Category: Arts & Entertainment

by Dave Cunningham, Staff Writer

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You have just one more opportunity to see a live concert at the Bay Club in 2022. On the evening of Saturday, June 11, Barrio Manouche will take the stage at 7 p.m. for the fifth and final performance of Port Ludlow Performing Arts’ (PLPA) 2021-22 season.

Barrio Manouche isn’t a person: that’s the name of the band, which, when you translate the Spanish and French, means “gypsy neighborhood.” The performers hail from many different countries and specialize in flamenco, gypsy and jazz guitar.

If we had to choose just one adjective to describe the music of Barrio Manouche, it would be “high-energy.” You will not be nodding off during this show.

Barrio Manouche
Tickets

The San Francisco-based acoustic ensemble performs a repertoire of original, mostly instrumental compositions, with an emotionally charged sound that is difficult to clas- sify, yet instantly recognizable. The group’s international roots shine in its music, with members from Spain, Canada, France, Brazil and California, deeply influenced by a wide range of musical traditions.

The world-traveling band will be arriving in Port Ludlow after a performance in Barcelona, and they will be playing music from their latest album release, Despierta (which means “wake up” in Spanish.)

A writer for the Berkeleyside newspaper in California described the band thus: “The group is honing a singular body of music that combines the instrumentation and signature rhythms of … the enduringly popular, propulsive string-band style created in 1930s Paris by Sinti guitarist Django Reinhardt and French violinist Stephan Grappelli.”

Barrio Manouche was imagined and then created by guitarist and singer Javi Jiménez, and the band members include Alex Zelnick (guitar), Luis Jiménez (cajón and percussion), Gary Johnson (bass), Cyril Guiraud (saxo- phones and caxixi), Magali Sanscartier (violin, vocals and percussion), Fanny Ara (dance, palmas, castanets and vocals) and Emaye Ama Mizani (dance and percussion).

The band’s unique sound contains hints of the swing of Louis Armstrong and Sidney Bechet to the hot jazz of Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli, the gypsy soul of eastern Europe, the nuevo flamenco of Paco de Lucía and Camarón de la Isla, to the avant-garde sounds of Miles Davis, Ornate Coleman and John Coltrane.

Tickets ($30 each) are available online at Barrio Manouche Tickets and also will be available at the door if any seats still remain. Doors open at 6:30 pm

centrum.org

Red Hot Strings is a celebration of the Jazz Age string players—a long line of musicians steeped in ragtime, blues, and the popular music of the 1920s and ‘30s. This primarily means Hot Jazz and the string-reliant sub-genres of Western Swing, Hawaiian Swing, and the jazzier jug bands of the American South. From Ragtime to Blues, to Classical and Creole, many musical traditions had a hand in the development of the harmonically and rhythmically compelling improvisatory vocabulary of jazz, and stringed instrument players were in the mix from its inception.

Artist of the Month — Gail Larson

“Kyle”
by Gail Larson.

Gail Larson has worked in oils, watercolor, and collage for many years. She is a Signature Member of the National Collage Society. Currently, she’s expressing herself in acrylics.

by Patricia Webber, Guest Writer

“Marthasburgh Across The Water”
by Harold Nelson

PLAL Website

The Port Ludlow Bay Club will host the 2022 Spring Art Fair sponsored by the Port Ludlow Art League on Saturday, May 28, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Bay Club is located at 120 Spinnaker Place in Port Ludlow.

PLPA Website

An offer to first time attendees

Port Ludlow Performing Arts has been bringing world class entertainment to this community for over 30 years. We would like to invite all new residents in Port Ludlow to attend one of our concerts to see what we are all about. Therefore, for any resident who has never attended a PLPA performance we are offering a buy-one/get-one-free ticket to one of our next two performances, which will be the last of this season: