AMP Concerts - Albuquerque, New Mexico

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Upcoming Events


	Wednesday, July 9 Lissa Schneckenburger and Laura Cortese First Unitarian Church of Albuquerque 3701 Carlisle NE 7:30 PM

- Lissa & Laura will be on KUNM's Afternoon Freeform with Carol Boss on July 9 at 2:30.

Raised in a small town in Maine and now living in Vermont, Lissa Schneckenburger grew up with music. She began playing fiddle at the age of six, inspired by her mother's interest in folk music and a family friend who was a professional violinist. Soon she was studying with influential Maine fiddler Greg Boardman and sitting in with the Maine Country Dance Orchestra. One of her major influences was the diverse musical community that she found at fiddle camps, where she had a chance to play with and learn from a wide variety of musicians, including noted Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser. In 2001 she graduated from the New England Conservatory of Music with a degree in contemporary improvisation, and since then has been performing around the US and internationally for a growing audience of enthusiastic listeners. She has recorded seven CDs, four solo and three with various groups.

Singer, songwriter and fiddler Laura Cortese lights up the stage with a radiating smile, dazzling musicianship and uninhibited delight. She deftly strums, plucks and chops her fiddle behind her raw and rootsy voice. On her latest release, even the lost creek, she couples the groove and polish of urban music with universal themes of the old world. The Denver Post raves, "Cortese's mix of modern and traditional styles creates an explosive sound that favors melody and rhythm over overtly technical performances. The momentum in songs like 'Blow the Candle Out' propels the listener to a giddy plane where dancing is mandatory."

Lissa and Laura have both studied at Alasdair Fraser's fiddle camp!

International Folk Art Market weekend

The largest international folk art market in the world and well worth a trip to Santa Fe on July 12 or 13. We are bringing some of the musical entertainment to Albuquerque with a pair of excellent concerts outside in the charming Fountain Courtyard at the National Hispanic Cultural Center, but you'll have to visit Santa Fe to experience the market proper which features over 140 artists from 40 different countries. It's an unbelievable cultural experience that is not to be missed.

Buy a 2-day pass and save!

Friday, July 11, 2008
Hassan Hakmoun
National Hispanic Cultural Center
Fountain Courtyard (outside!)
1701 4th St SW
8 PM

Revisit ¡Globalquerque! 2007 by returning to the outdoor Fountain Courtyard for a night of Gnawan Moroccan trance music featuring the Hassan Hakmoun trio. Hakmoun, originally from Morocco, is currently a New York-based musician who will take you into the mysterious world of the Gnawa. Former slaves originally from the Sudan who travelled to Morocco and converted to Islam, the Gnawa people of Morocco serve as intermediaries in the spirit world and also as entertainers. Hassan was raised in Marrakech and began to study the healing rituals of tagnawit, the Gnawa-related arts and lore, at a young age; by age four, he performed alongside snake charmers and fire-breathers on the streets of Marrakech. His travels led him to Europe and the U.S., where he has absorbed elements from a variety of popular styles including jazz, rock, funk, and hip-hop, and eventually to participate in several WOMAD tours, recordings with his fusion group Zahar and work with Peter Gabriel.

Sunday, July 13, 2008
Quetzal
Concepto Tambor
National Hispanic Cultural Center
Fountain Courtyard (outside!)
1701 4th St SW
7 PM

Quetzal will be doing a phone interview with Louis Head on KUNM's Espejos de Aztlán program at 7:00 on July 7.

In the early nineties, in a tiny cafe on the outskirts of Little Tokyo Los Angeles, Quetzal Flores, a son of two community organizers, formed Quetzal - a new experience in Chicano Music. His goal was to push the boundaries of Chicano Music as we knew it. Twelve years later Quetzal has become one of Los Angeles' most important and successful groups. Proclaimed by no less an authority than Los Lobos as "ready to carry the torch for Los Angeles's Chicano community," Quetzal embodies the soul and the struggle at the heart of the Mexican-American legacy. Their mix of Mexican and Afro-Cuban rhythms, Jazz, R&B, and Rock is supercharged by the dynamic vocals of Martha Gonzalez. Their commitment to using art as a tool for social change is informed and inspired by global grassroots movements. Aside from touring, the band frequently engages in organizing and participating in opening spaces for transnational dialogue. For the past five years they have been instrumental in developing Fandango Sin Fronteras, a dialogue between Chicanos from California and Jarochos (musicians from Veracruz, Mexico). Opening the show will be Afro-Latino percussion ensemble Concepto Tambor.

