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Duncan Sheik returning to Cedar Rapids

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Duncan Sheik

No matter how hard he’s tried to dodge it, the spotlight just seems to find Duncan Sheik.

After bursting onto the rock charts in the mid ’90s with “Barely Breathing,” he retreated into the shadows of indie music and theater.

That didn’t last long.

He wrote the music for the 2006 Broadway smash hit “Spring Awakening.” The rock ‘n’ roll tale of teen angst grabbed eight Tony Awards in 2007, including Best Musical, and nods to Sheik for best original score and best orchestrations.

Sheik came to CSPS in Cedar Rapids in March 2009 for a concert we deemed “brilliant” in our review, showcasing his show tune. He’s returning on Thursday, on a national tour with his stripped-down homage to the music of his youth via his new acoustic CD, “Covers Eighties Remixed.”

The details

  • Duncan Sheik trio
  • 7 p.m. Thursday
  • CSPS, 1103 Third St. SE, Cedar Rapids
  • $25 at the door, (319) 364-1580 or Legionarts.org
  • Free discussion, noon to 1 p.m. Thursday, University of Iowa Theatre Building, 200 N. Riverside Dr., Iowa City

He just keeps charting new courses.

“‘Barely Breathing’ was a bit of an anomaly in terms of my first record and in terms of the way I saw myself as an artist,” Sheik, 42, says by phone from his home on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, where he lives with his girlfriend.

“Really quickly in ’96, I was thrust into this Top 40 context. Frankly, I wasn’t that comfortable there, because I didn’t feel that much kinship with other artists who are in that world. They certainly weren’t the artists that were my influences. As much as I might respect them, it’s not what I was doing,” he says.

“Here I was, listening to Radiohead or Chalk Talk – whatever fairly left-field records I was listening to, and then I was in this very kind of mainstream music context. That caused a lot of dissonance for me in that situation. At that point, you continue to put your head down and do the best work you can do, and people are gonna perceive it however they’re gonna perceive it,” he says.

“I think that I subconsciously and consciously did a lot of work to subvert that kind of Top 40 thing from happening again, for better or worse. The irony is that when I did something in theater – which was a fairly avant-garde, kind of expressionist play, ‘Spring Awakening’ that we adapted our show from – that became, in a way, the most commercial thing that I’ve ever done,” he says.

“You don’t really have control over these things in the end. You just do your work and the culture responds to it however it does and you hope for the best.”

Two Corridor theaters are staging the rock musical this season. The University of Iowa’s production opened Nov. 9 and continues through Saturday (11/17). Theatre Cedar Rapids is bringing it to the main stage June 28 to July 20, 2013. Sheik will be speaking about the show from noon to 1 p.m. Thursday in the UI Theatre Building. The discussion is free and open to the public.

He’s thrilled the show is making the leap from Broadway to community theaters, colleges and other grassroots stages.

“I love the fact that people are doing ‘Spring Awakening’ all over the place,” he says. “I just got back from Mexico City, and there was a production down there in Spanish, which was really wonderful. For me, it’s just great to see it done differently, and with different actors, because then the experience is new and fresh and exciting.”

Thursday’s CSPS audience will hear Sheik in a trio, doing a mix of his vintage tunes and new material from the covers CD released Nov. 6, as well as a set of  “brand-spanking new” songs from an album coming out next year.

“I haven’t made a ‘normal’ Duncan Sheik album since 2006,” he says. “Everything I’ve done since then has been either theater-related or covers, so it’s been too long.”

As for the spotlight – he doesn’t mind it so much anymore.

“To be honest, when I first started performing live, which was not that long after my first record, it actually was not my favorite part of the process,” he says. “I’m not the kind of person who wants to get a lot of people to pay attention to me in the room. I love making records and I love writing songs and that’s why I got into this. Performing was part of the gig. Certainly initially, it was just something had to go through.

“Now 16 years later, I do really enjoy those shows when it all kind of coalesces and comes together. When the artist is with you and the music sounds right, it’s totally brilliant. It just took me a little while to get to that place.”

Review: Edgeworks founder brings mixed bag of dance, theatrics to CSPS

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Helanius J. Wilkins (courtesy photo)

Experimental dance has descended upon CSPS, in the body of the artistic director of the Edgeworks Dance Theater based in Washington, D.C.

Helanius J. Wilkins is a remarkable  performer. His hourlong solo work, “/CLOSE/R,” was inconsistently compelling, but at times, quite effective.  Friday night’s small crowd was most attentive, and eager to support this talented artist. (11/9/12) The event repeated Saturday night.

Wilkins is supported by the National Performance Network (NPN),  which provides funding to performing artists for creation, residencies and touring.  CSPS is a constituent member of NPN, and regularly presents its promising roster.  Wilkins wryly described himself as a “triple threat” artist, who choreographs, performs and teaches master classes.

