This year, catch 11 different shows of the Minnesota Fringe Festival at The Cedar! Scroll down to see complete listing of Cedar shows.

This year, catch 11 different shows of the Minnesota Fringe Festival at The Cedar! Scroll down to see complete listing of Cedar shows.

This year, catch 11 different shows of the Minnesota Fringe Festival at The Cedar! Scroll down to see complete listing of Cedar shows.

This year, catch 11 different shows of the Minnesota Fringe Festival at The Cedar! Scroll down to see complete listing of Cedar shows.

This year, catch 11 different shows of the Minnesota Fringe Festival at The Cedar! Scroll down to see complete listing of Cedar shows.

This year, catch 11 different shows of the Minnesota Fringe Festival at The Cedar! Scroll down to see complete listing of Cedar shows.

This year, catch 11 different shows of the Minnesota Fringe Festival at The Cedar! Scroll down to see complete listing of Cedar shows.

This year, catch 11 different shows of the Minnesota Fringe Festival at The Cedar! Scroll down to see complete listing of Cedar shows.

This year, catch 11 different shows of the Minnesota Fringe Festival at The Cedar! Scroll down to see complete listing of Cedar shows.

This year, catch 11 different shows of the Minnesota Fringe Festival at The Cedar! Scroll down to see complete listing of Cedar shows.

This year, catch 11 different shows of the Minnesota Fringe Festival at The Cedar! Scroll down to see complete listing of Cedar shows.

Maria IsaA special event presented by DEMO, in conjunction with the inaugural Afrifest. Doors will open at 6pm, music will begin at 6.30pm on the patio stage, and mainstage acts will begin at 7pm. Acts to include Wegegta (Ethiopian soul/hip-hop), Quilombolas (Afro Pop), Munnah (Liberian R&B), Maria Isa (Latino hip-hop) and Incognito (African pop).

Tickets $10 at the door

Mexico City's seminal jazz group Sacbe, featuring Twin Cities bassist Enrique Toussaint and brothers Eugenio and Fernando, returns to The Cedar with an amazing group of guest artists for a triple celebration: the 30th anniversary of Sacbé, the release of Enrique's latest CD Communidad, and Fernando's 50th birthday!

Roma Di LunaJoAnna JamesWe're starting the 18th season at The Cedar with a spectacular night of music from some of the very best emerging local acoustic musicians, Roma Di Luna and JoAnna James! And as a thank you to the community who support us in so many ways throughout the year, we're making this event as accessible as possible: it will be absolutely free to attend the show (come early to be guaranteed entry), and like all Cedar shows, it will be all ages. We'll have tickets available for purchase for upcoming September and October shows, you can get full details on other Fall shows, and staff and board members will be on hand for you to meet and to receive your input. And this is a great opportunity for you to introduce The Cedar to friends, neighbors and family who somehow have never quite made it along here!

Kim RicheyKim Richey is one of those great singer/songwriters that once discovered, you cannot understand why she is not the household name her abundant talents demand. After writing huge hits with Radney Foster and Trisha Yearwood in the 90's, she has released a string of brilliant solo albums, culminating after a five-year wait in her July 10, 2007 release Chinese Boxes. Exquisitely produced by Giles Martin (the son of legendary Beatles producer George Martin) and recorded in London, Chinese Boxes is a floaty pop-folk masterpiece replete with songs dealing with the complexity of relationships and revealing a growing wisdom.

Eliza GilkysonRay BonnevilleThe Cedar is delighted to welcome back Grammy nominee and Austin Music Hall of Fame member Eliza Gilkyson, fresh from the release of her first ever live collection of her trademark outspoken songs, Your Town Tonight (Red House Records), and bluesman Ray Bonneville in a rousing double bill.

