"World Music" archive
Friday 20 June
- Summer Solstice Celebration 2008 (15:45) - I barely know where to start about Solstice 2008. Tomorrow, starting at 3pm (2:30pm, for the outdoor street festival) the Kimmel Center celebrates the longest day of the year. Take a look at the schedule for more information about...
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Sunday 6 April
- Asha Bhosle (16:00) - Bollywood's legendary voice comes to the Kimmel tonight! Nicknamed, The Queen of Indipop, Bhosle has been at the forefront of Indian film music working with directors such as R. D. Burman for over 50 years. Bhosle will be joined...
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Saturday 15 March
- The Chieftains (12:00) - Celebrate St. Patricks' Day with the music of Ireland as The Chieftains return today in their annual Kimmel Center performance! Let us know what you thought of the show....
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Saturday 1 March
- Jazz Up Close: Richard Bona Band (16:00) - Richard Bona Band makes its Kimmel Center debut tonight along with special guest Lionel Loueke. Dubbed "The African Sting," Bona blends global jazz, African spirit, and Anglo-Saxon pop harmonies with lyrical storytelling. Hope you'll tell us what you thought...
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Friday 15 February
- Shen Wei Dance Arts (16:45) - Recipient of a MacArthur "Genius" grant last year, choreographer Shen Wei returns to the Kimmel Center this weekend with a new program of works, featuring two Philadelphia premieres: Map (pictured left) set to Steve Reich's Desert Music and Re–, based...
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Sunday 20 January
- Ladysmith Black Mambazo (12:00) - This South African a cappella group has become a world music sensation. Ladysmith Black Mambazo returns to the Kimmel Center on the heels of their incredibly successful, and Grammy-nominated, album Long Walk to Freedom. They also completed a collaboration...
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Saturday 12 January
- Royal Scots Dragoon Guards and Band of the Coldstream Guards (13:00) - These two military bands are part of active British Regiments. The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards are the amalgamation of units that have been around since 1678, through European wars, South Africa and two world wars, and they have recently...
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Sunday 2 December
- African Footprint and Kimmel Staff on WHYY (09:00) - Get a preview of African Footprint, one of our Broadway shows coming at the end of January, on WHYY-TV, December 4 at 9:20pm. Kimmel Center volunteers will be live in the WHYY-TV studios taking phone calls from viewers across the...
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Saturday 1 December
- Vienna Boys Choir (11:58) - It's become an annual tradition: the Vienna Boys Choir performing at the Kimmel Center. Each year since the Center opened, this ensemble returns with their holiday program, featuring classic carols, sacred music, and carols from all over the world. Founded...
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Saturday 24 November
- Mazowsze (11:49) - The folk ensemble Mazowsze make their Kimmel Center debut this afternoon. The group was formed by composer and folk music lover Tadeusz Sygietynski and his wife, Polish actress Mira Ziminska-Sygietynska. During WWII, the couple promised each other that if they...
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Tuesday 20 November
- Youssou N'Dour and the Super Etoile de Dakar (15:13) - Youssou N'Dour is a Senegalese singer who popularized mbalax, a blend of the country's traditional griot percussion and praise-singing with Afro-Cuban arrangements and flavors. The Super Etoile de Dakar is N'Dour's ensemble, first formed in 1979. Youssou is probably best...
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Friday 2 November
- John Pizzarelli and the Swing 7 and Django Reinhardt Festival (16:01) - First up tonight is the Django Reinhardt Festival celebrating the 100th anniversary of Stéphane Grappelli, the French jazz violinist who founded the Quintette du Hot Club de France with guitarist Django Reinhardt. It was one of the first (and arguably...
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Saturday 27 October
- Tania Libertad (15:27) - Tania Libertad was born in a small town in Northern Peru to a Portuguese father and Peruvian mother of indigenous and Spanish descent. Growing up on the coast, Libertad was also nurtured by the vibrant Afro-Peruvian culture. All of these...
