KLNDE New York City Premiere (posted 1/8/2008)
Inca Son announced as 2007 Independent Music Award Winner! (posted 9/7/2007)
Educational Perspectives with the Ixtlan Artists Group (posted 6/11/2007)
Kevin Locke Native Dance Ensemble Returns from Tours in Dubai and India (posted 5/22/2007)
Sally Rogers’ Continuing Education (posted 4/23/2007)
Brave Old World Premiere “Arguing with God” w/ Nashville Chamber Orchestra (posted 3/21/2007)
Boys of the Lough Connect with Their Roots at Celtic Connections in Glasgow (posted 2/12/2007)
From a Ghetto in Poland to the Jewish Heritage Museum in New York City (posted 11/30/2006)
Inca Son nominated for best Independent World Music Artist 2007! (posted 11/06/2007)
African-inspired Jazz Percussionist Babatunde Lea Records New Album (posted 10/17/2006)
Kevin Locke NDE Perform at the National Museum of the American Indian (posted 9/26/2006)
Songs from Peter Ostroushko Featured in A Prarie Home Companion (posted 8/26/2006)
Shafaatullah Khan Joins Ixtlan Artists Group
Northern Ireland’s “Bard of Peace” Tommy Sands Tours Israel
Boys of the Lough Interview featured on Fiona Ritchie’s “Thistle and Shamrock" (posted May 2006)
Kevin Locke Native Dance Ensemble begins tour of Greece and Turkey (posted April 2006)
Peter Ostroushko’s "Minnesota: A History of the Land" (posted March 2006)
The Celtic Music of Spain (posted January 2006)
Kevin Locke Brings Down The House (posted 11/11/2004)
Boys of the Lough Showcase in New York City (posted 11/19/2004)
Return to Current News Page

The Kevin Locke Native Dance Ensemble has performed many times in New York City, either as part of the National Museum of the American Indian at the Smithsonian or engaging children and young adults in school education programs.

On January 19, 2008, the world-traveling dance troupe will for the first time perform their powerful two-hour concert program, The Drum is the Thunder, the Flute is the Wind, in New York City. The event takes place at Symphony Space - Peter J. Sharp Theater, 2537 Broadway Avenue on the Upper West Side.

Sponsored by the World Music Institute (WMI), the performance will bring NYC audiences a night of compelling dance theater, and provide a journey into Native American symbolism and aesthetics. Adapted from traditional dance to herald the 'Return of the Thunders,' this concert performance embraces the Native American arts through not only the five diverse dances, but also through storytelling and a unique presentation of Lakota flute and drum music.

The World Music Institute offers the finest in traditional and contemporary music and dance from around the world. WMI concerts entertain, educate, and provide spiritual nourishment, and its programs are intended to reinforce the cultural values of the community and to communicate to outsiders the unique power of each individual culture. Constantly endeavoring to create greater understanding of the world's music and dance traditions, the WMI presents 60 to 70 concerts per year in New York City, and arranges national tours with visiting musicians from the U.S. and abroad.

Experience The Drum is the Thunder, the Flute is the Wind at this New York City premiere performance, Saturday, January 19th at 8:00 PM.

To order tickets for this event, please visit the World Music Institute's site here or call 212-545-7536.

Click here for the Kevin Locke Native Dance Ensemble calendar:
(LK - link to calendar)

Further information about The Kevin Locke Native Dance Ensemble is available at Kevin Locke's colorful, comprehensive and entertaining web site, or by calling 800-961-9601.

The votes are in! Fans and contemporaries of world music have spoken, recognizing Inca Son as masters of traditional world music composition.

Inca Son’s “Viaje a la Montana (Trip To The Andes Mountains)” was voted the “Best World Traditional Song,” in this year’s 6th annual Independent Music Awards (IMA)! It is a great honor, received by a group that couldn’t be more deserving; traditional world music runs through Inca Son’s blood.

Founded 15 years ago by Peru-native César Villalobos, world-renown Inca Son plays the centuries-old music of the Andes of Peru, home of their Inca ancestors. Meaning "Sound of the Inca," Inca Son is one of the few groups keeping this uniquely beautiful sound alive and thriving, and their skills have been rightly celebrated by the IMA judges!

