The Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs (DCA) and The Morse Theater announce a special concert featuring some of Chicago’s finest international music acts, including (in order of appearance) Steve Gibons’ Gypsy Rhythm Project featuring Nicolae Feraru, Fandanguero and Occidental Brothers Dance Band International. This concert, curated by DCA, showcases the City’s top world music talent in a new, exciting venue for global music in Chicago. The Morse Theatre is situated in the heart of Rogers Park, a vibrant neighborhood located on the far north side of Chicago. For more information about this event and to purchase tickets, call 773.654.5100 or visit www.TheMorse.com.
World Music Central reported today that legendary bassist Orlando “Cachaito” Lopez passed away on Monday, February 9th at the age of 76.
Internationally known as one of the founding members of the Buena Vista Social Club and band mate to fellow musicians Compay Segundo, Ibrahim Ferrer and Rubén González, Mr. Lopez had long been one of Cuba’s premier bassists, playing in the cabaret orchestra Bambú, the big band Riverside, Los Zafiros, the Afro Cuban All Stars and with the National Symphony. A driving force in the Cuban mambo movement, Mr. Lopez was also a fixture in the classical, popular and jazz music scenes in Cuba.
“We are writing to request that you make concrete changes in U.S. policy towards Cuba that will allow for the uninhibited flow of art, culture, information, ideas and debates, as well as travel by artists, cultural workers and professionals, and arts and cultural aficionados between the two countries.”
I heard about Steam Powered Preservation Society in an article in the Chicago Tribune this week and thought I just had to share this great resource with all of you just in case you missed it. The Steam Powered Preservation Society (SPPS) is a local (well, one of the founders is from Tinley Park but the others are based around the country)-based nonprofit organization that “archives, saves, researches, and shares historic Americana recordings.” SPPS preserves and promotes bluegrass music by collecting and preserving recordings of bluegrass music old and new, and by sharing the sounds they’ve collected through their website.
People have been archiving music for as long as the technology existed to record it, but until the development of the internet it has never been possible to distribute and promote archival sounds on a mass scale. SPPS is doing just this through their website, which hosts an online radio feature where listeners can stream old time and bluegrass music as a page where you can download mp3s. SPPS believes that this will make old time and bluegrass music accessible to a generation that is not as inclined to buy recordings, but which does have open ears to different sounds if they are easily accessible.
“Bluegrass music is American music, and its history is American history,” said Keith Kreider, a San Francisco accountant who helped create Steam Powered. “A banjo record is never going to sell 3 million copies. Youth today are not necessarily going to go out and buy a bluegrass album. But by making them available in an easily accessible and youth-friendly format like MP3, they might be willing to check it out.”
If you’re interested in helping out, SPPS is looking for people to help out in a few areas, including recording shows, donations and writers for their blog.
A couple weeks ago my boyfriend and I decided to take a little road trip out east. After seeing a short entry in a travel book describing Phildaelphia’s Mummers Parade as the Carnaval of the North, we decided that we had to check it out. We had no idea what kind of spectacle we were about to witness, and we were amazed that such a huge celebration is completely unheard of in the rest of the country. I just had to share my experiences with you.
The Mummers Parade is an annual parade held every New Years Day in downtown Philadelphia. The parade begins at 8:00 a.m. and lasts all day, featuring 10-20,000 performers. Participants are mostly male, and many fathers get their sons involved at a young age.
There are four categories of Mummers. We showed up for the parade around 11:00 a.m. and got to see the Comics, pictured above. Believe it or not, the comics were the least elaborate of the Mummers. The other three categories - Fancies, String Bands, and Fancy Brigades - all involve elaborate costumes and movable scenery. The String Bands - my favorite section - plays music while dancing to elaborate choreography around a central theme.
Above is a youtube video of the winning String Band group in 2009. This is the Fralinger String Band performing an “Arabian” Theme. My favorite section comes at about 2 minutes, where a giant lantern comes out and inside are 6 banjo-playing genies. As you can imagine, each club practices for months to prepare and invest tens of thousands of dollars and hours and hours of practice time. If you get a chance, check out the Mummers Parade yourself next year, and learn more at the websites below:
If you read this blog you know that I am a faithful reader/listener of the Soundroots blog out of Portland. Really, it’s my favorite source for new recommendations and well-written commentary. Yesterday’s podcast featured Tuvan music, and when I heard the Tuvan cover of Come Together, I thought, “Yes I must share this.” Go, listen, ENJOY!
(Tuvan music comes out of a portion of Southern Siberia known as Tuva. It is characterized by a style of throat singing where the singer constricts his throat and emphasizes the overtones of the fundamental pitch created by his vibrating vocal chords. When this is performed, multiple tones are created simultaneously by a single singer. It’s super cool. But the music is also generally fun to listen to - lots of banjos, lilting rhythms, catchy melodies. Love it.)
If you have ever attended a salsa dance event in Chicago, chances are pretty high that you have seen and met Chris Johnson, the founder and manager of HotSalsaKitchen. For years HSK has operated as a yahoo listerv, providing a forum for local dancers and probably the best local resource for finding out what’s going on in the local salsa scene. But today I got HSK’s second Newsletters, and I have to send out a giant KUDOS to Chris and the people at HSK for their great work. The newsletter includes a historical article about Arsenio Rodriguez, an informational article about the hip band Bio Ritmo, dance advice, and more. But there was one sentence that really stood out to me, and that was Chris’s resolution that in 2009 dancers should “Develop a greater appreciation for live music without complaining about the length of the songs that a band plays.” AMEN to that!
So go to cajphoto.com to read more, and thanks to Chris for this great resource!
p.s. this is a small thing, but as a native Wisconsinite I feel like I have to defend my home state by saying hey, there’s nothing wrong with cheese and bratwurst!
If you’re on the HotHouse mailing list, you already know that we’ve energized our weekly music listings to include more events and my types of events representing Chicago’s diversity. AND you know that you can get this list in your mailbox ever week. If you’re not on the list or you’ve accidentally deleted your copy, here’s this week’s HotList:
HotHouse was picked as one of Metromix’s “10 reasons Chicago Rocked” in 2008!
“Great in ‘08: 10 reasons Chicago rocked
Feeling Hot again
Well-established cultural center HotHouse was a force in Chicago world music until moving out of the South Loop in July ’07. So it was a treat when HotHouse scheduled a host of performances in April at the Viaduct Theatre. Though the collaboration was short-lived, HotHouse currently presents shows Fridays at the “HotLoft” above Lakeview bar Fizz (3220 N. Lincoln Ave.), and hosts dinner-show packages at Las Tablas (2942 N. Lincoln Ave.) one Saturday per month.”