The performance was a mixed bag,  involving direct involvement of the audience, as well as video interviews with the artist, in addition to fully choreographed sequences.   The interviews at times were funny, particularly as Wilkins described fighting with his family over the record player:  He wanted to listen to Prince’s “Purple Rain” all day long, imagining himself to be a star.

The script developed from confessional text (yes, the dancer talks a lot) to non-verbal expression. It was in the latter realm that the performance came to life.  Wilkins is a fine dancer, with long arms and legs, and a strong central core. He has remarkable hands, with fingers as expressive as a Balinese dancer’s.

A powerful sequence began with his mother’s advice to get rid of a cold. “Pee it out, sweat it out.” Put on a layers of clothes, drink a lot of water, get in bed under a pile of covers. This amusing advice led quickly into the dramatic center of the work, a strenuous, disturbing fit of shaking, somewhere between a St. Vitus dance and an epileptic fit. Anguish. Pain. Human identity. All were at stake in this wild exorcism. Wilkins’ stamina and commitment are amazing, as is his honest self-examination.

This led into a powerful, fluid dance sequence, with more formal choreography in post-modern vein (think Bill T. Jones). It was worth the wait. Wilkins is considering the sources of his own creativity, as he takes a look at what his life has been, and who he is now on the stage, at this moment.

Ben Levine is listed in the program as “scenic design collaboration and lighting design.” His work is very, very good, as is that of the entire design team. Eight white squares are suspended above the action, and continue out into the auditorium. Projection surfaces are in the form of hanging white curtains.  It is as if the lights are yet another dancer, or dancers, who work closely with the live performer. This is exhilarating conceptual work.

Congratulations to Legion Arts/CSPS for bringing such challenging work to Eastern Iowa.

Related: Artist turns inward to find the cutting edge of dance

Playing for Change

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Clarence Bekker

A band with a worldwide reach embodies its name on several levels.

Playing for Change began as documentary filmmaker Mark Johnson’s grand experiment in 2005 to record the world’s best street musicians playing “Stand By Me” on their corners. His crew built a mobile recording studio and took it from California to nearly every continent, then melded those voices into a video.

It’s now spun into a YouTube phenomenon; a non-profit foundation building music schools in Third World countries; and a fundraising concert tour featuring 10 top musicians from around the globe — all spreading the message of unity through harmony, connecting the world through music.

Luminaries including Bono, Stephen Marley, Ziggy Marley, Taj Mahal and Keb’ Mo’ have collaborated on Playing for Change CDs.

The band is touring 22 cities around North America in February and March, landing at CSPS in Cedar Rapids on Feb. 23.

The musicians didn’t know each other when the project began, but have found their common ground and camaraderie.

“Mark’s message has become all of our messages together,” one of the lead vocalists, Clarence Bekker, 42, says by phone from his home in Barcelona, Spain. “Our different cultures, different musical styles, different backgrounds can come together to make happiness and bring peace, most of all to ourselves, and from there to the world.”

Playing for Change will perform on Feb. 23 at CSPS in Cedar Rapids.

Bekker hasn’t always been a street musician. Born in Suriname in South America, his family moved to Amsterdam when he was 6. At age 18, he became the youngest member of the renown Dutch band, Swing Soul Machine. From there, he spun off to a solo career in dance music as CB Milton, making three albums in the ’90s. Now in Barcelona, he collaborates with bands and local DJs, and at the end of the month, will release his new album, “Old Soul,” evoking the legendary American soul musicians

“I chose some old soul recordings to introduce myself to the big American audience,” he says, “songs that lie near in my heart. I had a lot of fun recording it.”

Bekker’s musical heritage is a blend of tropical beats and soul.

“My upbringing is Caribbean and soul,” he says. “You can hear that in my voice and music, as well. Soul music has always been part of my life. My mother used to listen to a lot of soul. Motown sounds were in our house every day. I played traditional Caribbean music when I started my career.”

In 2000 he decided to travel the world with just his guitar, making music in the streets of India, Thailand, Malaysia, Australia and South America.

“That’s where my passion started for playing on the street. After I came back to Barcelona, I started to do some busking here, too, and really loved it.”

He loves the freedom it affords.

“No matter what time or what hour or how I felt, I stood on a street corner and the people would make me happy. People from all different classes. The street doesn’t know races, the street doesn’t say no to anybody,” he says.

“From newborn babies to grandpas and grandmas in their 90s, they would stop to listen to my voice. In no venue would I get an audience like that. People would really appreciate it and really be happy. I had people coming to me with tears in their eyes, really grateful that I’m doing that, which also inspired me to keep it going,” he says.

“I’m giving and I’m taking, and there was a beautiful thing about it.”

The Playing for Change touring band members hail from New Orleans, Detroit, Los Angeles, Congo, South Africa, Spain and New York.

“Most of us have a music background,” he says.

Three have street backgrounds: Jason Tamba and Mermans Mosengo of Congo and Grandpa Elliott of New Orleans.

