Perelman Theater sizzles!

On four Thursday nights this summer, the Kimmel Center brings the vacation to you! The Global Grooves world music dance parties are better than a cruise. With a dance floor and cash bar in Perelman Theater, you’ll leave the city behind and travel to exotic locales — no packing, no travel agent, no passport required!

	Boban i Marko Markovic Orkestar

Boban i Marko Markovic Orkestar
THURSDAY, JULY 24 | 7:30pm
Tickets: $20

Celebrated both in his native Serbia and abroad as the greatest of Balkan trumpeters, Boban Markovic has led his Orchestar to international acclaim, boldly going where no other brass band has gone before and enhancing the traditional repertoire with a trail-blazing mix of Latin, jazz and pop. Boban now has fulfilled his promise to hand over the artistic direction of the Orkestar to his son Marko, who carries on the family’s reputation for unequaled musical innovation. Like his father before him, Marko is leading the Orkestar in ever-expanding new directions.

> www.myspace.com/bobanimarko

	James Brown

Still Black, Still Proud:
An African Tribute to James Brown
With special guests Cheikh Lo and Vieux Farka Toure
Pee Wee Ellis and Fred Wesley, musical directors
THURSDAY, AUGUST 21 | 7:30pm
Tickets: $25

Dance to classic soul and funk with an African twist at Still Black, Still Proud, featuring an international lineup of funk musicians and members of James Brown’s own band.

> www.myspace.com/cheikhloofficial
> www.vieuxfarkatoure.com

Interview with Cheikh Lo:

What attracted you to perform as part of Still Black, Still Proud?

Well, I've been contacted by the great saxophone player from James Brown band, Mr. Pee Wee Ellis. I knew PW since 1999 when we met in Dakar to record my album Bambay Gueej in which he plays with his distinctive touch and his brilliant groove. When he called me, I felt that I was really honored to participate in this homage to such a huge artist and I appreciated the fact that PW and Fred Wesley thought of African artists as guests. Also, how could I also refuse to be in a tour called Still Black, Still Proud?

What memories do you have of James Brown as a person and a performer?

As a person, you only have to listen to "Say It Loud, I'm Black and I'm Proud." Nobody had ever shouted that so clear on a stage to encourage his people, almost in those difficult moments, when to be black in the United States was not easy. On stage he was like a lion, tireless.

How were you influenced by his soul music in the 1960s and '70s?

I heard a lot of James Brown music in the '70s. He was an African-American, so his unstoppable beat was directly descent from those we play in Africa. That's why many Africans we felt that his funky beat was also our beat.

How did that music translate, and be adapted, into the African styles which you were playing?

You know I am singer... I can also play guitar and percussion, but my foundation was as a drummer. So, the syncopated rhythm in James Brown's music is something that I feel really close to those we play here in Africa, as I said before. But, most of all, you can appreciate his music's influence in my song "Bambay Gueej" included in my second CD with the same title. When I thought in the rhythm for those lyrics, nothing else but a JB groove came to my mind. And I think I got on the good foot!