Sunday, July 27, 2008
Yonder Mountain String Band
Santa Fe Brewing Company
27 Fire Place (South at Cerillos exit on NM14)
6 PM

ymsb Although the Yonder Mountain String Band was formed in Nederland, CO, its origins go back to Urbana, IL, where college student and banjo player Dave Johnston met mandolin player Jeff Austin. Austin moved west and settled in Nederland. Johnston joined him there, and the two met bass player Ben Kaufmann and guitarist Adam Aijala at a club called the Verve. In December 1998, they formed the Yonder Mountain String Band to open for a band at the Fox Theatre in Boulder. They developed a following among bluegrass fans and also among jam band fans as they played extensively and worked their way up the bar and club circuit in the West to large venues like Red Rocks and the Fillmore. Using bluegrass as its bedrock, the band has grown like few rock bands even do these days.

Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Fishtank Ensemble
The Cooperage
7220 Lomas Blvd NE
(Just east of Louisiana)
7:30 PM
21 and over

The Fishtank Ensemble offers a unique and truly worldly musical experience. From the smokey cafés of Bucharest to the Gypsy caravans of yesterday, this band evokes the spirit of a past age and the sounds of tomorrow. This lively and unusual group consists of extremely talented musicians mastering their respective instruments: violin, saw, accordion, shamisen, flamenco guitar, contrabass, percussion and voice. Romanian folk music forms the bulk of the material with a healthy helping of flamenco, Swedish folk music, klezmer, Gypsy jazz, other folk sources as well as original songs.

Saturday, August 2, 2008
Emmylou Harris
Paolo Soleri Amphitheater
1501 Cerrillos Rd, Santa Fe
7:30 PM

emmylou Emmylou Harris has many gifts—as an interpreter, as an eloquent composer, and as an inveterate musical explorer who's been able to discover, rescue, and/or give new life to many a beautiful but overlooked country, bluegrass or folk tune. Emmylou is touring in support of her new album, All I Intended To Be, which has been hailed as "some of the best music she has ever made... The aching compassion with which she sings reveals a voice as real as any in music today." (Crawdaddy)

Emmylou has been called by Billboard Magazine a "truly venturesome, genre-transcending pathfinder." Throughout her career, she has been admired for her talent as an artist and song connoisseur. She has won 12 Grammy Awards, including Best Female Country Vocal Performance in 2005, and has been named Female Vocalist Of The Year by the Country Music Association.

Saturday, August 9, 2008
Lyle Lovett & His Large Band
Paolo Soleri Amphitheater
1501 Cerrillos Rd, Santa Fe
7:30 PM

Lyle Lovett is one of the all-time great American singer/songwriters. His voice is unique, but his antecedents are recognizable. In his work two roads come together—the trail blazed by the great Texas storytellers of whom Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark are the best known, and the crooked highway navigated by sophisticated wise-asses such as Randy Newman and Tom Waits. Lovett's first gift was to combine these two potent strands of musical DNA into a new genome able to generate songs as brilliant and double-sided as "If I Had A Boat," "God Will," "If I Were the Man You Wanted," "Family Reserve" and "Her First Mistake." That would be plenty for any composer to base a career on, but Lovett was also capable of both flat-out humor ("That's Right (You're Not From Texas"), "Here I Am," "Church") and heartbreakers that were poignant without ever descending into sentimentality ("She's Already Made Up Her Mind," "Nobody Knows Me," "The Road To Ensenada"). What emerged was a picture of a smart and complicated man, whose good humor and generosity of spirit were holding back a darker character.

Tuesday, August 12
Gipsy Kings
Paolo Soleri Amphitheater
1501 Cerrillos Rd, Santa Fe
7:00 pm

Since the 1987 release of the international hit single "Bamboleo," from their platinum-selling eponymous debut album, the Gipsy Kings have dominated the world music charts and sold more than fourteen million albums worldwide—more than four million in the United States alone, where they are the biggest-selling French act ever. Their platinum compilation, The Best of the Gipsy Kings, was on the charts for more than a year. The Associated Press calls their most recent album, Pasajero, "a fresh combination of their signature sound—driving rhythms, skilled guitar work, and the unmistakable vocals of lead singer Nicolas Reyes."

Saturday, September 6, 2008
Tim Finn
Lobo Theater
3013 Central Ave NE
8 PM

It has been an eclectic 30 years since Tim Finn's first band Split Enz took his native New Zealand and Australia by storm, scoring hits such as "I See Red," "I Hope I Never" and "Six Months In A Leaky Boat," while thrilling audiences with their transcendent live shows. Finn has since recorded several acclaimed solo albums, including his most recent, Imaginary Kingdom, which has been called "an atmospheric and joyous collection of beautifully written songs," and collaborated with his brother Neil in both Crowded House and Split Enz.

