Events

Join us for a performance by the Obruni Dance Band in The Green Room at Crosstown Arts on Wednesday, March 20.

The Obruni Dance Band specializes in West African highlife music, the eminently danceable grooves that have dominated popular music in Ghana for nearly a century, where cascading guitar arpeggios swirl around intricately locked bass and drums. Obruni is the brainchild of bassist and singer Adam Holton, who studied the music of Ghana for a time. (from Alex Greene, The Memphis Flyer)

Crosstown Arts presents Chicago-based drummer, producer, and sonic collagist Makaya McCraven in the Green Room on Thursday, March 21.

Makaya McCraven is a beat scientist. The bleeding edge drummer, producer, and sonic collagist is one of Chicago’s savviest cultural players and a multi-talented force whose inventive process & intuitive, cinematic style defy categorization.

Join Memphis Symphony Orchestra clarinetist Rena Feller for the second Spotlight Concert Series performance at Crosstown Arts. Rena will be joined by flutist Delara Hashemi, bassoonist Susanna Whitney, and pianist Susan Snyder for a program of works by Johann Joachim Quantz, Georg Philipp Telemann, Jacques Ibert, Walter Piston, and Max Friedman (premiere).

The Mystic is a catalyst; through music, story, silence and dialogue, we hope to strengthen our attachment to hopes and dreams. In the mystic, diversity is a prerequisite for all creativity, which is why Crosstown Concourse is the perfect home. In The Mystic, the world is far-better served by different beliefs than it could ever be if limited by rigid uniformity. The Mystic is hosted by a rotating panel including Rabbi Micah Greenstein, Chris Miner, Dr. Scott Morris, Dr. Sonia Walker and Kirk Whalum.

With a line-up of Philadelphia musicians whose influences range from Sun Ra to Bulgarian brass bands, West Philadelphia Orchestra is a unique live ensemble in today’s auto-tuned musical world. They began playing Romanian ballads, Macedonian folk-dance songs, Bulgarian wedding music, and Klezmer in late 2006, and have continued expanding their repertoire of Eastern European music.