“Some of the people are really professional professionals,” he says, “but even on the street, you find professionals, and if you’re not yet a professional, you’ll become professional. It’s the talent that counts.”

Audiences are embracing the music and the cause wherever they go.

“Our followers are reasonably educated people concerned about the well-being of the planet and are behind us 100 percent,” Bekker says. “It’s a great thing. Everywhere we go, people really embrace us with arms open wide. Even my old friends in Holland and Spain, when they see the project, they really appreciate it. I see it in their faces and their responses.”

The Playing for Change Foundation, established in 2007, has built seven music schools in Ghana, Mali, Rwanda, South Africa and Nepal, with more in the works. Bekker hasn’t visited the sites, but fully embraces the mission of providing a musical education for children in emerging countries.

“Everyone on this planet should have that to express themselves,” he says. “It also gives them big self-esteem and a secure manner to go about in their life. Music has all these ways to express yourself and is a way to become a real ‘human’ being.

“That’s why it’s important for everyone, especially in Third World countries — to build up their self-esteem and to be able to communicate with people all over the world without having to learn their language,” he says.

“We all speak the language of music. With social media, it’s easier to communicate with all parts of the world. With music, that only makes us stronger.”

 

GET OUT

  • What: Playing for Change
  • When: 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 23, 2012
  • Where: CSPS Hall, 1103 Third St. SE, Cedar Rapids
  • Tickets: $27 at the door; $22 in advance

 

 

Coffeeshop, book store, photo studio find at home at CSPS Hall

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StudioU Photography

CEDAR RAPIDS  — Heidi Eifferts has been an admirer of Cedar Rapids’ New Bohemia neighborhood for years. Now she’s a tenant.

“We had photographed outside the CSPS hall for years,” said professional photographer Eifferts. “It was just one of our favorite locations because of the old buildings, the textures.”

Eifferts and her husband Troy Eifferts now work there full-time: their StudioU Photography is one of three businesses moving into ground-floor space at CSPS Hall, 1103 Third St. SE. A formal announcement of the businesses’ agreement with Legion Arts, the non-profit owner of CSPS, was made at a press conference Thursday (2/2) morning.

“This is another example of the New Bohemia neighborhood returning with a vengeance,” said F. John Herbert, Legion Arts’ executive director.

“The momentum’s building for the downtown district and the New Bo district,” said Richard Marsceau, co-owner of the Brewed Awakenings coffeehouse, which is expanding to the CSPS building. “It just all fits together. There’s momentum everwhere along the river, I guess, and it’s good to be part of it.”

“It’s such an emerging art and entertainment district,” said Mary Ann Peters, owner of New Bo Books, the third business to take up residence in the historic building’s ground floor. “The things that are happening now and are in the plans give it a whole personality that’s unique.”

Revenue from the tenants’ rent will help cover operating costs at CSPS, the subject of a 16-month, $8 million renovation and expansion after the Floods of 2008.

“We’ve gone from being a pretty small arts organization and a tenants ourselves to a pretty small arts organization that owns the building, so we’ve gone to quite a bit more responsibility,” Herbert said. “The retail spaces on the ground floor will be pretty critical parts of the funding for the building. We’re pretty excited to have three such locally-grounded businesses.”

Professional photographers since 2000, Eifferts and her husband moved to Iowa City from Omaha in 2008. They’ve worked strictly on location since, but decided it’s time to open a studio. Eifferts said they’ve already begun shooting in their new digs, but hope to have a public opening around March 1.

Peters said the entertainment district anchored by CSPS Hall is a natural for her new business, which will carry a broad range of titles from children’s books to the latest best sellers.

“I just saw that neighborhood as ideal for a small independent book store,” she said. “There has been a void here. Except for used book stores, there hasn’t been small bookstores (in Cedar Rapids) since Barnes and Noble opened.”

Peters said her store will  have access to the inventory of Prairie Lights Bookstore in Iowa City. Orders will be placed with Prairie Lights, and New Bo Books will be tied into its sales and records system.

“It’s maybe a model that hasn’t ever been tried before,” said Peters, who expects to hire up to two employees. “That way, there’s not going to be the high learning curve for me. My experience is in libraries and as a consumer of books but I’ve never sold them before.”

Both Peters and Marsceau expect the bookstore and Brewed Awakenings will be natural neighbors.

“It’s a great compliment to our business,” said Marsceau whose coffeeshop will remain in operation at its original location at 1271 First Ave. SE and its satellite location at St. Lukes Hospital . “We look forward to that – we need to have that growing-village feel down there.”

Brewed Awakenings already  serves coffee, beer, wine, and light snacks in CSPS’ second-floor performance space.

Downstairs, “we’re going to have more of a traditional coffee bar,” Marsceau said. “We’ll take some of our best sandwich sellers from here, but we’re going to add some things.”

The new location will employ up to a dozen people.