“Masterfully structured, startlingly intimate songs in a beautifully lived in voice” (Boston Globe on Eliza Gilkyson)

“Gilkyson’s signature as an artist is her courage. She lays it all bare, in song and on stage.” (Austin American Statesman)

Tickets

$15 advance ON SALE now, Cedar ticketline (612-338-2674 ext 2) and Ticketweb

$18 day of show

ILGI is the best-known Latvian folk music group, and celebrates their 26th anniversary this year. Although inspired by ancient Latvian folk music, ILGI does not avoid modern themes and instruments, and embellishes its sound with folklore elements from different lands.

Lenka DusilovaOne of the shining stars of Czech popular music, Lenka Dusilová appeared at The Cedar last year fronting the folk-rock band Czechomor. Now this Angel Award winner returns to perform her original material. If you enjoy the likes of Neko Case, PJ Harvey, Charlotte Hatherley, Rilo Kiley, or even Björk, then you should find Lenka Dusilova right up your alley. She has a unique style, subtly combining elements of her traditional Czech music background together with modern indie rock to create catchy songs punctuated by her captivating vocal ability.

After more than sixty years blowin' the blues and always a showman, James Cotton has few legitimate rivals for the title of MR. SUPERHARP! Legendary blues harmonica master James "Jimmy" Cotton has worked with some of the biggest names in the blues, including Sonny Boy Williamson, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters and Otis Spann, as well as toured with Janis Joplin.

Susan Kay "Suzy" Bogguss is an American country music singer and one of the most acclaimed female country singers of the 1980s and 90s. Her list of achievements includes the Academy of Country Music's award for Top New Female Vocalist, the Country Music Association's Horizon Award, six top ten singles, one platinum album, and three gold albums. TICKET ADVISORY: GOOD SUPPLY OF TICKETS AVAILABLE AT THE DOOR TONIGHT!

Fans of breakthrough artist Robert Randolph need look no further for an authentic source of inspiration: The Campbell Brothers present Sacred Steel: African-American gospel music with electric steel guitar, pedal steel and vocal. This tradition is just now emerging from the House of God Keith Dominion Church, where for over sixty years it has been an integral part of worship and a vital, if little known, American tradition. As the music moves from sanctuary to concert hall -- including the
Hollywood Bowl, the Kennedy Center, Brooklyn Academy of Music and
Symphony Space -- secular audiences are now able to appreciate a
performance both devoted and rocking. The music of the Campbell Brothers so captivated avant garde jazz guru John Medeski that he produced and guest performed on their most recent album, Can You Feel It? (Ropeadope)

Rory Block Steve ForbertTwo well seasoned ace musicians with attitude, country blueswoman Rory Block, and raspy singer-songwriter Steve Forbert in one fine night of music-making! Each artist has a new album out, and an extensive back catalog of old favorites to draw upon; each is a consummate live performer.

The Cedar is proud to be presenting the iconic folk-rock artist Ani DiFranco at the State Theatre, Minneapolis. SOLD OUT! NO MORE TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE FOR THIS SHOW.

Due to the cancellation of their Fall tour, Tartit will NOT be appearing at The Cedar on Sept 21. We hope to bring the group back at a future date.

Winner "Newcomer" BBC Awards for World Music 2005!
With his scarecrow looks, wild howls of creative fervour and almost
terrifying mastery of the accordion, few artists can match the impact
of Chango Spasiuk's recent triumphant 'arrival'. He has brought with
him a charming band and a little known music called chamamé, from the
north eastern corner of Argentina.

Ever wondered who was behind the haunting flute solos in the Lord of the Rings movies? While flautist Alan Doherty reached by far his biggest audiences through that role, he also makes beautiful music with Gráda, one of the best of the next generation of groups mining the rich traditions of Irish music. They distinguish themselves from the flock by combining those influences with a hint of jazz, and even more diverse world music influences, yet without ever losing the Irish essence. 

