Sacred Steel Conference Starts THURSDAY (3/17)

The Southern Sacred Steel Conference kicks off this Thursday (3/17) with a free front porch concert at UNC's Center for the Study of the American South. The Allen Boys perform between 5-7 pm. The free, public concert includes an audience conversation moderated by folklorist Robert Stone.

Facebook event page: The Allen Boys, Music on the Porch Series

Ticketed events get going on Friday (3/18) the Artscenter, which is hosting the conference exploring steel-guitar-based Black gospel music, with strongholds in Florida and Western NC. Folklorist Stone, who has documented the genre in photographs currently on exhibition at the Artscenter, will give several lectures. On Saturday, headlining artists will give steel guitar master classes. The conference ends Sunday morning with a worship service.


The Lee Boys

Evening concert headliners include The Lee Boys and Aubrey Ghent; see The Artscenter website for details and ticket info!

Artscenter: Link to all Sacred Steel Conference events

Conference Weekend Pass Pricing Here

Indy article by Spencer Griffith: "Southern Sacred Steel Conference Debuts"

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

DP Update on Tonight's Plena Events

With a slight revision, ALL of Duke Performances events are ON for this evening, Thursday (2/11).

Miguel Zénon's Esta Plena Septet is driving down from NYC today via automobile, due to the heavy snow. While they will not arrive for the 6 pm talk, they WILL PERFORM as scheduled at 8 pm in Reynolds Auditorium, in Duke's Bryan Center.

The pre-concert talk WILL ALSO TAKE PLACE with Ned Sublette, as scheduled at 6 pm, in the Bryan Center Meeting Room A.

Full press release from Duke Performances Marketing Director Ken Rumble:

Wanted to let you know about a pre-performance talk that Duke Performances is hosting with author and ethno-musicologist Ned Sublette on the history of plena music in Puerto Rico tonight at 6 pm in Meeting Room A on the top level of the Bryan Center on Duke's West Campus.

Due to severe winter weather in New York City, Miguel Zenon and Hector "Tito" Matos will be unable to join Mr. Sublette for the conversation -- however, tonight's concert will proceed as scheduled.

Ned Sublette is a musician, writer, and producer. He is the author of Cuba and Its' Music and The World That Made New Orleans.

I had the pleasure of seeing Ned Sublette at the Regulator in Durham last night. He performed from his not-yet-recorded album and read from his newly published memoir about New Orleans.


Vaquero Rumbero: Ned Sublette

For a foretaste of what Ned might cover tonight, about the history of plena, see the 2/10 issue of The Independent on newstands. I quoted him in my lead culture feature:

"Street Spirit: Jazz finally taps plena, one of Puerto Rico's overlooked rhythms"

Theremin Tonight! NASHER Museum 6 pm

The Nasher Museum at Duke University is free on Thursdays, with a cash bar open from 5:30 pm.

Tonight (6/4) theremin player Steve Burnett will give a free talk and performance at the museum. Burnett will elucidate on the history and workings of the theremin at 6 pm, followed by live music from 6:30-7:30.

The event is sponsored in conjunction with the new installation "Video Quartet" by Christian Marclay (which features a theremin).

Thanks to WXDU deejays Jay Caldwell and Steve Burnett for this tip!

Cuban Culture Thursday (10/2)

Charanga Carolina, UNC's Cuban rhythm and string orchestra, will perform at Durham Academy (Ridge Road Campus) this Thursday (10/2), as part of a school cultural event that is open to the public.

Durham Academy's 3rd annual "Fiesta Latina" celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month with music and dance performances, and a dinner of Latin American food. Food will be for sale starting at 5:30 pm. The free cultural program begins at 7:00 pm. Charanga Carolina will play the second hour of the program, from 8:00-9:00 pm.

Charanga Carolina is made up of a combination of UNC-Chapel Hill students and Latin musicians from the local community; some Durham Academy students will also sit in. Musical director David Garcia has won accolades for the project; read more about it in this story I wrote for the Independent Weekly.

Also Thursday: anthropologist, author and documentary filmmaker Ruth Behar speaks at Duke at 7:00 pm. A Sephardic Jew from Cuba, Behar has written a book about the Jewish community there and is a former MacArthur grant winner.



Might I suggest a soundtrack? Benjamin Lapidus' recent Herencia Judia.

See our calendar for more info on both of Thursday's events.