Bluegrass mandolin monsters, Native American Peyote singers and Brazilian hoedowns join the cultural mash-up at the Fifth Annual ¡Globalquerque! Celebrating five years of mixing global music stars and native legends, New Mexico’s Annual Celebration of World Music and Culture is back better than ever.
The Southwest’s biggest world music party gets started September 25 and continues through September 26, 2009 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, at the beautiful National Hispanic Cultural Center (NHCC) along the banks of the Rio Grande River.
Newly added to this year’s line-up is two-time Grammy winning Native American superstar Robert Mirabal and bluegrass legends Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver. Also just confirmed are Brazilian/American roots radicals Nation Beat, Afro-Peruvian electronica ensemble Novalima (an NPR “not-to miss” band!), Cameroon’s new soul sensation Blick Bassy, Cape Verde’s astounding diva Maria De Barros, and the exquisite voice of Persian singer Mamak Khadem. The festival also will feature the Celtic-Yiddish collaboration of Klezmatics’ vocalist Lorin Sklamberg with Irish songstress Susan McKeown, in their fascinating new project, Saints & Tzadiks.
Information on tickets and vacation packages, including rooms and tickets, can be found at www.globalquerque.com/tickets.html. Ticket information is also available at the NHCC box office: (505) 724-4771. Advance tickets range from $15 to $50 for a weekend pass, and hotel packages are available for $109 a night, including two ¡Globalquerque! tickets and breakfast.
Called a “Top Ten End of Summer Destination Event” by The Los Angeles Times, ¡Globalquerque! is one of America’s fastest-growing, most creatively-programmed world music festivals, drawing fans from around the region and across the country. Current deeply discounted air fares and the festival’s attractive hotel and vacation packages make ¡Globalquerque! an affordable cultural excursion. This year’s festival also takes place the weekend prior to Albuquerque’s famed International Balloon Fiesta, making it a perfect opportunity for out-of-state visitors to spend a week in New Mexico.
Southwest Airlines’ Spirit Magazine describes the two-day festival as an “extravaganza of world travel that won’t cause jet lag!”
Each year at ¡Globalquerque! musical themes and threads arise, and American roots music is one track that takes center stage at this year’s festival. It connects premier Swedish bandVäsen with American new-grass masters Darol Anger and Mike Marshall, in an exciting new collaboration on Appalachian fiddle tunes and Swedish nykelharpas. It weaves through the brilliant Brazil-NYC collective Nation Beat who combine marucatu rhythms with Hank Williams’ Americana. Along with seven-time International Bluegrass Music Association winners and NEA Heritage Fellow, mandolin maestro Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver, it’s a global barn burner!
SOUTHWEST SPOTLIGHT
A Southwest spotlight is always a ¡Globalquerque! highlight, featuring music of the first Americans. This year brings New Mexico’s own Robert Mirabal of the Taos Pueblo, with his electric band tapping into a planetary pulse; the mesmerizing Peyote prayer songs of Cheevers Toppah and Kevin Yazzie, from the Diné and Kiowa nations; the earthshaking Los Angeles-based Latina-rocker CAVA; and one of Veracruz, Mexico’s most inventive son jaracho groups, Mono Blanco (White Monkey). Add to the mix Ghana’s electrifying Afro-jazz dance troupe Kusun Ensemble, Hungary’s Little Cow churning Balkan, Romani (gypsy), ska and rock, and India’s visionary fusion ensemble Indian Ocean, blending classical ragas with jazz and rock, and it’s all part of what’s in store at the 2009 ¡Globalquerque!
AND more artists are yet to be announced.
On Saturday, the popular free daytime programming is family-focused fun for kids and adults, with workshops by nighttime main stage artists, lectures, museum tours, international dance lessons, storytelling, ¡GlobalCOOKIE! decorating, global hip-hop murals and instrument building. Stroll through the Global Village of Craft, Culture & Cuisine replete with booths featuring handmade crafts and gourmet international cuisine (open throughout the festival), and you’ll find ¡Globalquerque! a fantastic world of it’s own.
For out-of-town visitors, ¡Globalquerque! also shares the last weekend of September with Albuquerque’s Downtown GO! Arts Fest, and there will be shuttle service between the two events and the festival’s host hotels: Fairfield Inn by Marriott & TownPlace Suites by Marriott. In addition, the Japanese Cultural Festival takes place the day after ¡Globalquerque! at the NHCC.
Live Radio Broadcast
Once again, Southwest Stages, Native Voice 1 and KUNM will be collaborating to bring ¡Globalquerque! performances to the airwaves and Internet. Each night will be broadcast live from 7 pm to midnight MST on KUNM and distributed to stations around the country and on-line. Last year’s broadcast was carried on 30 stations across the nation.
Visit www.globalquerque.com for artist updates, the virtual Global Village, vacation packages (including festival tickets) with Marriott’s Fairfield Inn and Town House Suites, day programming and nighttime schedules and further information.
2009 ¡GLOBALQUERQUE! LINEUP:
Blick Bassy (Cameroon)
Cava (U.S.)
Maria de Barros (Cape Verde – pictured))
Indian Ocean (India)
Mamak Khadem (Iran)
Kusun Ensemble (Ghana)
Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver (U.S.)
Little Cow (Hungary)
Robert Mirabal (Taos Pueblo)
Mono Blanco (Mexico)
Nation Beat (Brazil/U.S.)
Novalima (Peru)
Saints & Tzadiks: Susan McKeown & Lorin Sklamberg (Irish/Yiddish)
Toppah & Yazzie (Diné/Kiowa)
Väsen with Darol Anger & Mike Marshall (Sweden/U.S.)
Submitted by Judith Joiner Publicity
