Common Ground Coffeehouse @ The First Unitarian Society

presents

The Mandingo Ambassadors

If you step into a New York club where the Mandingo Ambassadors (Ambassedeurs du Manding) are playing, and close your eyes, you go back in time, and across the Atlantic to Guinea, West Africa, in the 1960s. In the flush of Guinea’s independence from France, visionary African dictator Sekou Touré used music to forge a national identity. He funded bands from all over the country, selecting the most talented players through rigorous competitions, and “nationalizing” top bands in state-supported nightclubs in the capital, Conkakry. Although the Mandingo Ambassadors consist of four Guineans and four Americans (most of whom have studied music in Guinea), the sound is, as founder and lead guitarist Mamady Kouyaté proudly proclaims, “100-percent Manding” with mellifluous, Latin-tinged rhythms and vocal melodies, and fleet, stinging electric guitar lines drawn from Guinea’s centuries-old traditions of Manding music.

The music of the Mandingo Ambassadors has been structured to make you feel good. It puts dazzling vocal and guitar patterns over a rhythm section that is like a perfect system: a locked drum groove, much of it played on high-hat cymbal and drum rims; soft bass lines that fall short or start late, or leave gaps in a run of notes; fingerpicked rhythm guitar notes like clear fizz.The boss of the band is the lead guitarist Mamady Kouyaté, who got his start among the Guinean dance bands of the 1970s. Many of those groups, transferring traditional Manding folkloric music from ancient instruments like balofon and kora to electric guitars and modern rhythm sections, were state-supported; this was an innovation developed under Sékou Touré, president of the newly independent nation. But it is growing its own constituency, both among its audience and its performers.

TICKETS: Advance: $15/At the Door: $18; kids under 12: FREE

Common Ground Folk Series at Lewisboro Library 

presents

Special Double Bill!

Carolann Solebello and The YaYas

Join us for this very special double bill featuring CarolAnn Solebello and The YaasMost familiar to folk audiences as a founding member of the female trio RED MOLLY, Carolann Solebello returned to solo performance in August 2010 after six years with the band. She has three full-length Red Molly CDs to her credit, including James (2010), which peaked at #4 on the Americana chart, and Love and Other Tragedies (2008), which spent ten weeks in the Americana Top 15. Carolann’s song “Summertime” was #1 on the Folk DJ chart in July 2008. Carolann has three solo CDs to her credit, and is currently touring in support of her 2011 release, Threshold.

2011 Grassy Hill Kerrville New Folk Finalists The YaYas are a spirited and uplifting New York-based folk pop trio who tell stories in songs that make you think and sometimes laugh – decidedly hope-filled tunes with choruses that get you singing along.  These are stories we are all familiar with; the loss of a parent, the humorous ups and downs of a marriage, the dreams of youth, the gift of friendship… all told in a very personal way through the characters that inhabit them. Catherine Miles’ expressive voice is complemented by husband Jay Mafale’s percussive guitar riffs and Paul Silverman’s melodic piano lines to create their distinctive sound. The trio’s 2010 release, Paper Boats, has received airplay on more than 125 radio stations and rose to #4 on the Roots Music Report’s Folk Top 50 albums chart.

Common Ground @ South Church
343 Broadway, Dobbs Ferry NY

presents

Sloan Wainwright

with special guest Sharon Goldman

Folk-pop artist Sloan Wainwright belongs to a musical dynasty of impossibly gifted singer-songwriters.  Her family tree (brother and folk-music luminary Loudon Wainwright, sister-in-law Kate McGarrigle, nephew Rufus Wainwright, nieces Martha Wainwright and Lucy Wainwright Roche) reads like a who’s who of contemporary folk music. Sloan’s incredible gift is not only her unique songwriting ability but her dramatically voiced rendition of her original songs.  She’s folk-influenced, obviously (you can’t grow up in the First Family of Folk and not be, one imagines), but the real star here is her voice. Warm and smoky and smooth, it makes her earthy, ominous lyrics seem all the more intense. Defying standard categorization, singer/songwriter Sloan Wainwright consistently demonstrates her easy command of a variety of American musical styles — pop, folk, jazz and blues — held together by the melodious tone of her rich contralto. The end result, a unique and soulful hybrid.  With a solid and impressive discography of 8 original CD releases to her credit, Sloan continues to write, sing and perform live.  In addition, Sloan has written numerous musical compositions for theater and dance and teaches at many of the best-known master songwriter series and workshops. Sloan’s open spirit and first-hand experience is welcome –year after year– in the musical classrooms of such prestigious song camps as The Swannanoa Gathering, Summersongs, Wintersongs, WUMB Radio’s Summer Acoustic Music Week (SAMW) and Lamb’s Retreat. Sloan is an independent artist making grown-up girl music in the truest sense.

Sharon Goldman is a New Jersey – based singer-songwriter with over a decade of writing songs and four albums under her belt. Well-known around the New York City area and around the East Coast for her smart and sweet brand of acoustic folk/pop, Goldman’s latest album, Sleepless Lullaby, offers a few twists – including the title track’s country-waltz feel; a Patsy Cline-esque ode to lost love, “Time is An Airplane; the bluegrass-inspired pop of “Short Brown Hair” and “Weekend Afternoon,” and a piano-based version of Paul Simon’s “A Hazy Shade of Winter” featuring three-part harmonies. Sloan Wainwright says about Sharon, ““Beautiful work. Her singing is flawless…her songs are smart and sensitive.”

Tickets: Adults – $18 in advance, $20 at the door; Kids Under 12 are free