Globalquerque! September 19-20, 2008
¡Globalquerque!
National Hispanic Cultural Center
1701 4th St SW

New Mexico's Annual Celebration of World Music and Culture will return to the NHCC in September! Our fourth annual show, produced in partnership with Avokado Artists, will feature a brand-new lineup of great artists from all over the world! Don't miss it!

Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Great Big Sea
The El Rey Theater
620-624 Central Ave SW
8 PM

The St. John's-based, Juno-nominated band Great Big Sea fuses Newfoundland traditional music with modern pop in a crowd-pleasing formula both heartfelt and vital. A pure force of nature, much like the ocean surge they take their name from, Great Big Sea's blend of instruments like mandolin, bodhran, fiddle, and concertina, along with their vocal harmonies, revels in the melodies they create and the Newfoundland tunes they love. Their ninth studio album, Fortune's Favour, sees them boldly embracing new sounds and new ideas, fearlessly pushing the boundaries of their own art and music. In their lifelong quest to marry the traditional music of Newfoundland with their own pop explorations, Fortune's Favour is a new benchmark.

Saturday, October 11, 2008
Fiamma Fumana
The Cooperage
7220 Lomas Blvd NE
(Just east of Louisiana)
7:30 PM
21 and over

The big hit of ¡Globalquerque! 2007! Fiamma Fumana began as a studio project in 1999—a tribute to the female vocal tradition of Northern Italy (like the choirs of mondine, the rice gatherers who were all young girls) revitalized by a new generation and electronic dance music culture. The result is an intriguing blend of old Italian dance tunes played to new Italian dance grooves, traditional ballads and state-of-the art electronica. To these young urbanite Europeans, electronic beats make a natural bedrock for re-interpreting the songs of previous generations. Female vocals connect past to future with unforgettable pathos. One other key ingredient, a rare regional bagpipe called the piva Emiliana, adds an unexpected Celtic-sounding flavor to the mix. The result is clearly Italian yet broadly international in its appeal.

Greg Brown Friday, November 7, 2008
Greg Brown
KiMo Theatre
423 Central Ave NW
8 PM

Greg Brown's mother played electric guitar, his grandfather played banjo, and his father was a Holy Roller preacher in the Hacklebarney section of Iowa, where the Gospel and music are a way of life. Brown's first professional singing job came at age 18 in New York City, running hootenannies (folksinger get-togethers) at the legendary Gerdes Folk City. After a year, Brown moved west to Los Angeles and Las Vegas, where he was a ghostwriter for Buck Ram, founder of the Platters. Tired of the fast-paced life, Brown traveled with a band for a few years, and even quit playing for a while before he moved back to Iowa and began writing songs and playing in midwestern clubs and coffeehouses. Brown's songwriting has been lauded by many, and his songs have been performed by Willie Nelson, Carlos Santana, Michael Johnson, Shawn Colvin, and Mary Chapin Carpenter. He has also recorded more than a dozen albums, including his latest release, Live from the Big Top, which documents one of Greg's live performances at the Big Top Chautauqua in Bayfield, Wisconsin.

Thursday, March 5, 2009
California Guitar Trio
The Cooperage
7220 Lomas Blvd NE
(Just east of Louisiana)
7:30 PM
21 and over

With a whirlwind of instrumental styles fusing classical, rock, blues, jazz, world music bluegrass, as well as the quintessential California musical genre surf music, the California Guitar Trio's stunning virtuosity and sly sense of humor have earned them a rabid following and wide notoriety, with significant crossover in the progressive, acoustic and classical music scenes. Paul Richards of Salt Lake City, Utah, Bert Lams of Brussels, Belgium, and Hideyo Moriya of Tokyo first met in England at one of Robert Fripp's Guitar Craft Courses in 1987. After completing several of these intensive courses, the three toured worldwide with Fripp's League of Crafty Guitarists. Wanting to continue together after the League had run its course, Bert, Paul and Hideyo convened in Los Angeles and founded The California Guitar Trio in 1991, honing their intricate original compositions, surf covers, and classical re-workings.

Thanks To Our Sponsors!

There is a lot involved in putting on these events. We couldn't do it without our sponsors, McCune Charitable Foundation, Southwest Roots Music, 999dine.com,New Mexico Tourism, Holiday Inn Select-Albuquerque Airport, and WESTAF. We are happy to have sound support from Audio Excellence. Endless gratitude to these folks for providing exceptional goods and services. Contact neal@abqmusic.com if you'd like to discuss sponsorship options or discounted rates at our sponsor hotels.

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