Let It Djembe
FRI 10/22
The United States has produced its share of outstanding female drummers: Sheila E. played with glamorous flair, Samantha Maloney made Mötley Crüe her home sweet home and, on the local landscape, Amy Farrand provided Sister Mary’s brutal backbeat. West Africa’s Amazones also have ascended to iconic status in their homeland, but first they had to prove they could skillfully strike the sacred djembe drum. In Guinea, the djembe‘s birthplace, archaic rules prohibited women from touching the instrument. But when he moved to New York, Guinea native Mamoudou Conte found women who played it at an accomplished level. He proposed a tour that would add 12 women to the 7 established male masters and, overcoming resistance from his country’s elders, launched it in 2000.
The Amazones’ performances would be striking even outside their sociocultural context. The drummers enhance their mesmerizing rhythms with complex choreography. The program starts at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Lied Center (1600 Stewart Drive in Lawrence). For tickets, call 785-864-2787.—Andrew Miller
Code Blue
10/22-10/31
On the day Pope Paul visited New York City’s Yankee Stadium in 1965, more than one Catholic family’s home was in an uproar. But none more than that of the fictional Artie and Bananas Shaughnessy, whose chaotic living room is the site of John Guare’s funny yet corrosive House of Blue Leaves, opening the Barn Players’ 50th season this week in their new digs at 6219 Martway in Mission. The play is one of those rare works that artfully incorporate farce, black comedy and tragedy without splintering into unmanageable pieces. Anyone who has seen a good production can confirm its unforgettable last scene. For tickets to the show, which runs through October 31, call 913-432-9100. — Steve Walker
Heat of the Moment
Share A. Graham with your friends.
SAT 10/23
Have you been shut out? We know how you feel, and so do the rockers in A. Graham and the Moment Band. Judging by the overwhelming response to the KC band’s self-released This Tyrant Is Free, there is hope of belonging for misfits. The group has been picked up by the Canadian label Sonic Unyon, which represents Frank Black and the Catholics. Not too shabby, eh? To celebrate the album’s international release, the band plays Saturday at the Brick, 1727 McGee. And we wish to retract the statement in a previous album review in which we exclaimed that we rarely listen to local groups this religiously without harboring crushes on band members. Just because we don’t have a crush doesn’t mean these guys aren’t crushworthy. Go get ’em, tigers. — Gina Kaufmann
