Event

Summer Concert Series: Duende Libre and Sabu

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Orcas Center’s Summer Concert Series
FREE on the Village Green

In partnership with the Orcas Island Jazz Festival:
Duende Libre Quintet and Sabu

Duende Libre is an award-winning jazz ensamble which combines jazz virtuosity with roots rhythms from Cuba, Brazil, and West Africa into a “strikingly authentic blend.” Each having apprenticed with direct descendants and master musicians of these traditions, they consider themselves disciples of their teachers. The result: A euphoric new jazz that honors its historical roots, pushing open the boundaries of genre to invoke a powerful sonic freedom.

Comprising core members Alex Chadsey (bandleader and keys), Jeff Busch (percussion), and Farko Dosumov (bass), Duende Libre is collectively influenced by direct connections with master musicians including Clinton Fearon, Dudley Nesbitt, Dave Hassel, Jesse Bannister, Chucho Valdés, Carlos Santana, Martha Gonzalez, Quetzal Flores, and Joe Santiago

“Each member’s experiences are vital as they filter West African traditional rhythms through their own hands, voices, minds, bodies, each song as much choreography as a composition,” PopMatters wrote. “Hopeful in sound as well as in ideological foundation, [the band creates music] full of heart and historical multitudes.”

Pop Matters calls it “globally-inspired jazz with dimension.” You will encounter sizzling rhythms and grooving basslines, experimental meters and irresistible melodic hooks, all aglow with the technical virtuosity earned by decades of devotion to their craft.

The band effectively—and uniquely—calls attention to the space between contemporary jazz traditions and broader musical influences from around the globe. Informed by a cumulative century of devoted study, they answer to this with emphatic (and euphoric) sonic interpretations that effectively enrich the collective language of jazz itself.

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Sabu is a six member drum ensemble based on Orcas and San Juan Islands . We play the traditional music of the Maninka, or Mindinka, people of Guinea and Mali in West Africa. Our presentation of this music is in the style of renowned Guinean djembefola (djembe player) and teacher Mamady Keita.

This music is traditionally played at celebrations and gatherings of all kinds, and the village comes out to dance! The ensemble consists of djembes, which are goblet shaped, goat skinned drums played with the hands, and 3 dununs, which are cylindrical, calf skinned drums played with a stick. The dununs also have metal bells, which are played with metal strikers. The dununs are called, from largest to smallest, dununba, sangban, and kenkeni. Like the jazz that grew from it as it crossed the Atlantic, this music has a highly improvisatory nature, especially in the djembes and dununba.

The members of the ensemble, many of whom have been playing together for almost 30 years, are Beau Borrero, Jason Holden, Credence Ross, John Quigley, Derek Learned, and Eben Shay.

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