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Sunday 21 October
- Tango Buenos Aires (12:00) - The recent upswing in interest in ballroom dancing has made the tango much more popular. This afternoon's performance is by one of the greastest performers of the music and dance, direct from the tango's birthplace, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Tango is...
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Tuesday 19 June
- Summer Solstice Celebration, June 23, 2007 (17:14) - The Kimmel Center's Summer Solstice Celebration is back, starting at 3 p.m. on Saturday and going strong until sunrise, early Sunday morning. View the schedule online to plan your night, links to the artists' sites are included. In addition to...
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Saturday 5 May
- Dulce Pontes, May 5, 2007 (16:45) - Dulce Pontes is a Portuguese fado singer, following in the steps of Cesåria Évora. She has worked with Ennio Morricone, composer of some of the most famous film scores. Tonight, Ms. Pontes is making her Kimmel Center debut. Tell us...
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Wednesday 11 April
- Lura, April 11, 2007 (16:28) - Like singers Mariza and Cesaria Evora, Lura draws on the blend of Portuguese, Brazilian, and African cultures that inspire her music. Lura was born in Portugal to Cape Verdean parents. “There was nothing artistic about my family, my parents mainly...
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Sunday 25 March
- Leahy, March 25, 2007 (11:18) - From Lakefield, Ontario, the Leahy family performs traditional Irish music and step-dance in Verizon today. The Leahys grew up with music as a part of their daily lives on the family farm. This afternoon is their Kimmel Center debut. What...
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Saturday 2 December
- Vienna Choir Boys, December 2, 2006 (12:00) - The Vienna Choir Boys have performed at the Kimmel Center every December since the Center opened 5 years ago. Their holiday program has become a Philadelphia tradition. This afternoon, the VCB will perform songs as traditional as "Joy to the...
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Saturday 4 November
- Tango Fire, November 4th (12:19) - Estampas Porteñas, the company presenting Tango Fire, has been called "sex on legs" (Courier Mail). Tango made the surprising leap from the brothels of Argentina to ballrooms around the world, and this afternoon, to Verizon Hall. What did you think...
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Friday 27 October
- Anoushka Shankar, October 28th (09:24) - Anoushka Shankar returns to the Kimmel Center, this time leading her group of unique musicians. The daughter of Ravi Shankar, Anoushka's own style has been described at utterly different, more improvisational, but just as appealing to the many world...
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Tuesday 10 October
- The Fès Festival, October 10th (17:39) - This celebration of World Sacred music comes to the Kimmel Center tonight, featuring performers from all over the world. Please feel free to comment on the performance or the colloquium held earlier that evening....
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Sunday 25 June
- Summer Solstice Celebration, June 24th (09:00) - After 19 hours of music, dance, food, face painting, yoga and even juggling, Kimmel Center guests celebrated the return of Summer (and the return of the Solstice celebration). Be sure to check out the Kimmel Center's flickr page for photos...
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Wednesday 12 April
- Cesaria Evora and Keren Ann, April 12th (16:21) - The Cape Verde islands, in the North Atlantic, off the coast of Senegal, were colonized by Portugal in the fifteenth century. Part of the legacy of that colonization is the sublime, softly burred voice of Cesaria Evora. With her successful...
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Sunday 12 March
- The Chieftains, March 12th (12:11) - They've been making music together for 42 years; they've won an Academy award and six Grammys. The Chieftains are one of Ireland's greatest exports. The Kimmel Center has been lucky enough to present these amazing musicians every year, right around...
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Saturday 11 March
- Mavis Staples and Taj Mahal (17:02) - She's a legend; she was included on VH1's 100 Greatest Women of Rock and Roll; and she's appeared alongside Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King to Bill Cosby to Jimmy Carter to Bill Clinton. Joining her tonight is another legendary performer,...
