American Masterpieces Archive

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The 2009-2010 American Masterpieces: Cultural Currents Tour

Click here for the Cultural Currents brochure.

In 2009-2010, the American Masterpieces Cultural Currents tour will highlight music ensembles whose work reflects the cultural traditions and artistic expressions of immigrant communities that have made the mid-Atlantic region their home over the last several centuries. Prominent among these are musical legacies rooted in Africa, Latin America, Northern and Eastern Europe, and South Asia -- from salsa and roadhouse blues to Klezmer and bluegrass. Artists include those who have cultivated their musical traditions, incorporated dashes of innovation to spawn new expressions, or melded diverse and disparate forms together to create something altogether new.  All are shaping our evolving cultural and musical landscape.   The Cultural Currents tour roster includes the following groups:

* All schedules are subject to change. Please check with the performance venue for times and ticket information.

Cherish the Ladies (New York, NY)

http://www.cherishtheladies.com/

Organized nearly 20 years ago by folklorist/musician Mick Moloney and sponsored by the Ethnic Folk Arts Center and the National Endowment for the Arts, Cherish the Ladies began as a concert series featuring the brightest lights in Irish traditional music. They have grown from a one-time concert concept to an Irish traditional sensation and one of the most successful and sought after Irish-American groups in Celtic music. The group takes its name from the name of a traditional Irish jig and initially won recognition as the first and only all-women traditional Irish band. Cherish the Ladies combines all the facets of Irish traditional culture with a unique blend of virtuosi instrumental talents, vocals, arrangements and step dancing.

The Holmes Brothers (New York, NY)

http://www.theholmesbrothers.com/main.html

Rooted in blues and gospel, The Holmes Brothers’ chilling harmonies and inspired musicianship mix Saturday night roadhouse rock with the gospel fervor and harmonies of a Sunday church service.  Their ability to perform sanctified gospel, lowdown roadhouse blues, deep soul, authentic country and pure pop all in one set offers a borderless view of American music. They have recorded with Van Morrison, Peter Gabriel, Odetta, Phoebe Snow, Willie Nelson, Rosanne Cash, Levon Helm and Joan Osborne and have numerous critically acclaimed recordings to their credit on Rounder and Alligator Records.  Recipients of the coveted Blues Music Award from the Memphis-based Blues Foundation for Band Of The Year in 2005, the group has appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman, The CBS Saturday Early Show, NBC’s Late Night with Conan O'Brien, World Cafe, Mountain Stage, as well as the nationally broadcasted National Public Radio programs All Things Considered, On Point and Here and Now.

The Klezmatics (New York, NY)

http://www.klezmatics.com/

The Klezmatics are world-renowned and award-winning stars of the Klezmer world. Erupting out of New York City’s East Village in 1986, the group revitalized Klezmer for the new century with music that is steeped in Eastern European Jewish tradition and spirituality, while incorporating eclectic musical influences including Arab, African, Latin and Balkan rhythms, jazz and punk. They have released nine albums and collaborated with numerous artists including Arlo Guthrie, Itzhak Perlman, Allen Ginsberg, Tony Kushner and Pilobolus. The Klezmatics have reached millions through performances and features on CBS’s Late Night with David Letterman, PBS’ Great Performances, and NPR’s A Prairie Home Companion among others.  They have topped the Billboard world music charts on several occasions and have garnered numerous awards and accolades throughout their 22-year career, including a 2006 GRAMMY Award for Best Contemporary World Music Album and a New York Jewish Music Award for Best Klezmer Band in 2006.

Music from the Crooked Road Tour: Mountain Music of Virginia

http://www.ncta.net/events/touring1b.htm

A touring festival of old-time, bluegrass, mountain gospel and flat-foot dance.
 
Developed by the National Council for the Traditional Arts, The Music from the Crooked Road tour celebrates the vibrant, living musical culture of Southwest Virginia where making music is, and always has been, an integral part of life. The tour features: National Heritage Award Fellow and Appalachian guitar master Wayne Henderson, bluegrass banjo virtuoso Sammy Shelor, family old-time string band The Whitetop Mountain Band, old-time fiddle and banjo masters Kirk Sutphin and Eddie Bond and, representing the next generation of Blue Ridge musicians, the up-and-coming bluegrass band Amber Collins & No Speed Limit, and a young keeper of ancient mountain ballads and songs, 19-year-old Elizabeth LaPrelle. The artists participating in this tour link the past, present and future of these deep American traditions.

Paquito D’Rivera and the Funk Tango Quintet (New York, NY)

http://www.paquitodrivera.com/

Born on the island of Cuba, Paquito D’Rivera began his career as a child prodigy. The award-wining clarinetist, saxophonist, and composer is recognized in the Latin, Jazz, and Classical Music worlds for his highly acclaimed gifts and accomplishments. Paquito D'Rivera's first recognition as a solo artist by The Recording Academy (GRAMMYs) came in 1996 with the highly acclaimed recording Portraits of Cuba. Since then, Mr. D'Rivera has received a total of nine GRAMMY awards and numerous nominations, the most recent being for Funk Tango, the first release of his new label, Paquito Records.  D’Rivera is a recipient of the 2005 National Medal for the Arts, and was named one of the 2005 National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters. In both 2004 and 2006, the Jazz Journalists Association honored Mr. D’Rivera as the Clarinetist of the Year. In March 2007 he was honored with the Kennedy Center’s Living Jazz Legend Award. His awards in 2008 include the International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE) President’s Award, and the Frankfurter Musikpreis.

TIRTHA (New York, NY)

http://www.myspace.com/tirthatheband

Pianist Vijay Iyer (Downbeat Magazine’s number one Rising Star Artist of the Year and number one Rising Star Composer for both 2006 and 2007) unveils a new joint project called Tirtha (pronounced “Teer-tha”), an exciting trio collaboration with two internationally renowned young Indian musicians living in the United States. Pioneering guitarist Prasanna is a celebrated virtuoso performer of South Indian classical music as well as an accomplished composer in a wide range of Western and non-Western forms. The prodigiously gifted young tabla player, Nitin Mitta, has emerged as one of North America’s most in-demand Indian percussionists.  Performing original compositions by Iyer and Prasanna, the trio generates a full ensemble sound, achieving a natural and organic synthesis of musical traditions.  The result is a 21st Century global chamber music.  Tirtha features a stellar trio of South Asian virtuosos from the subcontinent and the diaspora, performing on traditional and contemporary instruments and drawing from a range of traditions to create lush and expressive soundscapes.