A little bit country, rock and roll, African roots at CSPS

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Tom Freund

Though he’s well-schooled and widely-traveled in a variety of genres — from heartfelt folk to buoyant pop to boho jazz to straightforward rock-’n’-roll, and beyond — Tom Freund ultimately comes across simply as a singer-songwriter with his own singularly distinctive voice. “Collapsible Plans,” Freund’s fourth full-length album, puts that voice front-and-center. Produced by longtime friend Ben Harper and featuring piano and vocal contributions from Jackson Browne on two tracks, “Collapsible Plans” is Freund’s most focused and fully realized recording to date. Ben and Tom have known each other for two decades, and in 1992 recorded the limited-release “Pleasure and Pain” together, which helped launch Harper’s career. Since then, Freund has alternated between recording and touring behind his own discs (2001’s “Sympatico” and 2005’s “Copper Moon”) and playing upright bass, electric bass guitar and mandolin with the likes of British pub-rock great Graham Parker and rising groove-soul sensation Brett Dennen. Freund also is a favorite of NPR’s “Weekend Edition.”

Jess Klein

Her music has been called primal, raw, sassy and sensual. She’s been compared to Emmylou Harris and Joan Osborne by Billboard magazine. A folk troubadour whose talents have been lauded on the national and international scene for almost a decade, Jess Klein writes songs that tell the story of the soul — from wrenching heartbreak to finding the strength to pick up and move on. Now, on her seventh studio album, “Bound to Love,” Klein has created an Americana gem that speaks to the troubadour in all of us.

Tom Freund & Jess Klein | 7 p.m. Sunday (11/6) | CSPS, 1103 Third St. SE, Cedar Rapids | $11-$15

 

Dobet Gnahoré

 

A young singer, dancer and percussionist from Côte d’Ivoire (The Ivory Coast), Dobet Gnahoré sings in seven languages and embraces musical styles from Mandingue melodies to Congolese rumba, Ivory Coast ziglibiti to Cameroon bikoutsi. She is widely and internationally hailed as one of the freshest talents in new African music. Dobet grew up in Village Ki-Yi M’Bock, one of Africa’s unique artist enclaves and home to more than 50 resident artists of diverse traditions, ages and origins, including dancers, actors, puppeteers, sculptors, painters and musicians. It was here that Dobet was trained in a multifaceted approach to music and performance where dance, percussion, song, poetry and theater are intertwined. Onstage Dobet is a whirl of motion and passion, her dreadlocks flying as she dances and sings in a voice one critic described as “moving easily from a high, pure girlish timbre to a stern, throaty cry.”

 

Dobet Gnahoré | 7 p.m. Wednesday (11/9) | CSPS, 1103 Third St SE, Cedar Rapids | $20-$25

 

Catie Curtis celebrates sweet 16

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Singer/songwriter Catie Curtis will perform Nov. 5, 2011, at CSPS in Cedar Rapids. (Tony Baker photo)

CSPS is Catie Curtis’ favorite kind of venue.

The singer/songwriter who found her niche in the Boston folk-pop music scene plays about 80 gigs per year in coffeehouses, community halls, listening rooms, theaters and even the White House in 2010.

But she really likes performing arts centers.

“I love being surrounded by art, being in a place that supports the arts and that brings the community to participate and appreciate art of all kinds,” she says by phone from a recent tour stop in Houston.

Her history with CSPS stretches back to 1995, and she can’t wait to see the new and improved surroundings when she brings her “Stretch Limousine on Fire” tour to Cedar Rapids on Saturday. The concert will be a mix of “Limousine” cuts and songs off her previous recordings. Young singer/songwriter Jenna Lindbo will join her on harmonies, keyboards and banjo.

“I want to see the (CSPS) renovations — I really want to see that,” Curtis says, adding that Legion Arts’ mission mirrors her own goals.

“I have a dream of being able to have an arts center in my town where we can promote live music and create a space where teenagers can play, with open mics, touring musicians and an arts incubator to launch artists,” she says. “That may be a ways off, but I’ll plant the seeds when I’m really ready to stop touring.”

For now, however, she’s looking forward to coming back to Iowa.

“I grew up in Maine and feel like there’s a kinship between Mainers and Iowans. They both have a kind of dry sense of humor. I related to the music of (Iowa native) Greg Brown growing up,” she says, “and that simple, modest, humble approach to life. I feel very at home in Iowa.”

Home is very much the heartbeat for Curtis, who performs during the week but heads back to her Boston-area base for three-day weekends with her wife, Liz, and their daughters Lucy, 9, and Celia, 7.

“My whole life is about balancing my time at home and on the road, like so many people do with their jobs, but mine happens to be an overnight job,” she says. She typically flies to a region, like Texas or the Midwest, then rents a car to drive between cities.

“I’m in my 16th year on the road,” she says. “I’m not one of those people who plays 200 dates per year. I’m kind of like the tortoise and hare. I’m the tortoise — I just keep going.”

