Building a bridge between East and West has been the aim of Niyaz since vocalist Azam Ali and her multi-instrumentalist husband, Loga Ramin Torkian, started the electroacoustic outfit in 2004.
The day after Donald Trump was elected, the songwriter Gabriel Kahane decided to go on a listening tour: crisscrossing America by train and talking to as many people as he could. Leaving his cellphone and the internet behind, he spent two weeks and nearly 9,000 miles on Amtrak, collecting conversations and stories for what would become “8980: Book of Travelers,” a song cycle and solo concert — Mr.
On Nov. 9, 2016, I boarded the Lake Shore Limited, Amtrak’s overnight service from New York to Chicago. I had with me a small suitcase stuffed with a week’s worth of clothes, half a dozen books, a bright blue Casio wristwatch, and a cheap digital camera I’d picked up at Best Buy on my way to Penn Station. My phone remained at home.
Gabriel Kahane, a Brooklynite singer-composer who sways between pop and classical worlds, has taken the concept of the concept album to rarefied heights. For his record “The Ambassador,” released in 2014, he created a suite of songs inspired by various buildings in Los Angeles, the title track paying tribute to the venerable hotel where Robert F. Kennedy was shot.
Few artists have had the impact on their disciplines that guitarist Paco de Lucía had in flamenco. He expanded the harmonic vocabulary, incorporated instruments from outside the tradition, and had a curiosity that led him to collaborations with artists as disparate as jazz guitarist John McLaughlin, pianist Chick Corea, and Brazilian pop star Djavan. He opened new vistas to flamenco artists.
The guitarist Paco de Lucía died more than three years ago, leaving behind an immense impact on flamenco music. He expanded what once was a very strict, traditional form by adding jazz and world music influences, and by collaborating with musicians outside of the genre.
In a sense what Paco de Lucía once said about his beloved flamenco music came to pass on October 21, 2017, when, between 8:00pm and 9:30pm The Paco de Lucía Project conjured the blithe spirit of probably the greatest flamenco guitarist of them all, Paco de Lucía himself.
Step Afrika!, the acclaimed African American dance company, launched this powerful multisensory dance-theater work eight years ago. Since then the spectacular show has toured the world and had a sold-out three-week run Off-Broadway. It has now returned home to DC for a limited run, after which, said Founder and Executive Director C. Brian Williams on opening night, the show will not be performed again.
Based in Washington, D.C., the award-winning Step Afrika! celebrates its 25th anniversary next year as the first company dedicated to the tradition of stepping. “The Migration” helps show the deep roots of the art form, reaching back into history to focus on some of the rich traditions African slaves brought to America, starting with the power of the drum call. From a darkened stage, we hear the rumble and thunder of onstage drums, which settle into tightly orchestrated rhythmic sequences, the performers’ arms raising high in stark, stylized gestures.
A resilient vitality fuels the production, directed by Jakari Sherman on a set (by Harlan Penn) whose backdrop of screens displays a succession of Lawrence’s paintings, some fully, others in detail. The show, though, lacks the propulsive force of Lawrence’s storytelling. There is not a weak link in this group of dancers and musicians, and each piece of choreography has merit on its own, but the performance’s cumulative effect is less than potent.
