How to go
What: Cityfolk Festival
When: 6 to 11 p.m. Friday, June 29; 1 to 11 p.m. Saturday, June 30; 1 to 10 p.m. Sunday, July 1 (with fireworks at 10 p.m. Sunday)
Where: RiverScape MetroPark, downtown Dayton
Cost: Free ($5 suggested donation)
More info: (937) 223-3655 or www.cityfolk.org
The Cityfolk Festival performance schedule is subject to change. For more festival details, go online to www.cityfolk.org/.
BonSoir Catin
Friday, June 29, at 6 p.m., First and Patterson Dance Stage
Saturday, June 30, at 8:45 p.m., First and Patterson Dance Stage
Sunday, July 1, at 6:45 p.m., First and Patterson Dance Stage
One of south Louisiana’s most exciting Cajun bands, BonSoir Catin is something of an all-star ensemble, bringing together four exceptional musicians who ordinarily work in such well-known bands as Balfa Toujours, the Lafayette Rhythm Devils and the Magnolia Sisters. Kristi Guillory (accordion), Christine Balfa (guitar), Yvette Landry (bass) and Anya Burgess (fiddle) joined forces in BonSoir Catin in 2005, and the band has since played at such high-profile events as the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, the Lotus World Music Festival in Indiana and the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes in Port Townsend, Washington. BonSoir Catin has recorded two critically acclaimed albums — “Blues à Catin” (2006) and “Vive L’Amour” (2009) — that skillfully mix old-school Cajun music from the 1930s and ’40s with the rowdier sounds of the post-World War II dance halls, with the band’s own spin on the tradition on top of that.
Joao Erbetta with Crazy Joe Tritschler
Saturday, June 30, at 2 p.m., Latino Ohio Stage
Sunday, July 1, at 1 and 6 p.m., MetroParks Pavilion Main Stage
Producer, label owner and electric guitar wizard Joao Erbetta plays instrumental surf music, but with a twist. Although based in Sao Paulo, Brasil, Erbetta will have a local collaborator at the festival. “I started looking into building a band around him, and discovered that he and Joe Tritschler are friends and have played together on stages in Europe,” Cityfolk’s Dave Barber said. “Crazy” Joe is a local guitarist, audio engineer and university professor who creates his own musical instruments and recording equipment. “Joe’s building an international reputation not only for his playing, but also for his hot-rod gear,” Barber said.
Luca Ciarla Quartet
Friday, June 29, at 7:45 p.m., MetroParks Pavilion Main Stage
Led by Luca Ciarla, a highly creative, virtuoso violinist from Italy who has taught violin and improvisation for several years, this band combines touches of jazz, classical and world music into an unclassifiable global fusion that has mesmerized audiences at festivals and concerts in more than 30 countries around the world. A pervasive Gypsy vibe animates the distinctively Mediterranean sound of the quartet, which includes, in addition to Ciarla on violin, Nicola Di Camillo (double bass), Vince Abbracciante (accordion) and Francesco Savoretti (percussion). Ciarla has recorded extensively in a variety of formats; the most recent album by the Luca Ciarla Quartet is Il Vento dei Saraceni (2007).
Nuala Kennedy
Friday, June 29, at 6 p.m., MetroParks Pavilion Main Stage
Saturday June 30, at 1 p.m., First and Patterson Dance Stage
Saturday, June 30, at 6 p.m, MetroParks Pavilion Main Stage
Acclaimed Irish singer, flutist and composer Nuala Kennedy performs the traditional songs and tunes of Ireland and Scotland with a rare combination of grace, beauty and power that has captivated audiences and critics on both sides of the Atlantic. A native of County Louth, Ireland, and a resident of Scotland for several years, Kennedy is not only a masterful player of the wooden flute and whistles, but also a compelling and engaging vocalist, whether singing in English, Irish or Scots Gaelic. The founder of the trio Fine Friday and currently a member of the traditional Irish group Oirialla, Kennedy has recorded three albums: New Shoes (2007), Tune In (2010) and Enthralled (2012), a duet album of original material with Canadian fiddler and composer Oliver Schroer. Her third solo album for Nashville-based Compass Records, “Noble Stranger,” will be released later this year.