Liz and the girls stay home, to keep them rooted, and technology helps Curtis keep plugged in.

“I just got a text this morning,” she says in late October. “My 9-year-old sent a photo of her book report. It’s kind of amazing with modern technology how connected we can be while I’m gone, but I still miss so much.”

That tug in her voice disappears as she talks about her daughters.

“They’re so enthusiastic — they’re in the enthusiastic phase of life. It’s amazing to see how excited they still get about playing with dolls and getting out there playing soccer and learning Spanish. They were born in Guatemala and we’re going to Guatemala in February. I know things will change, but they’re in a very magical phase right now.”

With a happy home life and 10 previous albums under her fingers, her solid foundation has helped her push the boundaries on her latest songwriting efforts. The new CD already is generating buzz for being more gritty and raw.

“I feel like the rawness comes from the absolute honesty in the images in the storytelling,” she says, citing the CD’s first cut, “Let it Last.”

“We all learn when we’re trying to be spiritually evolved that you can’t hold onto things, you can’t hold onto time. It would be easy to say ‘I want to let it last but know I can’t.’ Instead, I say, ‘I know it can’t last, but let it last a little longer.’ That’s honest. I’m honest,” she says. “I know it hurts to want things you can’t have, but you still want things you can’t have. ‘Shadowbird’ is about wanting a drink or relationship you can’t have.

“There have been times in the past when I wrote more about how I think I should feel. This is more about how I really feel.”

One thing that has lasted is her relationship. She and her spouse were joined in a ceremony for family and friends 11 years ago, then were legally married in Massachusetts six years ago, which allowed them to co-adopt their children and have their family protected legally.

That journey has helped Curtis shape her career and inspire her songwriting.

“I’ve been with Liz since I was signed to a major label in ’96,” she says. “For me, throughout a career that can be filled with extreme highs and lows, I have been so fortunate to have a very steady and supportive home life to balance out the volatility of a life in the music business.

“As a writer, with that very secure foundation beneath me, I’ve been able to look at problems in the world,” she says. “I’ve written about New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina. The new record has a song that kind of reflects the economic inequalities in our country.

“A lot of the songs are about the temporal nature of life and mortality and marriage,” she says. “For me to see the marriage and kids gives me the rich experiences to help me to connect to what other people go through in their lives and the audience can relate that to their lives.”

— Diana Nollen

 

GET OUT

  • WHAT: Catie Curtis
  • WHEN: 8 p.m. Saturday (11/5)
  • WHERE: CSPS Hall, 1103 Third St. SE, Cedar Rapids
  • COST: $17-$21
  • DETAILS: Legionarts.org/events/catie-curtis or Catiecurtis.com

Landfall Festival brings world of music to C.R.

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UPDATE: Read a REVIEW of Wednesday’s concerts.

After 23 years of playing full-volume in a Cajun dance band, fiddler David Greely has gone unplugged to help his audiences plug into a more intimate experience.

Greely, 58, of Breaux Bridge, La., will carry the music of his ancestors to Cedar Rapids for a weeklong residency during the annual CSPS Landfall Festival of World Music. He will be in town Monday through Sept. 25, conducting classes, lectures and workshops, and will perform three Landfall concerts.

The fourth annual festival brings musicians from around the globe to the newly renovated CSPS Hall from Wednesday through Sept. 23, moving to Greene Square Park for an afternoon of free music Sept. 24. Audiences will hear a mix of African, Caribbean, European, Nepalese and Cajun traditions.

Joining Greely onstage will be accordion player Steve Riley, co-founder of Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys; fiddle and accordion player Chris Stafford, co-founder of Feufollet; and Jo Vidrine, bass player from Les Malfecteurs.

Greely performed for years with the Mamou (pronounced mah-moo) Playboys.

“What really interests me now is to perform the music of the house party, being at home rather than in a dance hall. There’s a lot more variety in a more personal situation,” he says. “You can reach some really deep emotions and get really ferocious with some up-tempo dance music.”

So his Landfall audiences will hear acoustic Cajun music — something he says is rarely presented anymore. He has delved deeply into Cajun history and the evolution of that music, which he’ll share during workshops and discussions.

“I’ve spent a lot of time getting involved with the Cajun early 17th century rural dialect here,” he says. “Often to modern people, it sounds like Elizabethan English would sound to us.”

Greely says he heard some Cajun music growing up near Baton Rouge, but his father listened more to country music and western swing. He picked up the fiddle at 17 and hasn’t looked back.

“When I got interested in the fiddle, my family kept telling me my grandfather was very Cajun. He was a fiddler, but I never heard him play,” Greely says. “My family was all excited when they heard I was interested in it. I felt it was my job to look into Cajun music. When I did, I discovered it was the best music I’d ever heard. It really, really resonated with me.”

