Ithaca Blog

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Alash Meets the Evil City String Band at the Lost Dog Lounge

It sounds like a wrestling card or a grade-B movie. But it is actually a fine and unique amalgam of world music, presented in Ithaca this Friday, 27 March .

It is a bill that spans the globe. Alash is a group of cowboys from Mongolia who sing in an eerie but captivating style called throat singing. From the diaphragm and throat, the singers create multiple notes simultaneously. The sound, once assimilated by the listener, reveals sounds of nature as its ultimate inspiration. Like traditional American cowboys, these men spend a lot of time in remote country, and their art reflects that.

Rounding out the worldly tableau is Ithaca's own Evil City String Band. To Alash, maybe this music sounds exotic. But it has similar strains of remote, country lonesomeness, tempered by jubilation that comes because it has to.

The double bill is presented at the Lost Dog Lounge at 8 pm. Tickets are $15 and will probably sell out for the small venue, so get yours soon. They are available at Small World Music.

Steve Burke
for Ithaca Blog

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