Music listings – 9/26 through 10/2

1. Mount Eerie and Nicholas Krgovich w/ itsnotyouitsme

Date: Monday, September 26, 2011
Time: 8pm
Venue: Le Poisson Rouge (158 Bleecker Street, New York, NY 10012, ph: 212- 505-3474)
Ticket: $14
Genre: post rock/indie rock/nu folk

Phil Elverum is Mount Eerie. The 33 year-old multi-instrumentalist has played in other bands, and worked as a producer, but remains best known for this solo project, which began under the name the Microphones in 1997. In 2003, he renamed the project Mount Eerie (and added an “e” to his last name, Elvrum) after returning from a trip to Norway, where he lived alone in a remote cabin for a winter. “Mount Eerie” specifically refers to the mountain on Fidalgo Island, an island an hour and change north of Seattle where you’ll also find Elverum’s lifelong Anacortes, Washington hometown.
Nicholas Krgovich is a 28 year-old Vancouver-based songwriter and multi-instrumentalist best known for his work with NO KIDS, GIGI, P:ANO and MOUNT EERIE. He has been releasing records under various monikers since P:ANO’s acclaimed chamber pop debut “When It’s Dark And It’s Summer” in 2002, which has led to his work with the girl group inspired GIGI, the icy displacement of the r’n’b informed NO KIDS and most recently to the singular pop dreams released under his full legal name NICHOLAS KRGOVICH. Even though the material is often wildly diverse there is a unmistakable sense of Krgovich’s deep commitment to exploring the endless possibilities of pop, a discerning ear for sonic detail and quite often an ambition that wilfully borders on the absurd.

itsnotyouitsme is comprised of two prolific, highly regarded New York musicians – violinist/composer Caleb Burhans and guitarist/songwriter Grey Mcmurray – each of whom has an extensive musical output in a variety of ensembles and musical idioms. They formed itsnotyouitsme in 2003, fusing and distilling their eclectic mutual inspirations, including J.S. Bach, Brian Eno, and Pink Floyd. Since its inception, the duo has carved out a unique ambient niche at the intersection of chamber music, jazz, and post-rock musical scenes with their breathtaking, instrumental soundscapes.

2. Skana, Goddesses and More

Date: Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Time: 7:30pm
Venue: Galapagos Art Space (16 Main Street, Dumbo, Brooklyn, NY, 11201)
Ticket: $15
Genre: dance, visual art and contemporary music

Skana, Goddesses and More features original female performers who weave together a web of music, dance and theatricality that is wavering, ethereal, and poetic.

Composers Milica Paranosic and Muriel Louveau, dancer Emily Pope Blackman and visual artist Carmen Kordas share the same passion for foreign cultures and virtual territories.  They celebrate synergistic languages drawing global and historical influences that span centuries, cross ethnic and spiritual divides. Read more.

3. Boubakar Traore

Date: Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Time: 9:15pm
Venue: The Bell House (149 7th Street, Brooklyn NY 11215,  718-643-6510)
Ticket: $20
Genre: Mali Blues

Boubacar Traore is a harmonious contradiction, a musician whose art and biography are striking not so much for their balance as for their extremes. An idol for the whole west coast of Africa in the 1960s, forgotten in the 1970s, rediscovered in the 1980s, and now touring once again in Europe and, for the first time, in North America in the 1990s. Boubacar is an artist who has affected an entire generation. His is the voice of a nation, its hopes and its fears. He is a storyteller, and his songs deal with daily living, the many facets of love, political conditions and solidarity. Sometimes they are small parables, resonant with meanings we’ll never be able to understand, but clear to his friends. Perhaps the final words are best said by one of his peers, Ali Farka Toure: “If the maximum is five, I give ten to Kar Kar”.

4.  Ballake Sissoko and Vincent Segal

Date: Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Time: 7pm
Venue: The Graduate Center, Elebash Hall (365 Fifth Avenue, bet. 34th and 35th Streets, New York, NY
Ticket: $25
Genre: West Africa meets West Europe chamber music

The new series Live @ 365 present Ballake Sissoko and Vincent Segal’s Chamber Music, a stunning collaboration and a hit of last year’s globalFEST. One of the top kora (21-stringed lute-harp) players of the new generation, Malian artist Ballake Sissoko has worked with everyone from African icons (Toumani Diabate) to blues masters (Taj Mahal) and Italian minimalist composers (Ludovico Einaudi). Vincent Segal has taken the cello into new realms as a musician with the French trip-hop group Bumcello and in collaborations with Sting and Elvis Costello. Sissoko and Segal struck up a friendship that blossomed into an elegant, rich acoustic collaboration. The unexpected intertwining of their instruments creates an intimate space for subtle, yet striking sounds flowing from African traditions and European classical roots. It’s chamber music for the 21st century.

