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Rogovoy Report 4/8/22

The cultural highlights in our region this weekend include experimental dance, progressive rock, Afrobeat, political comedy, social satire, Baroque music … plus a whole lot more.

Mamadou Diabate
Courtesy MASS MoCA
Mamadou Diabate

Balafon virtuoso Mamadou Diabate brings his band Percussion Mania to MASS MoCA in North Adams on Saturday at 8 p.m. Diabate’s Percussion Mania mixes traditional West African storytelling rhythms and Western rock for a high-energy night of music and dancing. (April 9)

Tonight at 8 at the Foundry in West Stockbridge, Mass., choreographer and poet Gillian Ebersole joins with dancer Shannon Nulf to explore the intersection of movement, spoken word, and what they term “embodied delight,” in a program called “In the Crook of the Elbow,” which asks the question, “What is dance if not joy?” (Friday, April 8)

Hasan Minhaj, known for his acute humorous take on politics and contemporary culture, brings his unique brand of comedy and his “The King’s Jester” program to UPAC in Kingston, N.Y., tonight at 7. (April 8)

The Hudson Valley’s own Tony Levin and Pat Mastelotto were the powerhouse rhythm section of the legendary art-rock group King Crimson for several decades. Together with Markus Reuter, the trio are the Stick Men, so named after Levin’s instrument, the Chapman Stick, which functions at times like two instruments. The trio brings their delicious update on progressive rock to The Linda, WAMC’s Performing Arts Center in Albany, tonight at 8. Especially recommended if you like late-period David Bowie. (Friday, April 8)

Brooklyn-based electronic pop and experimental rock collective San Fermin, who often collaborate with Wye Oak and Nico Muhly and at times sound like a cross between Cocteau Twins and Laurie Anderson, brings its hypnotic, dreamy, percolating sounds to Levon Helm Studios in Woodstock, N.Y., tonight at 8. (Friday, April 8)

R&B legend Bettye LaVette brings her signature soulful vocals and covers of classic rock hits to the Bearsville Theater in Woodstock on Saturday at 8 p.m. (April 9)

American/Hungarian pianist Julia Hamos, violinist Abigel Kralik, and cellist Sterling Elliott perform works by Tchaikovsky, including his Piano Trio in A minor, at the Stissing Center in Pine Plains, N.Y. on Saturday at 4 p.m. (April 9)

Banjo innovator Béla Fleck returns to his bluegrass roots tonight at 8 at the Egg in Albany. Also at the Egg this weekend are indie-folk duo The Milk Carton Kids tonight at 8; satirist David Sedaris on Saturday at 8; tabla drum master Zakir Hussain on Sunday at 3 p.m.; and former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett, bringing his Genesis Revisited 2022 World Tour to the Egg on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. (April 8-10)

Singer-songwriter Melissa Ferrick, who is such a terrific guitarist that she teaches the instrument at Berklee College and Northeastern University, brings her immense talents to Caffe Lena in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., on Sunday at 7 p.m. Ferrick is perhaps best known for her lesbian anthem “Drive,” one of the sexiest songs you’ll ever listen to, and which features harmonies by Ani DiFranco, to whom she is often and rightly compared. (April 10)

Crescendo chamber music series presents Mientras me abraza (While she hugs me) – Baroque, Latino, and Folk Fusion, tonight at 6 at Trinity Church in Lakeville, Conn., and again on Saturday at 4 p.m. at St. James Place in Great Barrington, Mass. The unifying element of the eclectic program is folk dance, from Poland to Spain to Latin America. The ensemble will present their own arrangements of works by Telemann and Bach. (Friday, April 8, and Saturday, April 9)

Boston-based world-dub-jazz collective Club d’Elf celebrates the release of its new double album, “You Never Known,” featuring a fusion of jazz, gnawa and other North African traditional music influences refracted through a prism of contemporary psychedelia, on Thursday, April 14 at Bombyx in Northampton, Mass. Half the songs on the new album are original compositions; others are based on works by Miles Davis, Frank Zappa, and Joe Zawinul. (Thursday, April 14)

Seth Rogovoy is editor of the Rogovoy Report, available at rogovoyreport.com

The views expressed by commentators are solely those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this station or its management.