So what has Everyman singer songwriter Loudon Wainwright III been up
to lately? For a start, he has appeared as an obstetrician/gynecologist
who misses the birth of his patient's baby in this summer's hit movie
Knocked Up. He also appeared recently as a priest in The 40-year-old virgin. He
collaborated with Joe Henry on the soundtrack for Knocked Up, the
fruits of which have been released as Strange Weirdos: Music From and
Inspired by ‘Knocked Up'. TICKET ADVISORY: A LIMITED SUPPLY OF RESERVED PREMIUM SEATING STILL AVAILABLE FROM TICKETWEB (SEATS IN ROW 5), AND FROM THE CEDAR TICKETLINE 612-338-2674 EXT 2 (SEATS IN ROWS 3 AND 4).

Nordic Roots Festival 2007 will feature Harv, JPP, Ruth MacKenzie's Kalevala: Dream of the Salmon Maiden 10th Anniversary Concert,
Sinikka Langeland Trio, [ni:d], Den Fule, and Lännen-Jukka String Band! The festival will run over three days from the evening of Friday Sept 28 through to Sunday Sept 30 evening, with morning workshops and afternoon and evening concerts both days of the weekend.

Festival passes are on sale from The Cedar and Ticketweb now for only $99. Pass-holders gain admission and access to the premium, front centrally-located seating area for all five Nordic Roots Festival concerts.

This year’s festival offers up some particularly exciting examples of transatlantic cross-fertilization: local artist Ruth MacKenzie will launch the festival with a special one-off 10th anniversary concert reprise of her remarkable Kalevala: Dream of the Salmon Maiden project, featuring many of the musical performers from the original theatrical productions. SORRY, ALL TICKETS HAVE SOLD OUT. THERE MAY STILL BE AVAILABLE NORDIC ROOTS FESTIVAL PASSES FOR $99, GIVING YOU ENTRANCE AND PREFERRED SEATING TO ALL FIVE NORDIC ROOTS SHOWS--CALL THE CEDAR FOR MORE INFORMATION (612-338-2674 EXT 0). We encourage you to explore other Festival offerings!

Nordic Roots Festival 2007 will feature Harv, JPP, Ruth MacKenzie's Kalevala: Dream of the Salmon Maiden 10th Anniversary Concert,
Sinikka Langeland Trio, [ni:d], Den Fule, and Lännen-Jukka String Band! The festival will run over three days from the evening of Friday Sept 28 through to Sunday Sept 30 evening, with morning workshops and afternoon and evening concerts both days of the weekend.

Festival passes are on sale from The Cedar and Ticketweb now for only $99. Pass-holders gain admission and access to the premium, front centrally-located seating area for all five Nordic Roots Festival concerts.

A newcomer to the Festival, the unalphabetizable trio [ni:d] features the fluid fiddle of Mia Gustafsson and cool sax of Hanna Wiskari in their instrumental ensemble music with jazz, folk, and classical overtones.

"Their music felt like the early primeurs of spring or the first tender green
leaves of the beech wood, all bathed in a special light. The light! It may not be very
common to associate
music with light, but that was one of the first sensuous impressions I got from
[ni:d]´s tone art. Totally unique! When listening, I can only close my eyes and go on a sparklingly
clear journey through the warm sound and light landscape of [ni:d]. I hope you,
as a listener, can do the same." (Mikael Marin [Vasen], Producer)

Festival favorites include the Finnish stringband JPP, touring in support of their excellent 2006 release Artology (which includes not only their trademark Finnish folkloric fiddle tunes, but also a tribute to swing fiddler Stuff Smith, and a Finnish tango piece)

Nordic Roots Festival 2007 will feature Harv, JPP, Ruth MacKenzie's Kalevala: Dream of the Salmon Maiden 10th Anniversary Concert,
Sinikka Langeland Trio, [ni:d], Den Fule, and Lännen-Jukka String Band! The festival will run over three days from the evening of Friday Sept 28 through to Sunday Sept 30 evening, with morning workshops and afternoon and evening concerts both days of the weekend.

