This year marks the 10th anniversary of Chicago's World Music Festival, a celebration of vibrant musical traditions past and present. This year's concerts at the MCA showcases African musicians, including Chiwoniso Maraire, Samba Mapangala, and Jayme Stone with Mansa Sissoko. The virtuosic Mamak Khadem, Gaida Hinnawi Ensemble, Alessandra Belloni, Lo Cor de la Plana, Prasanna, and Dhafer Youssef perform in other double-bill concerts.
For a complete lineup of concerts and events: World Music Festival: Chicago
PERFORMANCES AT THE MCA STAGE
Tickets: $15
Buy Tickets Online
or call the MCA Box Office, 312.397.4010
Saturday, September 20, 9 pm
Gaida Hinnawi Ensemble
Gaida Hinnawi is a vocalist and composer working at the intersection of
the Arab and improvised music scenes of New York. Her compositions draw
on classical Arabic song forms, Syrian folk traditions and free
improvisations that expand on traditional Arabic maqams (modes) to
produce an original and highly personal style marked by great emotional
intensity.
Mamak Khadem
Inspired by her travels throughout the Middle East, Mamak Khadam's music is based on melodies from various regions of Iran and related musical cultures. Mamak adapts Persian poetry to carefully chosen melodies from her country's folk and classical repertoire.
Sunday, September 21, 7:30 pm
Chiwoniso
Chiwoniso Maraire is an accomplished singer, songwriter, exponent of East African and Zimbabwean mbira music.
Samba Mapangala
Zairean vocalist and band leader Samba Mapangala has been a dominant figure in East African music since the mid-1970s.
Tuesday, September 23, 5:30 pm, FREE (in the sculpture garden)
This program is the first of its kind as a Tuesdays on Terrace partnership
Jayme Stone & Mansa Sissoko
Canadian banjoist and composer Jayme Stone collaborates with Mali's songwriter and singer Mansa Sissoko. The two recently collaborated on the album "Africa to Appalachia."
Tuesday, September 23, 7:30 pm (on the MCA Stage)
Alessandra Belloni
Alessandra Belloni is a singer, percussionist, dancer and actress who stands as one of the most important voices of traditional southern Italian music and dance today.
Lo Cor de la Plana
A male vocal ensemble from the district of La Plaine in Marseille, Lo Cor de la Plana is made up of six punchy singers using bendir drums, tambourines, foot stomping and hand clapping. Since 2001, the band has devoted itself to the re-creation of the Occitan heritage, dance songs covering repertoires from the most religious to the most unbridled, the most recurrent to the most sporadic.
Wednesday, September 24, 7:30 pm
Prasanna
A pioneer in bringing the electric guitar to international acclaim as a concert instrument for the ancient and traditional art form of Carnatic music, Prasanna is involved in the cutting edge of Jazz/Classical and World music.
Dhafer Youssef
Tunisian composer, vocalist, and oud player Dhafer Youssef is a"virtuoso [who] juxtaposes the ancient, mystical, hypnotic music of Islamic Sufism with the textures of electric jazz" (Time Out).