillo Carias Trio.

Charanga Carolina makes a much anticipated return this semester with their debut performance TOMORROW, Sunday (10/4). The student/community cooperative performing ensemble has been on sabbatical for the last 9 months while director Dave Garcia took research leave from UNC. The new formation features many new students getting their sea legs in Latin music, and early rehearsals are promising. The lineup is 4 violins, 1 cello, 1 flute, 3 trombones (led by Charanga alum Andy Kleindienst), 2 pianists, 1 trap drummer, and Latin rhythm and vocals by community musicians Pako Santiago (congas), Ramon Ortiz (timbales), Nelson Delgado and Jaime Ramon (vocals). The only thing missing for Santa Salsera is bongo and, ahem, MORE COWBELL on their Puerto Rican charts like "Isla del Encanto" and "Boranda." But I am loving the energetic new timba charts, including Los Van Van's "Esto Te Pone La Cabeza Mala." As always one gains appreciation of the classics when one hears them in rehearsal, and believe it or not, the timba rhythm puzzle was really cooking and motivating me to dance when I heard Charanga's rehearsal last Tuesday night. This will be a very exciting year. Debut is Sunday 3:30 pm, free at Chapel Hill's Festifall street festival on Franklin.

Link: Festifall's full music lineup here

And finally: What goes together like barbecue and flamenco? Welcome the collision of flavors this Sunday (10/4), 4:00 - 6:30 pm at a Concert on the Lawn at Western Boulevard Presbyterian Church in Raleigh: Music by Mixed Quartet and flamenco guitarist Ed Stephenson & the Paco Band. Expect Ed to be in exceptional spirits since the opening of hockey season and the 'Canes' signing of winning goalie Cam Ward to a 6-year contract. $6 admission; flyer indicates that the good churchgoing folk of Western Boulevard Presbyterian will be serving barbecue chicken. What's not to like?

NOTE ADDED:

Man, I am such a space case I forgot to mention the International Festival going on in Raleigh. If you can do it all, I dare you.

Bohémia in Raleigh's Blue Note

UPDATED 10/5 - new video and review added BELOW



New video of Teresa Fernández and Ed Stephenson from Saturday night at Marsh Woodwinds:


[VIDEO] Teresa dedicated this tango by Carlos Gardel to a visiting friend from Argentina.

Full review to follow.

UPDATED 10/5:

The scene at Marsh Woodwinds was pretty as a nativity when Paco Band played to a packed house amid exotic bric a brac. The band included leader Ed Stephenson, Chris Hilton and Ryan Johnson, guitars, Peewee "Poquitico" Watson on bass, and Beverly Botsford guesting on percussion. There's no way to bury the sound in here; it's the moment of truth. The flamenco fusion consortium never sounded truer, with Botsford's superior range and spontaneity and Watson's surefoot basslines complementing Stephenson's virtuoso fretboard skills.

"The sound is really friendly," says Beverly, comparing Marsh's intimate performance space to New York jazz clubs.

"It's like a bohemian Blue Note," she says, alluding as much to the decor--things like the tigerskin-covered drum kit mounted into one wall--as to the incredible acoustics.

Teresa Fernández sang with Ed a due at the top of the second set, following a snack-filled intermission. (Marsh's hospitality is more like a house party than a formal venue, adding to the mood of proximity.) Teresa, a soprano born in Havana, Cuba, projects fragility and elegance, dressed all in black with a gold coin belt accentuating her slender waist and a lace shawl around her shoulders. Her voice isn't delicate, but clarion and without pretense.

"I like to tease her," says Ed, with Teresa within earshot, when asked what it is he most enjoys about working with the singer.

"The real reason is, she's so authentic. She's so authentic, and she has a beautiful voice, of course," says Ed.

There couldn't be a better place to hear this type of music, or this band.

Bonus video: Paco Band played "Hotel California" as an encore. I like this idea of reclaiming pop songs that have elements of flamenco (or some other Latin music) for "traditional" or "classical" or "authentic" performance. It's a way of connecting what listeners already know to something they think of as more foreign or distant.