5. Dafnis Prieto and PT. Samar Saha DUO

Date: Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Time: 8:30pm
Venue: The Cornelia Street Cafe (29 Cornelia St., NY, NY 10014)
Ticket: $10
Genre: Afro-Cuban and North Indian rhythm based music

In a convergence of two deep improvisational traditions, two of their foremost exponents will meet to explore the chemistry of Afro-Cuban and North Indian rhythm. With a career spent at the forefront of Hindustani classical music for the past two decades Pt. Samar Saha is one of Indian tabla’s guiding lights. Dafnis Prieto has been a driving force in American music -both North and
Central- since 1999 when he arrived in New York from Havana, Cuba. With pieces based on traditional rhythms and fueled by the artists’ forward-looking creativity, this rare encounter of two masterful musicians promises to yield a wide ranging, insightful and inspiring evening of music.

6. Michel Camilo Mano a Mano

Date: Tuesday, September 27 through Sunday October 2, 2011
Times: 8pm & 10:30 pm
Venue: Blue Note (131 West 3rd St., New York, NY 10012, 212-475-8592)
Tickets: $25 & $35
Genre: Latin piano jazz trio

Tonight’s performance at the Blue Note celebrates the New York release of Mano a Mano. Taking the stage with conguero Giovanni Hidalgo and bassist Charles Flores, Camilo will showcase the wide variety of material on the album, spanning
a gamut from energetic virtuosity to intimate musical dialogue.

In Mano a Mano, Michel Camilo’s dazzling new release and his first on the Decca/EmArcy label (Universal Music Group), the pianist returns to one of his most effective settings – the trio – but with a twist, using congas and small percussion instead of trap drums. Featuring longtime friends, master conguero Giovanni Hidalgo and bassist Charles Flores, Camilo’s trio creates a lighter, more open sound, still powerful, yet also with a certain sweet mango-flavored lyricism that proves to be a perfect vehicle for a wide-ranging repertoire that includes eight original compositions and three standards. It’s a recording that speaks of an artist reaching maturity, connecting personal and professional moments of his past with a fresh, clear vision of the future.

7. Suphala and John Hadfield’s ‘Electrocussion’

Date: Saturday, October 1, 2011
Time: 8pm
Venue: Le Poisson Rouge (158 Bleecker Street, New York, NY 10012, ph: 212- 505-3474)
Ticket: $15
Genre: electronic percussion

Live performance and vanguard production technologies are integral and inseparable components of Suphala and John Hadfield’s new project, Electrocussion. A tabla player and a percussionist/drummer, respectively, both are also experienced producers interested in moving past simple distinctions between acoustic and electronic. These seasoned musicians bring their production chops to the stage along with their drums, creating a singular, original sound informed by the rich histories of their instruments, creative mastery of the studio, and a bold vision of the future. Electrocussion makes beats from hands on drums as well as laptops, utilizing multiple musical traditions. It’s not one or the other. It’s a new omni-genre that evokes the moods, colors and patterns of a contemporary life in which technology is a tool to enhance, not replace, the visceral human power of rhythm.

8. Free Form Funky Freqs

Date: Saturday, October 1, 2011
Time: 10pm
Venue: The Stone (is located at the corner of Avenue C and 2nd Street)
Ticket: $10
Genre: free funk

Free Form Funky Freqs’ line up: Living Colors’ Vernon Reid (guitars), Ornette Coleman’s Jamaaladeen Tacuma (bass) and G. Calvin Weston (drums)

9. Chico Hamilton 90th Birthday Celebration

Date: Saturday, October 1, 2011
Time:  9:30pm
Venue: Drom (85 Avenue A, NY, NY 10009, 212- 777-1157)
Ticket: $15
Genre: Jazz

The sage drummer/bandleader and NEA Jazz Master Foreststorn “Chico” Hamilton celebrates his 90th birthday without any hesitation.  This jazz legend just released a new album “Revelation” (Joyous Shout 9/27/11) and premieres tracks off it at a monthly concert series at DROM from October – December. A testament to his strength as a bandleader, Chico assembled talent both young and old:  Paul Ramsey on bass; Nick Demopoulos on guitar; Evan Schwam on flute & reeds; Mayu Saeki on flute; and Jeremy Carlstedt on drums and percussion.

10. Songs of the Sufis: UstadeMaa Zila Khan

Date: Saturday, October 1, 2011
Time: 8pm
Venue: Peter Jay Sharp Theatre/Symphony Space (2537 Broadway at 95th Street, New York, NY 10025-6990)
Ticket: $35
Genre: sufi music

Acclaimed for her mesmerizing vocals,UstadeMaa Zila Khan has been called “the Sufi legend of the new millennium.” She is a daughter and disciple of the late maestro sitarist Ustad Vilayat Khan, and was the first woman in the Khan family – whose musical lineage goes back seven generations – to sing in public. A leading Sufi singer in India, she performs in the Imdadkhani gharana (tradition) of her esteemed family. In addition to Sufi songs, she has a commanding style in classical ragas and has revived the old-world style of ghazals (semi-classical songs). This program marks a rare New York appearance.