Red Baraat
Friday, June 29, at 8:45 p.m., First and Patterson Dance Stage
Saturday, June 30, at 3:00 p.m., First and Patterson Dance Stage
“We have types of music that are traditionally part of the festival, but this year we have some new wrinkles like Red Baraat,” said Dave Barber. Red Baraat is a nine-piece band from Brooklyn that was founded in 2008. Led by Sunny Jain, a master of the two-headed Indian drum known as the dhol, Red Baraat has created a world music fusion all its own. The band has recorded three albums (“Chaal Baby,” “Bootleg Bhangra” and “Shruggy Ji”), performed at major festivals and prestigious venues around the world, torn it up on radio programs Fresh Air, All Songs Considered and PRI’s The World and had its song “Chaal Baby” featured in a promo spot for the TV comedy “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.” With an instrumental lineup of dhol, drum set, percussion, sousaphone and five horns, Red Baraat pounds out a wild and unique sound track to a surrealistic, yet-to-be-made Bollywood movie set in New Orleans and New York City.
Rhonda Vincent and the Rage
Friday, June 29, at 9:30 p.m., MetroParks Pavilion Main Stage
Saturday, June 30, at 4:15 p.m., MetroParks Pavilion Main Stage
Singer, mandolin player, bandleader and record company owner Rhonda Vincent is one of the most celebrated bluegrass artists of her generation, with a long list of honors, including bluegrass music’s Entertainer of the Year and Female Vocalist of the Year. With her powerhouse band, the Rage (Ben Helson, guitar; Aaron McDavis, banjo; Hunter Berry, fiddle; Mickey Harris, bass), Vincent delights audiences with her signature blend of traditional and modern bluegrass. A fifth-generation musician who started her career in a family band called the Sally Mountain Show, Vincent has made more than 20 albums since recording her solo debut in 1986; her most recent are “Your Money and My Good Looks” (with country singer Gene Watson) and “Taken.” “She has a solid audience in this area, and a real appreciation for the whole bluegrass legacy in this corner of the state,” Barber said.
Ricardo Lemvo and Makina Loca
Saturday, June 30, at 5:45 p.m., First and Patterson Dance Stage
Sunday, July 1, at 4:45 and 8:30 p.m., First and Patterson Dance Stage
A native of Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and a longtime resident of Los Angeles, Ricardo Lemvo has been widely hailed as a world music pioneer with his innovative African diaspora mixture of pan-African styles with Afro-Cuban rhythms. Lemvo’s ten-piece band Makina Loca is a hard-hitting, multinational ensemble that showcases such stellar musicians as Papo Rodriguez (percussion), Huit Kilos (guitar), Jesus Alejandro Perez-Nino Jesus (piano, flute, guitar, bass), John Roberts (trombone), Kiko Cornejo, Jr. (drums, timbales) and Serge Kasimoff (piano). Singing in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Lingala and Kikongo, Ricardo Lemvo and Makina Loca have recorded five critically acclaimed albums: “Tata Masamba,” “Mambo Yo Yo,” “São Salvador,” “Ay Valeria!” and “Isabela.”
Royal Southern Brotherhood
Saturday, June 30, at 9:30 p.m., MetroParks Pavilion Main Stage
If bloodlines count for anything in blues or rock and roll, the Royal Southern Brotherhood is going to be a heavy, heavy band. Founded in New Orleans in 2010, the Brotherhood’s incendiary front line consists of one of the last great southern soul singers, percussionist and vocalist extraordinaire Cyril Neville (the Meters, Neville Brothers), lead guitarist and singer Devon Allman (son of Gregg, nephew of Duane) and award-winning blues guitarist and songwriter Mike Zito; the veteran rhythm section of bass player Charlie Wooten (the Wood Brothers) and drummer Yonrico Scott (Derek Trucks Band, Gregg Allman) rounds out the Royal Southern Brotherhood. The band’s highly anticipated debut recording, “Royal Southern Brotherhood,” was released by Ruf Records in May. Cyril Neville says his new band makes “a mighty good gumbo.” The group asked to play an extended two-hour set on Saturday night, and Cityfolk was happy to oblige. “We’re always eager for eager bands,” Dave Barber said.