The Independent Music Awards are co-sponsored by Borders Books & Music. Inca Son and other winners of the program are promoted to 9 million music fans and industry professionals via print, radio and online promotions. The IMA CD compilation is also promoted to college radio stations throughout North America by the Planetary Group, and the CD is available at all Borders Bookstores.

Judges of the award ceremony included such notables as Peter Gabriel, Afrika Bambaataa, Fatboy Slim, Cyndi Lauper, and, of course, fans! To hear “Viaje a la Montana (Trip To The Andes Mountains)” click here or check out the jukebox section of the IMA site: http://www.independentmusicawards.com/ima/jukeboxes.asp

For more information on Inca Son and their performances, please click here.

Our Musical World
“Based on the prolonged history of classifying and discussing humanity by divisions such as nation and race, life in a “multicultural” world may, at times, seem new to us. But the reality of our being a single race, a single global community that has shared ideas, histories, creativity, and especially music since our earliest centuries is now becoming visible. What may not be so visible is how a diversity of symbolism and values expressed through multiple religious, cultural and musical systems can be understood in the context of our common human experience.” - Michael L. Naylor, Our Musical World (back cover)

This insight, from the back of a new textbook, Our Musical World, sounds like it came straight out of The Ixtlan Artists Group mission statement. Maybe that's why the textbook features three of our most prominent artists- Kevin Locke, Inca Son and Harmonia- in exploring the way music from different cultures can help us understand the commonality in our diverse human experiences. This is an idea that all of these artists explore in their music and performances. It is why a performance with these artists is a unique learning experience, with the utmost of relevancy to the lessons in today's multicultural, globalized world.

If you have included this textbook in your curriculum, please contact us about inviting Kevin Locke, Inca Son or Harmonia to your school for a special presentation.

Cesar Villalobos of Inca Son wins Distinguished Music Educator of the Year
Inca Son has been raking in awards this year for their acclaimed music and their commitment to sharing and teaching about Andean culture. Most recently, Inca Son’s founder Cesar Villalobos was awarded the Distinguished Music Educator of the Year award by the Massachusetts Alliance for Arts Education. The award recognizes the extensive educational work done by Cesar and Inca Son, using their music and dance to teach about Andean history, culture and traditions. Through workshops and performances with students of all ages, Inca Son has brought alive this rich history.

Cesar was also honored to receive this recognition from Senator John Kerry: “Over the years your hard work and dedication to the Incan culture has been vital in educating children throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Your enthusiasm to teach through active participation heightens students’ interest. I applaud your efforts to incorporate Spanish music and art into subjects like history, mathematics and geography.”

The Ixtlan Artists Group is honored to work with artists who choose to use their art to teach creatively and broaden educational perspectives.

For more information on Inca Son’s educational programs, click here.

The music and dance of the Kevin Locke Native Dance Ensemble are about keeping ancient traditions and cultures alive in a modern world. As the world gets flatter, these traditions can reach a broader audience, creating new ties between diverse cultures across the globe and bridging the ancient and the modern.

This month found the Ensemble on ancient soil, with performances at Dubai Festival City for their 4-week long Festival of Art. The festival is an exclusive demonstration of talent, gathering artists never before seen in Dubai from all over the world. It was the perfect multicultural meeting place for the Kevin Locke Native Dance Ensemble, whose work offers a fresh perspective on finding unity by understanding our cultural differences and similarities.

Further exploring the modern worlds of ancient cultures, Kevin made a stopover in New Delhi, India for a special performance. The journey was quite an adventure for Kevin, who was almost refused flight for lack of a visa. But he made it to the Baha'i House of Worship, hoops, flutes and all. Kevin says he decided to bring the hoop dance to India because “countries that have inherited a rich cultural past and are still practicing their traditions appreciate such performances.” He first visited India in 1986 when the Baha'i temple opened.

From their homes in the U.S. to the Middle East to India and back, Kevin Locke and the Native Dance Ensemble came full circle, finding oneness in new places. As Kevin says, “Our traditions do not have a written script. They are passed on through generations through songs and compositions. We have thousands of songs that describe the tenets of our culture.” As the Kevin Locke Native Dance Ensemble continues to tour wider reaches of the globe, there is hope that those traditions will live on in an ever-turning world.

