As the organizer of Chicago’s World Music Festival, Michael Orlove has seen the event through all kinds of crises since its inception five years ago. Earlier this year, he faced a new predicament. For the first time, the city contributed no money to the event.
“In the past, we’ve had some sort of funding, some base funding [attached] to the festival,” Orlove says. “This year we started with zero.”
Orlove attributes the lack of city funding to the sluggish economy and overall city budget cuts. But he adds that the event’s relative youth compared with other city-sponsored music festivals has meant that it has always risked “not having some set funding.”
Orlove and other staffers in the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs spent months hustling for outside support, including grants and sponsorships, to raise a budget of about $100,000, down from $200,000 last year, of which the city had contributed half.
Even though the festival’s duration has been slashed from 10 days to 5 because of the funding cuts, Orlove says, its endurance and consistently imaginative programming are still reasons to celebrate. Musicians from such disparate countries as Zimbabwe, Kyrgyzstan, and Brazil will perform throughout the city beginning on Sept. 17. A concert featuring Senegalese superstar Youssou N’Dour, Mali’s Djelimady Tounkara and South African musician Nothembi will close the event on Sept. 21 at the Riviera Theater.
One particular evening encapsulates the spirit of the festival. On Sept. 18, a wide range of musicians, including Afghani rubab (lute) player Habib Wardak and Trinidadian multi-instrumentalist Liam Teague, will perform throughout the Chicago Cultural Center. Orlove describes that night as “one world under one roof.”
Few musicians have the youthful exuberance of Taller de Compas from Granada, Spain. The band is made up of dynamic teenage Gitanos (a.k.a. “Gypsies”) who emphasize the basic vocal and percussive elements of flamenco. But at the same time, it shows how the music is international at heart. Taller’s musical director, Jose Luis Garcia Puche, connects the origins of the group’s drums to Africa and South America.
Puche organized Taller (which means “workshop”) five years ago to provide a positive musical outlet for the youths of Granada’s Almanjayar housing projects. Performing at such events as the World Music Festival will boost their reputation.
“They will be seen in a more professional light after they have been to America, conquered America, and come back,” Puche says. “We haven’t even been yet, but people are starting to look at them in a different light now. Our other big hope is that they’ll get out of the neighborhood and become role models.”
Another group that explores the roots of popular dance genres is Super Uba y Su Conjunto, which specializes in acoustic bachata and merengue from the Dominican Republic. Singer/guitarist Ubaldo “Super Uba” Cabrera says that Dominicans used to scorn bachata because (like Gypsy flamenco) it conveys humble origins.
“For many years, it was an outlaw kind of music,” Cabrera says from his home in Brooklyn. “Many Dominicans didn’t give it much worth because it was music of brothels, of the street. But now it’s the most popular music around.”
The World Music Fest will be Super Uba y Su Conjunto’s first visit to Chicago, and Cabrera says that he is particularly excited about performing Nat King Cole songs in the city where the singer grew up.
Nothembi (full name: Nothembi Mkwhebane) has taken a different musical direction. She adds amplification and modern beats to traditional music.
Notehmbi’s life story has been a triumph over restrictions. When Nothembi was a child, her parents died and her grandparents cared for her. She was unable to attend school and spent days looking after her family’s cattle. In the evenings, Nothembi started playing the songs of the Ndebele people on guitar as she learned them from her grandfather. During apartheid, she was a domestic worker and tried to educate herself at nights. Even after she began recording, she received much less royalties than she deserved since she could not fully comprehend the contracts she signed.
Today, Nothembi runs her own music company and offers advice to young South Africans; especially ones who want to enter the music business. She is especially interested in forging bonds with musicians here when she performs at the festival.
“I’m very proud that I’m the only woman in South Africa who plays guitar,” Nothembi says from her home in Pretoria. “In Chicago do women play guitar? If there is one in Chicago who does, then, please, I want to play with her.”
WORLD MUSIC FESTIVAL
Here’s where to catch the performers in the story, along with a few other notables. The schedule is subject to change. For more information, visit www.ci.chi.il.us/WorldMusic/index.html, or 312-742-1938.
Taller de Compas:
12:30 p.m. Wed., Borders, 830 N. Michigan Ave.
8:30 p.m. Wed., Old Town School of Folk Music, 4544 N. Lincoln Ave.
9:30 p.m. Thur., Randolph Cafe, Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St.
12:30 p.m. Sept. 19, Museum of Broadcast Communications, Chicago Cultural Center
12:30 p.m. Sept. 20, Rogers Park World Music Festival, Howard Street and Ashland Avenue
Super Uba:
12:30 p.m. Sept. 19, Museum of Broadcast Communications
7 p.m. Sept. 19, Humboldt Park Boathouse, 1400 N. Sacramento Blvd.
Noon Sept. 20, Garfield Park Conservatory, 300 N. Central Park Ave.
7:30 p.m. Sept. 20, Old Town School of Folk Music
Nothembi:
1 p.m. Sept. 20, Borders, 1539 E. 53rd St.
7:30 p.m. Sept. 21, Riviera Theater, 4746 N. Racine Ave.
Other performers of note:
The Cool Crooners of Bulawayo: Sublime jazz-inflected harmonies from one of Zimbabwe’s finest vocal groups.
Isaac Delgado: One of Cuba’s hottest singers and the voice of timba, the island’s latest dance craze.
Beat The Donkey: Renowned Brazilian percussionist Cyro Baptista leads this group that combines and remixes many different influences from his adopted New York home.
Razbar Ensemble: An Iranian Kurdish group that performs a repertoire taken from a 500-year-old spiritual tradition.
