The Rogovoy Report: Berkshire & Hudson Valley Cultural Preview

Nov 13-17, 2024

Nov 12, 2024

With so much going on culturally speaking in our greater Berkshires/Hudson Valley region, this is my highly selective, curated snapshot of some of the most promising upcoming events …

KASAMBWE BROTHERS BRING TRADITIONAL SOUNDS of MALAWI to MASS MoCA

On their first trip outside of their native Malawi, the Kasambwe Brothers bring their traditional-based roots-music sounds to the Hunter Center at MASS MoCA in North Adams on Saturday, November 16, at 8pm. Using homemade instruments — a bass guitar crafted from a tree branch and a suitcase drum set made with animal skin — this dynamic trio creates infectious grooves using traditional rhythm and soulful harmony. (Sat, Nov 16)

PATTI SMITH BRINGS SPOKEN WORD and SONGS to UPAC

Punk-poet Patti Smith, a pioneer in combining poetry and rock music, will perform original spoken-word stories interspersed with songs at UPAC in Kingston, N.Y., on Saturday, November 16, at 8pm. Smith is a poet, singer, songwriter, photographer, and fine artist. A seminal American artist, Smith has produced a body of work whose influence branches out through generations, across disciplines, and around the world. (Sat, Nov 16)

THE BARR BROTHERS BRING MODERN AMERICANA to RACE BROOK

The Barr Brothers will bring their eclectic and modern Americana sounds to Race Brook Lodge in Sheffield, Mass., on Sunday, November 17, at 8pm. Even though brothers Andrew and Brad Barr are perhaps still known best as two-thirds of the 1990s jam band The Slip, as the Barr Brothers they mine a more folk-, roots-, and song-based sound. Ariel Engle aka La Force warms up the crowd with her haunting, keyboard-based indie-rock. (Sun, Nov 17)

CELLO-PIANO DUO PLAYS BACH, BEETHOVEN at SPENCERTOWN ACADEMY

Cellist Anneke Schaul-Yoder and pianist Derin Öge perform works by Bach, Lena Auerbach, and Beethoven at Spencertown Academy Art Center in Spencertown, N.Y., on Sunday, November 17, at 3pm. Schaul-Yoder and Öge have been making music together since 2008, first as members of the Piano Music & Song Trio and later in the trio Eudemonia. The duo focuses on eclectic programs of music with vibrant rhythms and elegant textures. (Sun, Nov 17)

Pianist Abdullah Ibrahim (photo Dr. Marina Umari)

JAZZ LEGEND ABDULLAH IBRAHIM BRINGS TRIO to THE EGG

South African jazz legend Abdullah Ibrahim performs with his trio at The Egg in Albany, N.Y., on Sunday, November 17, at 7:30pm. With Hugh Masekela as The Jazz Epistles, the two became the first Black artists to record a jazz album in South Africa under an increasingly strict apartheid government. After moving to Switzerland, Ibrahim encountered Duke Ellington, which led to the seminal 1964 recording Duke Ellington Presents the Dollar Brand Trio, Dollar Brand being the name under which Ibrahim performed early in his career, until he converted to Islam in 1968. (Sun, Nov 17)

George Harrison author Seth Rogovoy (photo Franco Vogt)

SETH ROGOVOY to READ FROM and SIGN COPIES of NEW GEORGE HARRISON BOOK at UPSTATE FILMS in SAUGERTIES

Fresh on the heels of the publication of his new book, Within You Without You: Listening to George Harrison, Seth Rogovoy will be appearing at several book events in the region, including at Upstate Films/Orpheum Theatre in Saugerties, N.Y., on Sunday, November 17, at 2pm, in conversation with rock biographer Holly George-Warren and author/musician Robert Burke Warren, who will play a few George Harrison favorites. Beatles expert Kenneth Womack writes in his review for Salon, “Within You Without You accomplishes a rare feat. In a sea of ineffectual biographies devoted to the Beatles’ guitarist, Rogovoy makes a case for Harrison’s most important contribution: the music itself … Rogovoy’s eye towards soberly capturing the history of the Beatles with a welcome dose of critical objectivity makes Within You Without You required reading when it comes to the guitarist. It’s that good.” (Sun, Nov 17)

Also of note:

Alt-country singer-songwriter JP Harris brings his band and songs from his new album, JP Harris Is a Trash Fire, to the Half Moon in Hudson, N.Y., on Wednesday, November 13, at 6:30pm. Harris is a quirky blend of Hank Williams and Warren Zevon.

Lisa Gutkin, fiddler in the Klezmatics and the Irish band Whirligig, performs at Bombyx Center for Arts and Equityon Thursday, November 14, at 7pm, for a concert of klezmer, Irish, and Americana music, with a band including Christina Crowder on accordion and banjo, Pete Rushefsky on tsimbl, a kind of Eastern European hammered dulcimer, and Rachel Leader on fiddle.

Singer-songwriter Hayley Reardon brings her original folk-rock compositions to Park Theater in Hudson, N.Y., on Friday, November 15, at 8pm. Reardon’s rootsy approach and her dusky vocals recall those of Natalia Zukerman.

Roots-music singer Amy Helm brings her blend of country, folk, gospel, blues, soul, and rock to the Colony in her hometown of Woodstock, N.Y., on Friday, November 15, and Saturday, November 16, at 7pm both nights.

Cellist Laura Melnicoff brings her Nikolayev program, featuring late-19th and early-20th century Hasidic songs from Ukraine, to the Linda, WAMC’s Performing Arts Studio in Albany, N.Y., on Sunday, November 17, at 3pm.

The Belcea Quartet and Ébène Quartet join forces to perform Mendelssohn and Enescu Octets at Union College’s Memorial Chapel in Schenectady, N.Y., on Sunday, November 17, at 3pm, in a presentation of Capital Region Classical.

Singer-songwriter Brooke Annibale brings her delicate, ethereal vocals and her rootsy, folk melodies to Tourists in North Adams, Mass., on Sunday, November 17, at 8pm.

Folk, rock, and reggae singer-songwriter Matisyahu brings his spiritually infused songs to the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall in Troy, N.Y., on Thursday, November 21, at 7:30pm.

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The Rogovoy Report