For more information on upcoming KLNDE tours, click here.

The best teachers are those that love to keep learning. Sally Rogers has always taught with her music, and now she is spending time on both sides of the classroom cultivating her own love of music and of teaching. While touring on the weekends, Sally is currently teaching music, PK-Gr.4, at Pomfret Community School in Pomfret, CT. This gives her an opportunity to share her own experiences as a folk musician and children’s performer so that other young minds might grow to use musical expression in the same positive fashion.

And, like all great teachers, Sally spends the rest of her time behind the student’s desk. She is currently enrolled in a very interesting, hands-on Master's Degree program at Lesley University in Cambridge, MA. The program is all about the creative arts in learning. As Sally says, “My school residencies have always focused on integrating the arts in the classroom curriculum. In October I will receive my degree from Lesley and will then have the paper to validate the programs I have been doing in classrooms around the country.”

Sally is also still available for workshops for teachers on Integrating the Arts in the Classroom. Once her graduate program is completed, Sally plans to focus on making a long awaited recording of her more recent compositions. The two upcoming recordings will be called "Old Friends I Never Met" and "Hope in Troubled Times: Secular Hymns and Anthems for These Times." Stay posted for more information on the release of these new albums and on Sally’s journeys in professional development.

For more information on Sally Rogers and her tour schedule, visit her Artist’s Page.

Cutting edge Klezmer group Brave Old World is all about discovering new worlds by breaking the boundaries between them. This time they engage in a collision of two worlds - the classical concert hall and the shtetl (the Jewish town in Eastern Europe before the Holocaust) - in a new composition by Michael Alec Rose, entitled "Arguing with God".

Embodied in the concerto by an evolving relationship between the NCO and Brave Old World, this collision brings Klezmer music to the classical stage. As Rose states about the piece, “The interaction of these musical landscapes, worked out in various ways, constitutes the drama and the musical argument of each of the concerto's three movements. The argument is not only with God; it is with Jewish music itself, with the classical music tradition also--really, with anyone who will listen!”

"Arguing with God" is a Jewish tradition that dates back to biblical times, shaping many of the lessons taught by the founding fathers. Brave Old World continues in this tradition by playing and creating music that asks questions, exploring the Jewish experience from a perspective of sought understanding. As Rose notes in the concert’s program, “ 'Arguing with God' strives to capture the joy, depth, and energy of Klezmer, whose richness is summed up so well in the name of our wonderful guest artists:
     • Brave is what the Jewish people must ever be in faithfully arguing with God.
     • Old is what the roots of our tradition are, made new in every generation.
     • World is that which we Jews are commanded to be a light unto.”

For more information on the world premiere of "Arguing with God", click here.

For information on other programs offered by Brave Old World, click here.

Nothing says Celtic more than Boys of the Lough, and there is no better stage for their legendary performance than that of Glasgow’s Celtic Connections festival. Every year the festival celebrates the connections that can be made through traditional music by featuring traditional Celtic performers alongside artists from across the globe.

The Boys were pleased to be a part of this unique event, performing their jigs, reels, airs and waltzes with guests from Norway, Sweden and Ulster, including Big John McManus (now in his eighties) and his wife Valerie, on their first ever trip to Celtic Connections from County Fermanagh. As The Scotsman recalls, “With 13 on stage, including several extra Swedish fiddlers who jumped out of the audience for the finale, Trettondagsmarchen, the only pity was that the night was too short.”

The Boys music is a powerful testament to the connections that can be drawn through musical traditions, each of its five members bringing musical influences from their unique Celtic heritages of Northumberland, Ireland and Shetland.

Next up, the Boys get ready for their March USA tour, the 66th for the band, or, as member Dave Richardson says, “…for those of us who go way back.”

For more information on Celtic Connections, visit their website.

For more information on Boys of the Lough, click here.

