Friday, March 15, 2013

Festival En El Barrio

Get ready for a great day of music at Festival En El Barrio, taking place on Sunday, March 24 near the Tucson Museum of Art.  Local crowd-pleasers, Calexico, headline the event, but this blogger is most excited about the two preceding bands, Rebirth Brass Band and Y La Orkesta.  Read on to hear more about this exciting outdoor music event, coming to a Barrio near you!

Most Tucsonans are well aware of Calexico, and they have been written about in this blog on numerous occasions, as recently as last week.  The Festival En El Barrio set will undoubtedly feature many guests.  Probably a full horn section, and likely a full mariachi accompaniment.  This expanded line-up is definitely my favorite way to see Calexico perform.  To see Pima County Public Library's collection of Calexico CDs, click here.

I have already written a review of Y La Orkesta's compelling performance at the outdoor stage of Hotel Congress last September.  This wonderful and wonderfully giant band (think, like, a dozen horns, three percussionists in addition to the usual suspects) is a pleasure to see live.  They get you moving and really keep a party going.  To checkout their most recent CD, Mambo Mexicano! and their live CD, click here.

Most exciting of the performers at Festival En El Barrio is Rebirth Brass Band.  As readers of this blog probably already know, I have a great love for New Orleans music (horns in general), and Rebirth Brass Band is really at or near the top of the list as far as representing New Orleans music to the world.  According to Wikipedia, "The Rebirth Brass Band is a New Orleans brass band. The group was founded in 1983 by tuba/sousaphone player Philip Frazier, his brother, bass drummer Keith Frazier, and trumpeter Kermit Ruffins,along with other school marching band members from Joseph S. Clark Senior High School in New Orleans’ Tremé neighborhood. The band released its first studio album in 1984 on Arhoolie Records, and in 1989 gained wider notice with a series of releases on Rounder Records. Rebirth is known for combining traditional New Orleans brass band music, including the New Orleans tradition of second line with funk, jazz, soul and hip hop."

Trust me, these guys are great, and seeing them outdoors, playing in the street, is really the most ideal way to experience their performance.  In fact, they are so good that I am going to San Diego the following weekend to hear them play again.  I hope they lead a second line (a mobile pedestrian brass/dance party) through the streets of downtown Tucson, though, unfortunately, that seems unlikely.  No matter what, Tucson will be lucky to have these quality representatives of New Orleans music performing among the other great bands next Sunday.  Our CD collection does have one song by Rebirth, which can be found on the soundtrack for HBO's show Treme.  Click here to reserve a copy (the whole CD is awesome).  Rebirth Brass Band is also well represented on freegal.

The Festival begins at 1:00 on Sunday, March 24 near The Tucson Museum of Art.  Performers also include Heartless Bastards, The Cordials, and B-Side Players.  The show is a benefit for KXCI Community Radio, tickets are $24 in advance and $27 at the gate.  See you at the Festival, wear your dancing shoes!

Cheers, Brian

No comments:

Post a Comment

What can I post on your wall?
Commenting & Posting Guidelines

Welcome to your library on social media!

Pima County Public Library (PCPL) offers blogs and other social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter for educational, cultural, civic, customer service, and recreational purposes. They provide a limited (or designated) public forum to facilitate the sharing of ideas, opinions, and information about library-related subjects and issues.

By choosing to comment or post on our social media accounts, you agree with the following:

Comments and posts are moderated by library staff, and the library reserves the right to remove any that are unlawful or off topic. Posts containing the following may be deleted:
Copyright violations
Off-topic comments
Commercial material/spam/solicitation
Sexual content, or links to sexual content
Threatening or harassing postings
Libelous or other kinds of personal attacks
Conduct or encouragement of illegal activity
Content that reveals private, personal information without permission
Vulgar language or content
Comments in support of or in opposition to political campaigns or ballot measures
Content that degrades others on the basis of gender, race, class, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability or other classification

P.S. Protect your privacy. Don't post personally identifying information in these public spaces, including details like your library card number, phone number, or medical information, etc.

Young people under age 18, especially, should not post information such as your school, age, phone number, and address.