His mother’s family was part of the French migration that became the Acadian people, bringing their culture and music first to Canada and eventually to Louisiana. They put down roots in Louisiana in 1785.

“When they arrived here, they prospered. They had land, and because they were Catholic, they had lots of children, all living side by side with French-speaking black people from Africa by way of the West Indies. Nowadays we call those people Creoles,” he says. “That was when their very European, very late-Renaissance sounding music became infused with blues and polyrhythms, starting in the late 1700s.”

Even though his own life is infused with all things Cajun, Greely’s five children are forging their own paths.

“They all play music, but none play Cajun music,” he says. “That’s OK. As long as they’re playing and enjoying themselves.”

— Diana Nollen

GET OUT

  • WHAT: David Greeley at Steve Riley at the Landfall Festival of World Music
  • WHERE: CSPS, 1103 Third St. SE, and Greene Square Park, downtown Cedar Rapids
  • WHEN: 6 p.m. Wednesday, CSPS, $10 at the door;  6 p.m. Sept. 22, CSPS, $10 at the door; 9:30 p.m. Sept 23: CSPS, $10 at the door; 2:30 p.m. Sept. 24, Greene Square Park, free
  • DETAILS: Legionarts.org or (319) 364-1580

 

OTHER PERFORMANCES

 

Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino

The brain child of writer Rina Durante, Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino (Best Italian World Music Band) is the foremost and longest standing traditional music band from Salento, in Puglia, coming together in 1975.

In 2007 the lead passed from the founder of the band, Daniele Durante, to his son Mauro. Canzoniere’s live concerts explode with energy, passion, rhythm and mystery, bringing audiences from the past to present and back.

Canzoniere Grecanico Salentino | 7:45 p.m. Wednesday | CSPS, 1103 Third St. SE, Cedar Rapids | $10

Joaquin Diaz

Joaquin Diaz began his musical career as a street musician in the streets of San Domingo, Dominican Republic. At age 12, this Dominican “king of accordion” was playing for guests at a local hotel.

By the time he was 17, he was performing at the Olympic Games; played for the president of the Dominican Republic at his presidential home; won first prize at the highly competitive Merengue Competition of Santo Domingo; and appeared each week on the Sabro Show, a favorite variety program on Dominican TV. He also toured with the Folk Ballet of the Dominican Republic. He now resides in Montreal, Canada.

Joaquin Diaz | 7:45 p.m. Sept. 22 | CSPS, 1103 Third St. SE, Cedar Rapids | $10

 Tani Diakite and the Afrofunkstars

Tani Diakite and the Afrofunkstars hale from Mali by way of Madison. They bring the sound of Malian hunters to CSPS through the music of Diakite, a native of Wasulu, Mali, and his mastery of the kamale n’goni,  an instrument that originates from Wasulu, a region on the border of Mali and Guinea, West Africa. It is derived from the larger Donso N’goni, which means “hunter’s harp.” Throughout the centuries, Malian hunters were also skilled musicians who used their trance-like music to appease the spirits of the animals they hunted, so as not to be plagued by evil spirits. The Afrofunkstars are backed up by one of the hottest rhythm sections around, featuring Paddy Cassidy on jembe, Hugo Reynolds on drumset, and Mamoudou Diallo and Djam Vivie on percussion. The funk is rounded out by bass powerhouse Nickolas Moran, Peter Baggenstoss on keyboards, and Matt Manske on guitar. The interplay between Kamale N’goni and jembe grooves so hard that audiences can’t stay still – the urge to get up and move is too powerful!

6 p.m. Sept. 23 | CSPS, 1103 Third St. SE, Cedar Rapids | $10 
 1 p.m. Sept. 24 | Greene Square Park, downtown, Cedar Rapids | free

Dikanda

Dikanda, in one of the African’s dialects, stands for family, and this group, founded in 1997 in Szczecin, Poland, lives and works as if they are a small family. Their acoustic songs have been inspired by Poland’s folklore, Oriental culture, Balkan, Macedonian and Romanian. Winner of numerous prizes in European festivals, the group’s concerts are a journey around the music of the world.

Dikanda | 7:45  p.m. Sept. 23 | CSPS, 1103 Third St. SE, Cedar Rapids | $10

 

Kutumba

The word “Kutumba” holds a special meaning in the Nepali language. It stands for a unique bond among community members.

As their name suggests, this folk instrument ensemble from Katmandu brings together traditional folk tunes and instruments with new and improvised sounds and ideas.

Kutumba | 4 p.m. Sept. 24 | Greene Square Park, downtown, Cedar Rapids | free

Get Out: Landfall Music Festival

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LANDFALL MUSIC FESTIVAL

A world of free music is uniting in downtown Cedar Rapids this week.

Sounds from five continents will fill the air in Greene Square Park and First Presbyterian Church when Legion Arts/CSPS presents its third annual Landfall Festival of World Music from Sept. 22 to 25. Admission is free to all 16 concerts.