  
Brave Old World’s “Song of the Lodz Ghetto” is more than a concert program. It is a dreamscape of music and history. This Sunday, Brave Old World brings this history to New York City’s Jewish Heritage Museum, where these four virtuoso players transform the rare Jewish street and cabaret songs from the Nazi ghetto of Lodz, Poland, 1940-44 into a stunning musical performance.

Developed over the last 15 years, Song of the Lodz Ghetto is a unique musical-theatrical work, a song cycle in which memory and imagination freely interact to create a Proustian journey between present and past. Leading through the Lodz repertoire like stepping-stones through the river of memory are Brave Old World’s own original compositions. These reflections on 17 years of performing Jewish music form the emotional and musical counterpoint to the passionate and ironic street songs of the bard of the Lodz ghetto, Yankele Herszkowicz.

As pianist and accordionist Alan Bern describes the evolution of Song of the Lodz Ghetto in a recent TimeOut New York article , he remembers being approached by scholar Gila Flam with Lodz Ghetto street and cabaret songs gathered from survivors two decades ago. “In 1991, she approached BOW with the material and asked if we would like to create a performance piece. The early versions were lecture-concerts in which we presented the Lodz songs rather ‘ethnomusicologically.’ But we felt the need to make a more personal statement, and that led us to create a large cycle that interweaves the Lodz material with our own music and other Yiddish music, as well.”

The result of this evolution is a must-see engagement, performed this Sunday, December 3rd at the Jewish Heritage Museum in New York City.

For more information about this Sunday’s performance, visit the Jewish Heritage Museum site.

For more information on Brave Old World and “Song of the Lodz Ghetto,” click here.

 
Being an Indie artist is at times a difficult road to travel, but it pays off when you receive the recognition of your peers. We are proud to announce this achievement for Peruvian artists Inca Son, who have been nominated for an Independent Music Award in the category of World Traditional.

Inca Son truly exemplifies the term “World Traditional” music. The world acclaimed band, founded 15 years ago in Boston by the multitalented César Villalobos, plays the centuries-old music of the Andes of Peru, home of their Inca ancestors. In addition, Inca Son performs music from throughout Latin America, and through original, vibrant arrangements, lends an Andean flavor to well-known modern pop tunes.

The Independent Music Awards are co-sponsored by Borders Books & Music and winners of the program are promoted to 9 million music fans and industry professionals via print, radio and online promotions. The IMA CD compilation will also be promoted to college radio stations throughout North America by the Planetary Group, and the CD will be available at all Borders Bookstores.

Judges of the upcoming award ceremony will include such notables as Peter Gabriel, Afrika Bambaataa, Fatboy Slim, and Cyndi Lauper. Fans can vote too, by going to the website, clicking to hear the nominated songs in each category (click here for the Independent Music Awards web site):
Listen to Inca Son’s “Viaje a la Montana (Trip To The Andes Mountains)” and show your support!

For more information on Inca Son and their performances, please click here.

   
Babatunde Lea is a man with the capacity to strike many emotional strings. He has been called sensational, explosive, soulful, passionate and spiritual for his dynamic performances and the deep sense of message in his music. With his latest recording now underway, Lea brings these vibrant expressions to a new project: In Search of My Tears.

The project, which has been close to Lea’s heart for a long time, explores the disconnect between man and his emotional center in a society where men have been taught to “forget how to cry.” Lea hopes to use the power of his music to bring those quietly desperate souls back to reality by getting them in touch with this emotional life. Like all of Lea’s work, this project has a serious overtone that pulses through his soulful rhythms.

Lea often expresses his belief that music is a healing art. “I draw a lot from African culture and one of the main things I draw is that music is functional.” says Lea. “In African life music accompanies everything. The music can put you in a space to make you learn a lot, to open you up. Once you’re open and energized then you can start building things to make the world a better place. Music is like oil and water: it does the bidding of who controls it; it has the power to open you up but it doesn’t direct where you’re gonna go once you’re open.”

The recording features Lea’s percussion prowess and vocals accompanied by the other members of his distinguished quartet, with Richard Howell on tenor and soprano sax, percussion and vocals, Glen Pearson on acoustic piano and Geoff Brennan on acoustic bass.

In Search of My Tears is scheduled for release in Spring of 2007. Until then you can experience Lea’s moving percussion stylings on his last recording, Suite Unseen: Summoner of the Ghost.