Festival passes are on sale from The Cedar and Ticketweb now for only $99. Pass-holders gain admission and access to the premium, front centrally-located seating area for all five Nordic Roots Festival concerts.

In a completely new direction for the festival, Lännen-Jukka String Band, featuring Finnish pop music star J. Karjalainen, fearlessly tackles in Finnish the Charley Patton-inspired blues of fellow Finn Lännen-Jukka. Lännen-Jukka spent over a decade as a young man in pre-depression era USA, traveling the rails and absorbing the folk, hillbilly and blues stylings of the time, before returning to a quiet life in Finland until his death in 1981.

Harv started out in the folk fiddle duet tradition, but has now expanded to being a lively quartet.

Eleni MandellHowe GelbA rare night with two distinctively-voiced and fiercely independently-minded singer-songwriters: Howe Gelb and Eleni Mandell!

As guitarist, composer and vocalist, Washington D.C. native Joel Harrison occupies a musical space between many worlds: jazz, African and Indian, contemporary classical, blues and Appalachian songs all have a place in his unique approach.
In early 2006, Joel Harrison was commissioned by Chamber Music America and
the French
Cultural Alliance to compose music for an allstar group of French and
American jazz
musicians. The music on Harbor (released in April on Highnote) is a crossroads of jazz, rock, Indian, and African
music where lyricism
meets electronics, raga meets jazz harmony, and the after effects of Miles
meets Messiaen
and the Middle East. The sophisticated writing marks Harrison as one of the
jazz world’s
premier composers. Renowned guitarist Pete McCann replaces French-Vietnamese
guitarist
Nguyen Le for this tour.

Open Stage with host Baby Grant Johnson. Johnson has been performing in bands and solo since the 1980's. Most notably with bands such as Beyond Zebra who released two albums for Twin/Tone records in the early 1990's.

The Cedar welcomes back acoustic/pop duo Storyhill, riding high on the success of their Red House Records release Storyhill. Produced by Grammy winner Dan Wilson, the new album represents a return to their roots and highlights the qualities that have brought them so far from the early days in Montana: strong melodies and consistently great singing. Intense slide guitarist Kelly Joe Phelps will open for Storyhill, and brings his own magic to the evening.

The University of Minnesota School of Music will celebrate the life of
Mirjana "Minja" Lausevic, in a service at the Cedar Cultural Center on
Saturday, October 13, 2007 at 12:30 p.m.

Rogarian Baba-que: Artwork by Aaron PrinsenThe Upper Midwest's finest Balkan and International dance band is in the mood to celebrate, and you're invited! Orkestar Bez Ime's trilogy of International folkdance music is complete with the release of their third CD, "Nice Driveway Vol 3: Rogarian Baba-que". OBI's new CD features more of the band's appealing blend of traditional tunes drawn from Balkan sources and beyond including yet another Rogarian original, "Tumikol". Using a mix of folk and modern instruments—including accordion, clarinet, dumbek, flute, guitar, kaval, tambura, violin and voice—the group (Colleen Bertsch, Dee Langley, Katrina Mundinger, Natalie Nowytski, and Tim Wahl) stays close to traditional Eastern Europe through its Rogarian melting-pot sensibility. Join OBI for the music of Armenia, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Hungary, Kosovo (Albania), Macedonia, Moldavia, Romania, Rusyn, Serbia, Sweden and, of course, Rogaria.

Eugene ChadbourneA seemingly endless--and endlessly eclectic--series of releases has made the innovative guitarist Dr Eugene Chadbourne ("Jack") one of the underground community's most well known and well-regarded eccentrics; he was frontman for Shockabilly, worked with members of Camper Van Beethoven and Fred Frith, and continues to explore unique styles of music, perfored on a variety of instruments including the electric rake. Jimmy Carl Black ("Jim"), original drummer and vocalist with The Mothers Of Invention ("Hi, boys and girls, I'm Jimmy Carl Black and I'm the Indian of the group."), not only appeared on more than 15 of the original Zappa/Mothers albums, he also starred in the Zappa movie "200 Motels" with Ringo Starr and Keith Moon, played drums with Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band and recorded countless albums around the States and Europe.