— Aaron Cohen
The schedule
WEDNESDAY
Museum of Broadcast Communications (MBC), 78 E. Washington St.
Beginning at 11 a.m.: Luis Jahn (Chicago/Argentina), Issa Boulos (Chicago/Palestine); free
MBC
12:30 p.m.: Dan Boadi (Chicago/Ghana), Jim Stoynoff (Chicago/Greece); free
THURSDAY
MBC
11 a.m.: Jan Yrgagy (Kyrgyzstan), Liam Teague & Robert Chappell (Chicago/Trinidad); free
12:30 p.m.: Guerra Freitas (Chicago/Angola), Habibullah Wardak (Chicago/Afghanistan); free
Borders Books & Music, 150 N. State St.
12:30 p.m.: Ellika & Solo (Sweden/Senegal); free
Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St.
6 p.m.: World Music Festival Open House; free
Preston Bradley Hall
6:30 p.m.: Friends of the Gamelan (Chicago)
7:45 p.m.: Habibullah Wardak (Chicago/Afghanistan), Puran Vyas (Chicago/India)
9:15 p.m.: Radio Maqam (Chicago)
Randolph Cafe
7:45 p.m.: Jan Yrgagy (Kyrgyzstan)
Claudia Cassidy Theater
7 p.m.: Liam Teague & Panoramic (Chicago/Trinidad)
8:30 p.m.: Morikeba Kouyate & The Jaliya Ensemble (Chicago/Senegal)
All Building:
(throughout evening) Environmental Encroachment (Chicago)
FRIDAY, SEPT. 19
MBC
11 a.m.: Ellika and Solo (Sweden/Senegal); free
Daley Center, 50 N. Randolph St.
Noon: Razbar Ensemble (Iran); free
Borders Books & Music (State St.)
12:30 p.m.: Perla Batalla (Los Angeles/Mexico); free
Borders Books & Music, 1539 E. 53rd St.
12:30 p.m.: Cool Crooners of Bulawayo (Zimbabwe); free
Mexican Fine Arts Center Museum, 1852 W. 19th St.
7 p.m.: Perla Batalla (Los Angeles/Mexico), Maria del Mar Bonet (Spain); $12
Old Town School
7:30 p.m.: Cool Crooners of Bulawayo (Zimbabwe), Ellika and Solo (Sweden/Senegal); $12
Museum of Contemporary Art, 220 E. Chicago Ave.
7:30 p.m.: Beat the Donkey (New York City/Brazil); $12
Rhythm, 1108 W. Randolph St.
8 p.m.: Drum Drum (Papua New Guinea); $8
Martyrs, 3855 N. Lincoln Ave.
9:30 p.m.: Zemog (Boston), Los Hombres Perdidos (Chicago); $10
Empty Bottle, 1035 N. Western Ave.
10 p.m.: Si*Se (New York City), Youngblood Brass Band (Madison); $10
Sonotheque, 1444 W. Chicago Ave.
11 p.m.: Grupo Okokan (Chicago), DJ Hide (Chicago); $8
SATURDAY, SEPT. 20
Garfield Park Conservatory, 300 N. Central Park Ave.
1 p.m.: Cool Crooners of Bulawayo (Zimbabwe); free
Kids and Kites Festival, Museum of Science and Industry, 5700 S. Lake Shore Drive
Noon: Drum Drum (Papua New Guinea); free
Borders Books & Music (Michigan Ave.)
1 p.m.: Maria del Mar Bonet (Spain); free
Rhythm
2 p.m.: Cyro Baptista/Beat The Donkey (New York City/Brazil); $8
Borders Books & Music, 2817 N. Clark St.
3 p.m.: Si*Se (New York City); free
Museum of Contemporary Art
7:30 p.m.: Razbar Ensemble (Iran), Jan Yrgagy (Kyrgyzstan); $12
Polish Highlander Hall, 4808 S. Archer Ave.
8:30 p.m.: Duvo (Hungary), Siumni (Chicago/Poland); $12
HotHouse, 31 E. Balbo Drive
9 p.m.: Maria del Mar Bonet (Spain), No em Pingo d’Agua (Brazil); $12
Empty Bottle
10 p.m.: Fiamma Fumana (Italy), Zemog (Boston); $12
Martyrs
10 p.m.: Beat the Donkey (New York City/Brazil), Chicago Afrobeat Project (Chicago); $10
Park West, 322 W. Armitage Ave.
10 p.m.: Spanish Harlem Orchestra (New York City), Issac Delgado (Cuba); $15
Sonotheque
11 p.m.: Si*Se (New York City), DJ Anthony Nicholson (Chicago); $8
Rhythm
11 p.m.: Djelimady Tounkara (Mali); $10
SUNDAY, SEPT. 21
River East Art Center/Ogden Slip, 455 E. Illinois St.
Noon: No em Pingo d’Agua (Brazil); free
Borders Books & Music (Michigan Ave.)
2 p.m.: Fiamma Fumana (Italy); free
Chicago Cultural Center
3 p.m.: Kushal Das and Samar Saha (India); free
Old Town School
5 p.m.: Duvo (Hungary), Juliano Milosavljevic Ensemble (Chicago/Serbia); $12
Riviera Theater, 4746 N. Racine Ave.
7:30 p.m.: Youssou N’Dour (Senegal), Nothembi (South Africa), Djelimady Tounkara (Mali); $25
Sonotheque
11 p.m.: Dan Boadi & Ghanatta (Chicago/Ghana), DJ RikShaw (Chicago); $8