For more information on Babatunde Lea, click here. For Mp3 files, click here. For Lea's MySpace site with more music, click here.

The National Museum of the American Indian will celebrate the opening of the Diker Pavillion, the museum’s newest space, with an inaugural performance by the nation’s preeminent Hoop Dancer and Native Flute player, Kevin Locke, and members of his winning ensemble.

Among gallery tours, performances and refreshments, visitors will experience a unique set of dances, flute music and storytelling with Kevin Locke and Native Dance Ensemble performers Thirza Defoe and Doug Foote. In a set of three performances, visitors will experience Kevin’s renowned Hoop Dance, various flute selections, Thirza Defoe’s Eagle Dance and the Eagle story told by Kevin Locke, featured on his upcoming CD release.

For more information on the Diker Pavillion celebration, visit www.nmai.si.edu.

For more information on Kevin Locke and the Kevin Locke Native Dance Ensemble, click here

Performing with Prairie Home house band, the Guys All-Star Shoe Band, Ostroushko brings his mandolin and fiddle stylings to the memorable tunes of Prairie Home, highlighting the musical landscape of the radio show’s celebrated history. You can even spot Ostroushko in the background in a couple of scenes.

One of Ostroushko’s well-known tunes, “Coming Down from Red Lodge,” is featured in the film and appears on the soundtrack. Look for more footage of the Shoe Band’s performances, including Peter Ostroushko, on the DVD extras coming out later this year.

Even more exciting is the release of Peter Ostroushko’s new recording, “Postcards: Travels with a Great American Radio Show” on Red House Records. The recording is a travelogue of original materials composed for tour shows with Prairie Home Companion. It features some of Ostroushko’s most requested compositions from the past few years including, “When the City of Angels Sleeps,” “Tecumseh” and “Meditation on the Thin Space at St. Paul’s Chapel.”

The recording is available in stores or on Ostroushko’s web site at www.peterostroushko.com.

The Ixtlan Artists Group is proud to welcome Indian Classical performer Shafaatullah Khan to our roster of musicians from around the world. His program is a unique experience of Indian classical music, as he is one of the rare performers who plays Tabla, Sitar and Surbahar with the mastery of a virtuoso on each instrument.

He has performed live at the most prestigious concert halls, music festivals and universities around the world, including the Acropolis in Athens, Royal Albert Hall, Lincoln Center and the Smithsonian Institute.

Currently based in Philadelphia, Shafaat tours the international scene as well as the U.S. He has just recently returned from a remarkable tour in Morocco, where he had the opportunity to play for old friends and soak up the enchanting culture. “The country is amazing, says Shafaat. “I felt it was a new door opening for me.” 

Shafaat’s strengths extend far beyond his world-class performances as he communicates the love, respect and appreciation of his musical heritage and culture as a teacher of Indian classical music. He leads lecture-demonstrations, master classes and workshops at college campuses throughout the country.

For more information on Shafaatullah Khan’s programs, please visit www.shafaatullahkhan.com or call us at (800) 961-9601.

With no shortage of work to do, Tommy Sands tours Israel this week, sharing his legendary songs with Israelis and Palestinians in this discordant region.

Sands began his tour with a concert in Tiberias, a city along the Sea of Galillee, across from the Golan Heights, followed by a performance at the Jacob’s Ladder Festival. Traveling southward to the Negev desert, Sands will end his tour in Jerusalem.

“Tommy Sands has achieved that difficult but wonderful balance between knowing and loving the traditions of his home and being concerned with the future of the whole world.” – Pete Seeger

For more information on Tommy Sands’ upcoming tours, click here

Originally aired in 2002, the interview covers the breadth of Boys of the Lough’s experiences as one of the first Celtic bands to tour the United States. At 63 U.S. tours to date, it’s been quite a journey.

Recalling the history and evolution of Boys of the Lough, Dave Richardson reveals the secret to the band’s long-lasting success. Planting their roots deeply in the musical traditions of the British Isles’ Celtic regions, the Boys have stuck to their musical vision of traditional instrumental pieces complimented by occasional songs. With this commitment, the Boys have been through every test of time that might break a band apart.