The eclectic mix includes a Romanian gypsy band with a punk rock flair, a male a cappella quartet from France and groups from Colombia, Panama, Mexico, Brazil and England, India, the Republic of Georgia, Turkey, Kenya, Iraq and the United States.

Legion Arts/CSPS home base is the historic CSPS building at 1103 Third St. SE, currently closed for renovations, but the Landfall festival has traditionally been held off-site and last year was centered at Greene Square Park.

Most of this year’s concerts will be in the park, but the ensembles that fare better in a more quiet environment, like the a cappella quartet Barbara Furtuna, will be showcased in the church across the street.

Seemingly worlds apart, the music of Brazil mixes with Appalachian bluegrass, cowboy country and New Orleans rhythms in Nation Beat, who will perform at 7 p.m. Saturday in the park. Those traditions actually aren’t so far apart, says Scott Kettner, 33, percussionist and founder of the band based in Brooklyn, N.Y.

He calls it “Americana music from both Americas.”

“It’s folk music from Brazil and folk music from the United States,” he says.

“It’s dance music — feel good party music. He discovered the synergy while living in Brazil from 2000 to 2001, before forming the band in 2002.

“When I was studying music from the northeast region of Brazil, I noticed a strong connection and similarity between that region and music from the southern United States,” says Kettner, who was raised in Florida.

“I grew up listening to Cajun, zydeco and bluegrass,” he says. “The instrumentations are similar.”

While forro, a style of northeast Brazilian folk dance music, relies heavily on the accordion, Kettner says it also incorporates fiddle and the triangle and percussion found in New Orleans rhythms.

“The music (of both regions) is rooted in African slavery, rooted in the people who most of the time are farmers or work the land. It’s country music — music made by people who worked hard on the land.”

And so on Nation Beat’s latest CD, “Legends of the Preacher,” you’ll find “I’m so Lonesome I Could Cry,” “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain” and “A Cowboy in Brazil” nestled among “A Onde Tem Cerveja Tem Mulher” and “A Vida Tava Tao Boa,” infused with a little Jewish klezmer music, too.

“‘I’m so Lonesome’ has an interesting story,” Kettner says. “We were on tour, driving to a gig and didn’t have enough songs for the set. We were just starting out and didn’t have enough repertoire. I got the idea of why don’t we do ‘Lonesome’ as a forro? We tried it in the van and it worked. We tried it in the gig and it worked.

“Then we went to Brazil and met with my mentor, one of the greatest fiddle players, Mestre Salustiano. We brought it to his house. He was a little unsure about all this fusion thing we’re doing,” Kettner says.

But when they started playing the song, the elder musician “got a smile on his face from ear to ear, picked up his fiddle and started playing with us. He embraced doing this country song with Brazilian rhythms underneath it. That gave us the inspiration to keep it going.”

Bridging cultural gaps has become a way of life for the band, which has welcomed new members into the lineup as others left, including Brazilian vocalist Liliana Araujo.

“When we first brought her here, her English was not so good,” Kettner says. “Everybody in the band speaks fluent Portuguese, and her English has gotten better. It’s taken time to evolve and learn both languages so we could speak together and collaborate together with different ways of approaching things. It took a while to adapt to each other through languages and backgrounds, to find that middle ground where we’re comfortable. It took a couple years, but we’ve gotten to that place where we’ve broken down cultural barriers, per se.”

The band strives to break down barriers for Landfall audiences, as well.

I hope they learn something new that they never knew about music from Brazil, about how much they might even relate to it and how much they may enjoy it,” Kettner says. “I hope they come away realizing … how much they have in common with Brazilian culture and Brazilian music.”

— DIANA NOLLEN

  • When: Sept. 22 to 25
  • Where: Greene Square Park, Third Avenue and Fifth Street SE, and First Presbyterian Church, 310 Fifth St. SE, both in downtown Cedar Rapids
  • Admission: Free
  • Information: www.legionarts.org or (319) 364-1580
  • Sept. 22: 6 p.m. Barbara Furtuna of France (church); 7:15 p.m. Mahala Rai Banda of Romania and The Dragon Knights of San Francisco (park)
  • Sept. 23: 6 p.m. Red Baraat from India and New York (park); 6:45 p.m. Barbara Furtuna (church); 7:30 p.m. Cimarron of Colombia and The Dragon Knights (park)
  • Sept. 24: 6 p.m. Kenge Kenge of Kenya (park); 6:45 p.m. Portico Quartet of England (church); 7:30 p.m. Cordero of Mexico and Brooklyn, N.Y. (park)
  • Sept. 25: 1:30 p.m. Turkana of Turkey and Iowa (park); 2 p.m. Salaam of Iraq and
    Indiana (church); 3 p.m. Afro-Cuban Ensemble (park); 4 p.m. Calle Sur of Colombia and Panama (park); 5:30 p.m. Zedashe Ensemble from the Georgian Republic (park); 6:30 p.m. Salaam (church); 7 p.m. Nation Beat from Brazil and Brooklyn, N.Y. (park); 8:30 p.m. The Sway Machinery from Brooklyn, N.Y. (park)

Three things to do this weekend

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maplesyrup

Maple Syrup Festival
Saturday and Sunday, March 6 and 7

Break out the pancakes, it’s maple syrup time. Drop by the Indian Creek Nature Center Saturday and Sunday morning to take part in the whole sticky experience — from tapping a tree, to gathering sap and processing it into real maple syrup. Breakfast — including pancakes, sausage, juice, milk and coffee — will be served so visitors can taste the fruits, er, syrups, of their labors. Plus there will be musical entertainment while you eat. Sweet!

