Riverboat artists don’t normally tour the US, but through the months of April and May, Hindustani slide guitar master Debashish Bhattacharya will play a fourteen date tour. The performances will be in support of Calcutta Chronicles: Indian Slide-Guitar Odyssey, a musical journey through the centuries of guitar playing in India. Using three unique guitars that Debashish Bhattacharya designed himself, each raga explores influences ranging from Gypsy to Sufi with deep sensitivity and free-flowing movement between past and present, tradition and innovation. Tour dates are listed below and for more information on Debashish Bhattacharya visit his website www.debashishbhattacharya.com.
Also coming to the US this April is Etran Finatawa, a group comprised of two legendary nomadic peoples of the Sahara desert, the Wodaabe and Tuareg. They reflect on their roots, with a nostalgia and warmth that mirrors the majesty of their desert home. Many of the songs on this album reflect their longing to return to their roots – the nomadic lifestyle which relies on cattle, the great expanse of the Sahelian grasslands and never-ending dunes of the Sahara.
Since the release of their first BBC Award-nominated album Introducing: Etran Finatawa (2006) the band toured constantly all over the world. It wasn’t until July 2007 that they found time to record Desert Crossroads, an album of North African blues, underpinned by acoustic percussion, traditional Wodaabe vocals, fused with electric guitar and Tuareg rhythms. The songs are nostalgic reflections on their people and the desert.
This album is about rapid change threatening age-old traditions – a warning that their rich culture and identity must be cherished and allowed to flourish, says band member Alhousseini Mohamed Anivolla.
Performance dates are listed below, but limited at this time. The band hopes to add more and return to the US in June. To read more about Etran Finatawa and watch their video visit www.worldmusic.net/wmn/news/item/etran-finatawa.
Debashish Bhattacharya
04.02.08 Savannah, GA Savannah Festival
04.03.08 Savannah, GA Savannah Festival
04.05.08 Philadelphia, PA Calvary Center
04.09.08 Boston, MA Museum of Fine Arts
04.11.08 Minneapolis, MN Cedar Cultural Center
04.12.08 Chicago, IL Old Town School of Folk Music
04.13.08 Toronto, ON Lula Lounge
04.15.08 Ann Arbor, MI University of Michigan
04.17.08 Hillsboro, OR Walters Cultural Arts Center
04.18.08 Kirkland, WA Kirkland Performance Center
04.19.08 Kent, WA Kent High School
04.20.08 Honolulu, HI Academy of Arts
04.25.08 Saratoga, CA Villa Montalvo
04.27.08 Los Angeles, CA Occidental College
05.10.08 New York, NY TBA
Etran Finatawa
04.18.08 New York, NY World Music Institute
04.20.08 Rosendale, NY Rosendale Theater
04.26.08 Lafayette, LA Festival Int’l. de Louisiane
04.27.08 Lafayette, LA Festival Int’l. de Louisiane
04.30.08 Chicago, IL Old Town School of Folk Music