Tuesday September 16 * doors at 630, music at 7 * $20-25
Glenn Jones is a master of American Primitive Guitar, a style invented in the late 1950s by John Fahey, whose traditional fingerpicking techniques and wide-ranging influences were used to create modern original compositions. Jones, who led the post-rock ensemble Cul de Sac, brings his own made-up tunings, the use of custom-crafted partial capos, and a highly skilled picking style on both banjo and guitar, to create personal compositions that are lyrical, emotive and elegant. Jones has written extensively about the leading lights of the American Primitive guitar style, namely John Fahey (with whom he was friends for nearly 25 years), and Robbie Basho (Jones was friends with the guitarist until Basho's untimely death in 1986, and hosted the guitarist / singer's final tour of the East Coast). photo credit: Jesse Sheppard
Liam Grant is a New England guitarist with a punk ethos, cut from the American Primitive cloth. The restless guitar explorations, modal epics, and driving uptempo rags recall the likes of Grant's pedagogue; Takoma Records, and the path that was paved by his forebears John Fahey, Robbie Basho, Peter Walker, Max Ochs, and later, Glenn Jones, Steffen Basho-Junghans, Jack Rose, and others. Prodigal Son, his VHF debut and second widely-available LP, is a portrait of an artist on the road, changing fast, recording things as they spring from the fountain. The sound here is raw�grass and dirt instead of prefab; homemade/handmade instead of high-tech, etc. There�s a visceral quality and immediacy of culture that�s being lost every day in modern life�Prodigal Son is a chance to grab some of it back.
Kajwan Ziaoddini started performing Santour in 1998. He earned his master�s degree in Iranian classical music at the University of Tehran. As a musician, he has collaborated with several Iranian ensembles such as Eghbal, Ravian, and Hamnavazan, and has contributed to five albums: From the Saba�s Rose Garden, Hashtrud, Delkesh, Goshayesh, and Nowbang. Kajwan is a faculty of the music department at the University of Kurdistan, Iran, and currently is a PhD student in ethnomusicology at the University of Maryland.