Don't-Miss Music, First Days of October

It can be easy to miss great shows that arrive early in a month, when you have a general idea of their impendingness, but maybe not a firm and determined grasp, til it's too late.

So let us mention two noteworthy shows that arrive even before the first full weekend in October: Michael Franti and Spearhead, on Thursday 4 October, and Yungchen Lhamo, on Friday 5 October, both at the State Theater.

The shows are alike in presenting very current, political, world-influenced music.

Franti is a hip-hop singer with reggae influences, or vice versa. He comes from the Bay Area in California and has been making important music for over a decade, slowly but surely expanding his audience across geography and demographics . In 2006 he was a headliner at GrassRoots Festival.

Yungchen Llaho is known as the Voice of Tibet, for bringing Tibetan music to the world in a politically imperiled time. The New York Times has noted her "prisitne, gliding vocal lines." Ms. Llaho has sung with Peter Gabriel, Laurie Anderson, Lou Reed and Natalie Merchant, and at the State will perform with Hank Roberts and Richie Stearns.

Music by all the artists performing at the State is available at Small World Music.

Details on ticket prices and availability are at the State Theater's website, http://www.stateofithaca.com/.