The ukulele is not an intimidating instrument, says Jake Shimabukuro. “Even if you’ve never played an instrument before,” he says, “you’re not afraid to pick it up and try it.” […]
Music
SEE SAW
The Unearthly Wonder of the Musical Saw
Leigh Calabrese plays a Stradivarius of a different sort
Leigh Calabrese plays a Stradivarius — but not the kind you think. It’s a musical saw — a 32-inch flexible steel blade with sharp teeth and a wooden handle. The […]
CHAMBER MUSIC
The Legacy of Two Musical Crowd-Pleasers
A septet and a sextet, superior and strange, will command the stage in Wellfleet
Ludwig van Beethoven’s Septet in E-flat Major, Op. 20, premiered at the Royal Imperial Court Theatre in Vienna on April 2, 1800. The concert started at 6:30 p.m. and also […]
VOILÀ!
The Unifying Voice of the Viola
The Catalyst Quartet celebrates the unsung
Paul Laraia’s viola looks like a rare antique: it’s 16⅜ inches long, with a varnished body the color of amber. Its shoulders are narrow at the top and steeply sloped; […]
SING STREET
DeAngelo Nieves Is Here to Stay
How a multi-instrumentalist street musician fell in love
On a fog-thick night in July 2021, DeAngelo Nieves pointed his electric scooter east from his father’s farm in Goshen, Mass. and rode 11 hours to Provincetown. A guitar was […]
TRIBUTE
Dear Leonard Cohen
Perla Batalla’s latest album is dedicated to her friend and mentor
Singer Perla Batalla got a call in 1988 from Roscoe Beck, Leonard Cohen’s bass player, asking her to audition as a backing vocalist for the renowned Canadian musician. After getting […]
CONNECTING STRINGS
Roads and Bridges Through Landscapes of Sound
Indian classical musicians Kunal Gunjal and Amit Kavthekar traverse a multicultural geography
More than 1,500 years ago, the santoor, a trapezoidal instrument with 100 metal strings tightly stretched over 25 wooden bridges, made its way along the Silk Road, carried from Iran […]
‘CUMBIA IS LOVE’
The Heartbeat of Colombia
Yeison Landero, grandson of a master folk musician, keeps the legacy alive
Yeison Landero says he had “a beautiful childhood” in the green mountains of San Jacinto, Bolívar, in northern Colombia. Famous musicians came to his house: accordion players Alfredo Gutiérrez, Lizandro […]
TRADITION
Where We’ve Been and Where We’re Going
Kenny Neal brings the swamp blues to Truro
Kenny Neal can’t say for sure which was the first instrument he ever played. It seems to him he’s always been a musician — growing up in Baton Rouge, La., […]
DANCE
The Motion of Erosion
Choreographer Michael Spencer Phillips makes the sand a stage
In the golden evening light at Race Point Beach, an audience assembled on towels and blankets. Nearby, a group of dancers in white swayed gently back and forth, stretching and […]
PORTUGUESE FESTIVAL
Singing With Love
Fadista Celia Maria returns to Provincetown Town Hall for an increasingly rare ritual
At her home in South Dartmouth, Celia Maria recalls the fado singers who have inspired her. She opens the doors to her media center to reveal hundreds of LPs, 45s, […]
BOW AND BRUSH
A New Music Series Aims to Bridge Mediums
The Outer Cape Chamber Music Festival begins as a conversation between classical music and visual art
The Outer Cape, weathered and romanced by the Atlantic and bathed in a certain extraordinary light, has long inspired visual artists. Their work is all around us. What would happen, […]
JAMBALAYA
A Musician Conjures a Story for the Soul
David Eure makes his violin squeal, bark, thump, and sing
When David Eure plays his violin, its fingerboard dusted with rosin, he’s constructing a masterpiece of texture and inflection. In performance, he says, “Your audience is your canvas, and you’re […]
MUSIC
Indie Playlist: Outer Cape Summer Edition
Music to get excited about during the best time of the year
Few places in the world have as high a residents-and-visitors-to-musical-performers ratio as does the Outer Cape between Memorial Day and Labor Day. But how best to plan your schedule with […]
ROCK AND SOUL
Lisa Fischer’s Buffet of Sound
The former backup singer will take center stage at Provincetown Town Hall with Grand Baton
When Lisa Fischer was growing up in Brooklyn, she was “like a sponge,” she says, “soaking up whatever syrup was around.” The syrup was music. Her grandparents listened to jazz […]