Ole!

The quirky, cozy upstairs space at Marsh Woodwinds will be the site for another Spanish and nuevo flamenco fusion concert by Ed Stephenson & the Paco Band this Saturday (9/26) at 8 pm. The program will be similar to this one two weeks ago, without the dancers.


Marsh Woodwinds: BYOB

Ed & Paco Band will again be joined by musical guests Beverly Botsford (percussion) and Teresa Fernández (voice).

WHAT: Ed Stephenson & the Paco Band with guests Beverly Botsford and Teresa Fernández (Nuevo Flamenco Fusion)
WHEN: 8 pm Saturday 9/26
WHERE: Marsh Woodwinds, 707 N. Person Street, Raleigh NC

Tickets: Adults $10; Seniors/Students $5; (919) 839-1154

Tango Salon

Cecilia Pagani & Jason Laughlin of Tangophilia

FULL REVIEW of Sunday Salon at the Durham Arts Council, featuring Ed & Paco Band, coming soon...


UPDATE videos added 9/15:

The exquisite Teresa Fernández sings a danza here with guitarist Ed Stephenson from the second half of Sunday's program celebrating music of Spain:



Teresa and the Paco Band opened the program with a flamenco stunner, then the tango dancers came out. Here's a clip of Jason and Cecilia:



Adding a modern twist to the 19th-century classical guitar piece "Recuerdos de la Alhambra," dancer Lacy Lowder performed choreography by Carol Finley that seemed to allude to Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms.

Stephenson, a music professor at Meredith College, named Paco Band after his flamenco guitar idol, Paco de Lucia.

"If Paco de Lucia played hockey, I'd probably have to marry him," joked Stephenson, a Canada native.

Rounding out the band on Sunday were guitarist Craig Hilton, bassist Peewee Watson whose americana projects include The Whistlestop, and world percussionist Beverly Botsford, who regularly backs jazz vocalist Nnenna Freelon.

Beverly Botsford plays an astounding range of percussion, from the Afro-Cuban congas, bongo and shekere, to the atmospheric and multi-cultural rainsticks, chimes and castanets. Whatever the instrument, she plays it with the verve of a dancer, which is no accident.

"In 1974 when I was in college, I took a course in flamenco, and it just kind of stuck with me," she says.

.
Beverly also gave a short history and demonstration of the string cajon, a snare-rigged box used heavily in flamenco as well as Afro Peru and Cuba:



If you want to hear more, Beverly's all-percussion ensemble Tambor Vivo will perform a variety of Latin American rhythms ONE WEEK from Thursday, on (9/24), at Mosaic's free, no-cover monthly Cuban party. (See calendar; this reflects a SCHEDULE CHANGE.)

DAC's "Sunday Salon" was produced by writer, Pulitzer Prize nominee and Indy Arts Award winner Richard Krawiec, who delivers high quality, multi-arts programming to community audiences at low cost.

"This is part of my vision of making the arts vital and accessible," Krawiec says.

Links:
"Picasso and the Allure of Language" through Jan. 3, 2010 at Duke's Nasher Museum

Flamenco In Fusion

Celebrating the Nasher's currently running Picasso exhibition, Ed & the Paco Band will bring nuevo flamenco fusion to the Durham Arts Council this Sunday (9/13) at 3 pm with Cuban guest vocalist Teresa Fernández and percussionist Beverly Botsford.



Tangophilia dancers and choreographer Carol Finley will add Argentine tango and modern dance movement to the afternoon event, billed as a "Sunday salon."

WHAT: Ed & the Paco Band with musical guests Teresa Fernández and Beverly Botsford; dancers Tangophilia, Carol Finley.
WHEN: 3 - 5 pm Sunday, 9/13
WHERE: PSI Theater in Durham Arts Council, 120 Morris St, Downtown Durham
Cost: $10, Students/Seniors/Unemployed $5
Contact: (919) 810-2863