Maple Syrup Festival
8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., Saturday (03/06) and Sunday (03/07), Indian Creek Nature Center, 6665 Otis Rd. SE, Cedar Rapids, $3.50 to $6.50 in advance or $4 to $7 at the door,
(319) 362-0664, www.indiancreeknaturecenter.org

oscar

Hollywood Live!
Sunday, March 7

The Englert Theatre is rolling out the red carpet in honor of the 82nd annual Academy Awards on Sunday. Make plans to watch the show live on the big screen with local theater enthusiast Chris Okiishi hosting. There will be movie-themed food, costume contests, grab bags and a silent auction. Guests can cast their own Oscar ballots and vote for best and worst-dressed celebrity. If you can’t make it to L.A. for Oscar night, this is the next best thing.

Hollywood Live!
5:30 p.m., Sunday (03/07), Englert Theatre, 221 E. Washington St., Iowa City, Free but small donations are welcome, (319) 688-2653, www.englert.org

dervish

Dervish
Sunday, March 7

Ready to get in the spirit of St. Patrick’s Day (and we don’t mean drinking green beer)? Legion Arts continues their tradition of presenting traditional Irish bands in honor of the upcoming holiday and Dervish won’t disappoint. Just listening to this six-member band — hailing from northwest Ireland — bring their toe-tapping instrumentals and powerful lyrics to the Corridor will make you feel a wee bit more Irish. ‘Tis grand!

Dervish
7 p.m., Sunday (03/07), CSPS, 1103 Third Street SE, Cedar
Rapids, $20 in advance, $25 at the door, (319) 364-1580,
www.legionarts.org

Three other things

Killadelphia: A Mixtape of a City
7:30 p.m. Friday (3/5)
Riverside Theatre, 213 N.
Gilbert St., Iowa City, $12 to $26, 319.338.7672,
www.riversidetheatre.org

JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound
7 p.m. Saturday (3/6)
Blue Moose Tap House, 211
Iowa Ave., Iowa City, $6,
www.bluemooseic.com

Moscow String Quartet
7:30 p.m. Monday (3/8)
Cornell College King Chapel, 660 1st St. SW, Mount Vernon, $10 at the door, $5 for students, www.cornellcollege.edu

CD REVIEW: Schmidt weaves poetry through fine guitar on ‘Silt’

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Iowa City troubadour Ben Schmidt has captured the flavor of love and loss, floods and keepsakes and hummingbirds in “Silt.”

This eclectic collection is fueled by Schmidt’s strong poetic voice and stellar guitar playing, which runs the gamut from rootsy fingerpicking to a Spanish flair on “Virgin.”

The title track showcases Schmidt’s fine, low gravely vocals and nice guitar work with a hook that stays with you long after the song is through: “At the end of the day we are silt and sediment / a dirt line to remind us where we’ve been. … I long to be gone with the water.”

“Cigar Box” turns the mood to a lighter shade with a country flavor and a plucky tempo as he sings of a woman who keeps all her treasures in a see-gar box. You just have to smile.

The tone turns somber again with “Neglect,” an especially poetic song hammering home lyrics about storms in the Heartland. “Ruby Slippers” slips into the wonders of Oz as the music continues drawing rich and vibrant character studies. “Tripwire” tells the most interesting story layered over innovative rhythms, followed by “One Piece Pajamas,” an in-your-face, coming-of-age look at the results of careless, carefree sex. It would be funny if it weren’t so sad and true. “Raccoon Girl” paints such a vivid picture you feel you know this mysterious woman intimately.

“No Explanation” kicks the tempo up a few notches as it skitters over love’s muddy track before “Rain” falls peacefully to bring the journey full circle.

Schmidt’s voice is a powerful, lovely talent in the rich tapestry of Eastern Iowa artists. Hear him Saturday night at CSPS in Cedar Rapids.

– By Diana Nollen

FAST TAKE

Title: “Silt”

Artist: Ben Schmidt

Label: Self-released

Performance: CD release party, 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 6, CSPS, 1103 Third St. SE, Cedar Rapids

Tickets: $11 in advance at www.iowatix.com or $15 at the door

Information: www.legionarts.org/music/Schmidt.htm