New York Guitar Festival – 25th Anniversary: Marc Ribot & Leyla McCalla, Yasmin Williams, Neel Murgai & Kunal Prakash

Co-presented with New York Guitar Festival and Kaufman Music Center

Hosted by WNYC’s John Schaefer

Kaufman Music Center – 129 W 67th Street, NYC

Doors 7pm | Show 8pm

The New York Guitar Festival’s 25th Anniversary begins with a typically eclectic event. The duo of Marc Ribot, the New York guitarist, and Leyla McCalla, the New Orleans cellist and banjo player, may seem unlikely at first. Ribot is known for his work with Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, his own avant-noise trio Ceramic Dog, and much more; McCalla writes songs that draw on the African-American string band tradition, Cajun music, and her own Haitian heritage. But Ribot was also a student of the Haitian classical guitarist/composer Frantz Casseus, and the two musicians share a strong genre-agnostic streak. Joining them on this first of two nights celebrating a quarter century of the NYGF is Yasmin Williams. She has extended the “tapping” technique into a whole new way of approaching the guitar, and occasionally adds tap shoes and kalimba to the sound, becoming a literal one-woman band. And the NYGF has long presented related instruments from around the world; for this event, it’s sitarist Neel Murgai, co-director of the globally-inspired Brooklyn Raga Massive, accompanied by Jeff The Brotherhood guitarist Kunal Prakash.