The landscape, says Dave, has changed significantly since the Boys first started touring, playing small clubs, pubs and festival side stages. These performers have seen a shift from the music-driven tours of the 70s to the market-driven tours of today. And their market has expanded tenfold, with the Boys now playing 1,000 and sometimes 2,000-seat halls.

At the time of the interview, Boys of the Lough was just beginning to tour with the newest additions to their band, Kevin Henderson and Malcolm Stitt. Since then, the two youngest members have added their own musical vision to the band's traditional repertoire. A vision, Richardson asserts, that is welcome in Boys of the Lough.

“If you’re going to put young players in your band and not listen to them,” he added, “what’s the point?”

This philosophy has proven to be a sound one for the band, as the Boys have just completed their two most successful tours in the U.S. to date.

What a way to ring in Boys of the Lough’s 40th anniversary coming up next year. Look for upcoming news on this celebratory tour over the coming months. 

Advanced information on Boys of the Lough's 40th Anniversary Tour:
The Ixtlan Artists Group will be booking Boys of the Lough in major performing arts centers for this special tour. If you are interested in bringing this vibrant, witty and warm performance to your audience, call us today at (800) 961-9601.

The ensemble welcomes this unique opportunity to share the elegance and insight of “The Spirit of Music and Dance” and its expression of the Unity of humankind with these diverse cultures.

The show features the Fancy Dance and Eagle Dance, multimedia pieces of historical and soulful anthologies from Kevin Locke's home on Standing Rock reservation, and Edmond Nevaquaya's flute tribute to the inspiration of Native American music. The performance concludes with Kevin’s world-renown Hoop Dance, honoring the elders of the Elk Dreamer Society. This is a powerful contemporary artistic interpretation of the original spirit inside the American Indian traditions of music and dance.

Click here for more information on the Kevin Locke Native Dance Ensemble or visit Kevin Locke’s Website.

Composer and virtuoso Mandolin and Fiddle player Peter Ostroushko has been announced as a finalist in the Indie Acoustic Project’s “Best CDs of 2005” awards for his Emmy-winning score, “Minnesota: A History of the Land.”

As a finalist in this category, “Minnesota” is recognized by IAP as “one of the best CDs of 2005.”

"It's an instrumental piece -- collection of pieces, rather -- that stands well on its own, suggesting both the sweep of the Great Plains and the intimacy of the day-to-day life lived out across them." – Dirty Linen

This original score includes music from the four-part documentary produced by the University of Minnesota and Twin Cities Public TV, featuring Bruce Allard, Laura MacKenzie and others.

WASHINGTON, DC – The people were six deep on the museum floor. They were elbow to elbow on the huge semicircular stairwell that looks out over the dramatic Potomac rotunda. The Kevin Locke Native Dancers performed to four thousand very appreciative museum patrons at the new National Museum of the American Indian in late September. Over a three-day period, all who attended the museum during its opening celebration were treated to a unique performance by Kevin Locke, Edmond Nevaquaya, and Sidrick Baker. With Edmond and Sidrick providing sharp vocals and pounding hand drums, Kevin performed the Hoop Dance for eight hundred people per performance. The Trio performed five times over the three-day museum opening.

In the smaller outside venue, Kevin treated a crowd of one hundred to stories and flute playing. Edmond offered additional flute pieces and performances of the Traditional Dance, while Sidrick presented a colorful and spectacular version of the Grass Dance. According to the event’s organizers, the performances by The Kevin Locke Native Dancers were generally considered among the high moments of the entire week-long celebration, which featured over one hundred Native performers.

The Scotsman, Scotland’s national newspaper, reports that “…the current Boys of the Lough lineup is steadily making a name for itself as one of the strongest in years. The two newcomers seem to have re-ignited that all-important chemistry between the players, infusing their mix of Scots, Irish and Shetland instrumentals, plus several nicely fashioned songs from McConnell and Begley, with the spark of rediscovered enjoyment.”

Attendees of the January APAP showcase will see excerpts from the current touring shows: A Celtic Christmas, Celtic Spring, as well as music played on the Boys rare summer festival tours.