Music

Viva City was initiated eighteen years ago to showcase the outstanding arts education offered in the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS). This district-wide event is made possible by high-quality arts programs and the extraordinary volunteer efforts of MPS arts educators, students and families. Participants in Viva City represent only a fraction of those involved in visual, literary and performing arts classes across the city. The event motivates students, celebrates student achievement in the arts and provides staff development for teachers. The arts are a vital, nationally recognized component of Minneapolis Public Schools. The artwork and performances represent the breadth of the district art curriculum and attention to Minnesota Academic Standards. In their festival preparation, performance, and exhibition, the students have worked toward the Minnesota Academic Standards in Artistic Creativity, Performance and Interpretation. Read more »

Justin Roberts is truly one of the "all-stars" of the indie family music scene.  Justin and his trusty band The Not Ready for Naptime Players dish out unexpectedly intelligent and whimsically rocking music for kids and their parents. No stranger to The Cedar, Justin's shows always draw a large and enthusiastic crowd, with many youngsters choosing to get up close in front in the specially cleared dancing area/mini-moshpit. Great fun!

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Singer, songwriter, actor and social commentator Loudon Wainwright III has now lived longer than his father, and appropriately enough has chosen to mark the occasion with a new album Older Than My Old Man Now, inspired by five generations within the family. With more than 40 years of songwriting and performing under his belt, Loudon has a wealth of material to draw upon, and an ever-sharpening wit that finds humor and wisdom in topics ranging from the profound to the mundane. And yes, perhaps a political song or two is to be expected in an election year.

The Cedar is now fully air-conditioned for your year-round comfort!

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Mother and daughter performing music together! Suzzy rose to prominence as one of three sisters in vocal group The Roches, who released eleven albums together. She has followed up with solo albums Holy Smokes and Songs from an Unmarried Housewife and Mother, Greenwich Village, USA, and her collaborations with sister Maggie: Why The Long Face, and Zero Church. She is also a writer, and recently published her debut novel Wayward Saints (Hyperion). Daughter Lucy has also embraced a musical career, producing two EPs, and a debut album Lucy, and blazing a trail with her genuinely warm, engaging stage presence.

The Cedar is now fully air-conditioned for your year-round comfort!

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Two years after winning a 2010 Grammy in the best traditional folk album category for Genuine Negro Jigs, African-American string band Carolina Chocolate Drops are back on The Cedar stage with a new album Leaving Eden (Nonesuch, Feb 28, 2012). The group has a couple of new members, too, as guitarist, banjo player and singer Hubby Jenkins and New Orleans-based cellist Leyla McCalla are now part of the touring line-up along with founding members Rhiannon Giddens and Dom Flemons. Yet amidst the changes and their newfound prominence, the group's joy in performing classic old-time fiddle and banjo music for an enthusiastic audience remains undimmed. Not to be missed!

The Cedar is now fully air-conditioned for your year-round comfort!

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Thirty-five years after first hearing each other at the Institute for Young Blind in Bamako, Mali, and eight years after their Manu Chao-produced album Dimanche à Bamako thrust them into the global limelight with its sunny charm and irresistible  grooves, Amadou & Mariam and their band are finally appearing in Minneapolis to give a rare, small club performance at The Cedar, copresented with the Walker Art Center, and Sue McLean and Associates.  

A smash double bill from a pair of Minnesota's finest indie acts.

Ticket options and info

• On sale date: noon Fri Feb 3
• Phone: 612-338-2674 ext 2 ($1 fee per ticket)
• In person: From a Cedar volunteer in the front lobby during events (no fee; cash, check, credit card), Depth of Field (no fee; cash or check only), or Electric Fetus (small fee)
• Online: Ticketweb (fees apply) (click on red Buy Tickets button at top of this page)
• All Cedar shows are all ages.
• Students with ID may purchase tickets at a discount at the door.

The Real-Phonic Radio Hour is a monthly showcase of American roots music, poetry, the arts and a world gone mad, performed before a live studio audience. This month's show at the Cedar Cultural Center features Dead Man Winter fronted by Dave Simonett (Trampled by Turtles), singer-songwriter Randy Weeks, and poet Julia Klatt Singer.

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A return visit by the awesome and ever so clever Portland Cello Project, augmented by violinist, loopist and vocalist Emily Wells, performing together and separately. And two new CDs means twice the fun! Emily's new album is called Mama, and comes out April 10 on Partisan Records.

Ticket options and info

• On sale date: noon Fri Feb 3
• Phone: 612-338-2674 ext 2 ($1 fee per ticket)
• In person: From a Cedar volunteer in the front lobby during events (no fee; cash, check, credit card), Depth of Field (no fee; cash or check only), or Electric Fetus (small fee)
• Online: Ticketweb (fees apply) (click on red Buy Tickets button at top of this page)
• All Cedar shows are all ages.
• Students with ID may purchase tickets at a discount at the door.

Canadian folk rockers Great Lake Swimmers return to The Cedar on tour in support of their fifth full length album New Wild Everywhere, the followup to 2009's breakout Lost Channels. They are joined by rising star Cold Specks, whose eerily penetrating 'doom soul' music is steeped in the musical traditions of the Deep South.

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