Shoefly
Sunday, July 1, at 1:00 p.m., First and Patterson Dance Stage
Sunday, July 1, at 4:30 p.m., MetroParks Pavilion Main Stage
The beloved local dance and music ensemble Rhythm in Shoes performed its final show at the 2010 Cityfolk Festival, but some of that group’s former members have taken to the stage again under the name Shoefly. “These are local musicians we’re familiar with, but in a new setting,” said Barber. The five-person old-time music and dance group is composed of Rick Good (banjo, guitar, vocals), Sharon Leahy (guitar, bass, snare, feet, vocals), Emma Young (bass, vocals), Ben Cooper (fiddle, bass, vocals) and Paul Kovac (banjo, guitar, mandolin, vocals). The band is solidly rooted in the old-time country stringband music of the 1920s and 1930s, bluegrass and honky-tonk country music — expect lots of red-hot fiddle and banjo tunes, some sweet and soulful singing and Leahy and Young liable at any moment to burst into some exuberant free-style clogging. The quintet’s first recording, “Six-Fifty,” was released in 2011; in addition to covers of songs by Grandpa Jones, Connie Smith and Don Stover, the album contains three songs written by Rick Good, the 2011 recipient of the Ohio Heritage Fellowship award.
Sones de Mexico
Saturday, June 30, at 2:30 p.m., MetroParks Pavilion Main Stage
Sunday, July 1, at 3 p.m., First and Patterson Dance Stage
Sunday, July 1, at 5 p.m., Latino Ohio Stage
Cityfolk favorite Sones de Mexico returns to Dayton with its unique take on Mexican son, a musical form that emerged in the late 1600s as a fusion of indigenous, African and Spanish styles. A six-member folklórico band based in the vibrant Mexican-American community of Chicago, Sones de Mexico specializes in the authentic performance of regional styles including huapango, gustos, chilenas, son jarocho and more. Using such traditional Mexican instruments as the vihuela, jarana, marimba and requinto as well as violin, guitar, mandolin and percussion, the group expertly evokes the rich musical tapestry of traditional Mexico. Sones de Mexico, formed in 1994 by Juan Díes and Victor Pichardo, has recorded five albums: “Que Florezca (Let It Bloom),” “Fandango on 18th Street,” “Esta Tierra Es Tuya (This Land Is Your Land),” which was nominated for both a Grammy Award and a Latin Grammy, “Fiesta Mexicana: Mexican Songs and Stories for Niños and Niñas and Their Papas and Mamas” and “Viva la Revolucíon.”
Stooges Brass Band
Saturday, June 30, at 7:45 p.m., MetroParks Pavilion Main Stage
Sunday, July 1, at 8:15 p.m., MetroParks Pavilion Main Stage
Organized in 1996 and led by Walter Ramsey, the Stooges Brass Band has taken its street-smart mash-up of traditional New Orleans brass band jazz and hip hop beats to stages and parades across the U.S. and in Asia, South America and Europe. The ten-man band is especially popular at festivals and has appeared at such prestigious gatherings as South by Southwest, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, High Sierra Music Festival and the Great American Brass Band Festival. The Stooges have a regular Thursday night local gig at the Hi-Ho Lounge (which band members manage and plan to purchase) and also play steadily throughout the Crescent City. In 2010, the band won the Red Bull Street Kings competition and was showcased in a Documentary Channel program about the event. The Stooges Brass Band, which honed its chops and attitude at many a “second line” parade at home in New Orleans, released its debut album, “It’s About Time,” in 2003.
— Compiled by Adam Alonzo, Contributing Writer