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Tuesday 21 February
- Ladysmith Black Mambazo with Vusi Mahlasela, February 19th (08:49) - Ladysmith Black Mambazo has been a familiar voice since the late eighties. Their sound has come to represent the new South Africa, and they are in many ways responsible for the mainstreaming of world music. Vusi Mahlasela, another South African...
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Monday 30 January
- Paco Peña Flamenco Dance Company, Sunday, January 29th (08:36) - Since coming to the Kimmel Center, I've learned that flamenco is much more than just dance—there's the singing, guitar and band. Paco Peña's ensemble brings all three, especially virtuosic guitar playing, to Verizon Hall on Sunday. Peña's show, called A...
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Sunday 15 January
- The Black Watch and the Welsh Guards, January 15th (12:00) - The word to describe the sound of bagpipes is "skirl." It's a great word to say with a tremendously affected Scots accent; I encourage you to try it at home. Or, if you were able to get to the Kimmel...
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Sunday 13 November
- A Woman's Heart, November 13th (12:00) - Mary Black has been one of Ireland's top singers for more than 20 years; Maura O'Connell was the lead vocalist for De Danaan and appeared in Martin Scorsese's The Gangs of New York; Cara Dillon has appeared in Australia and...
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Friday 11 November
- le blog, c'est moi (11:50) - Slate, while taking a certain "journalist" out to the woodshed for a solid (and amusing) whomping, provides an outstanding primer on the largely-ignored French hip-hop scene and the head-spinning French slang known as Verlan .. read more for an excerpt...
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Thursday 10 November
- Wu Man, November 10th (16:56) - You might have already seen Wu Man with Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Ensemble. This master pipa player is returning to the Kimmel Center tonight, and she will be premiering two new works. Did you stay for the Artist Chat after...
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Tuesday 8 November
- jet lag (17:00) - I've always thought that music industry conferences present the best argument for Human Cloning. It's just not possible to see everything you want to see, and talk to everyone you want to talk to otherwise! As last night's performance by...
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Sunday 6 November
- Queens of World Music! (17:00) - Angélique Kidjo returns to the Kimmel Center this evening for a sold-out performance in the Perelman Theater -- This time she's joined by Peruvian superstar, Eva Ayllón.The Benin-born Kidjo combines West African rhythms with influences from all over the globe,...
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Wednesday 2 November
- Classical Music Web Site in Philadelphia (09:46) - Hey everybody!! Check out Classical Music Philadelphia. It is a new web site that lists upcoming classical and world music events in Philadelphia. David Cohen, who runs the site, also post interviews with artists. He recently spoke with Wu Man...
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Tuesday 11 October
- Lila Downs interview online .. WRTI (23:59) - Our good friend Jill Pasternak at WRTI recently interviewed Grammy nominee Lila Downs.. They talk about Lila's involvement with the "Frida" soundtrack and her unique musical background .. a former opera student turned anthropologist and interpreter of mesoAmerican musical traditions!...
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Monday 10 October
- Musical Truisms (09:41) - A few of long-standing musical truisms were confirmed for me last night: 1) If you play a guitar, you are much cooler than if you do not (I, by the way, do not). 2) If you play the guitar in...
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Sunday 9 October
- Mariza with Lila Downs, October 9th (15:00) - Two women of the world; one night. Had you heard either Mariza or Lila Downs before tonight? Did you know Lila Downs appears on the Frida soundtrack? How was the concert from your seat?...
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Sunday 2 October
- Los Lobos with Alejandro Escovedo, October 2nd (17:30) - Los Lobos describes themselves as a "kick-ass roots rock 'n' roll band." How would you describe them after tonight's show? Did Alejandro Escovedo start the night off right? Was there any song you wanted to hear Los Lobos perform tonight...
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Thursday 22 September
- From Tony Bennett to The Roots in 24 hours (00:00) - Having spent most of my career marketing classical music, this past weekend was a double introduction for me to both Tony Bennett and The Roots. And while I have heard recordings of Bennett over the years, I had never seen...
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