An evening of intelligent, lyrical songs from one of the best of the next generation of singer-songwriters, Idahoan Josh Ritter. Josh and a full band will be celebrating the August 21 Sony release of his highly anticipated label debut The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter. Arriving at the apex of a breakout year, Historical Conquests—Ritter’s fourth full-length CD—follows the success of the critically acclaimed The Animal Years (2006), which The Boston Globe described as his “most intensely political, deeply personal, and darkly ambitious disc yet...” Paste Magazine named him one of the “100 Best Living Songwriters” and author Stephen King named it his #1 album of 2006 stating, “This is the most exuberant outburst of imagery since Bob Dylan’s A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall.”

THE October 18 CéU SHOW HAS BEEN CANCELLED. PLEASE WATCH OUR WEBSITE FOR A FUTURE RESCHEDULED DATE! Just when you think that Brazil must surely have exhausted its supply of irresistibly jazzy, funky, sexy, soulful electro-pop singer-songwriters, someone like CéU comes along and makes you think that maybe that particular well is bottomless after all.

Join premier autoharp and dulcimer player Karen Mueller as she celebrates the release of her latest CD, "Landscape of the Heart." The album is a joyous nod to her prairie roots, full of upbeat tunes and songs, including traditional, original and contemporary pieces. Performing with Karen tonight will be two long-time musical friends, Pete Mathison on bass and vocals (Cousin Dad, Farm Accident), and Lisa Fuglie on fiddle, mandolin and vocals (Monroe Crossing).

Lebanon's composer/musician Marcel Khalifé is a master and innovator of the oud (fretless lute) and a pioneer of contemporary Arab song. Renowned throughout the Middle East for over three decades, he has sustained a following akin to pop artists. In 2005, he was named UNESCO Artist for Peace. Performing on oud and vocals, he will be accompanied by the Al Mayadine Ensemble in a program featuring works from his new recording Taqasim, as well as selections from his older repertoire.

TICKET ADVISORY: A good supply of tickets will be available for purchase at the door tonight--bring ALL the family!

Mike Silverman (a.k.a. That 1 Guy) may have started as a classically trained bassist, but with his creation of the beautiful monstrosity that is The Magic Pipe, he has entered weirdly wonderful, deliciously uncharted territory. Seven feet of galvanized steel and hardware store trinkets, the metallic, one-stringed instrument is brought to life by an array of electronic gadgets. Silverman claims the pipe, "not only has a limitless harmonic and sonic range, but limitless rhythmic possibilities as well." When That 1 Guy performs live, his imagination is what truly seems limitless. On top of his infectious, innovative style, the artist throws more avant-garde treats into the mix, like impassioned Whodini covers and electrified cowboy boots.

Zipp's Liquors & The Seward Co-op present: The Bi-Annual
Zipp's/Seward Wine Show and Tasting...over 150 wines, tons of unique
spirits, lots of cool beer and fresh food to sample...all to benefit
one of the coolest non-profits around: The Cedar Cultural Center!

Tickets

$25 from LocalWineEvents.com

Issa

ISSA. That is the name she now goes by. The artist formerly known as Jane Siberry now answers to Issa (ee-sah). Why, you might ask her? “It was time.” In her own trademark fashion of never following fads or trends, Issa furthers her consistent evolution as an artist. In the spring of 2006, for example, she sold off or gave away most of her possessions, including a home in Toronto. “I want to live in a more grateful way and be available to follow the current,” said Issa. And how do these changes find a place in her artistry? Issa now finds her home where her he(art) is. Being weighed down only by a knapsack and performing commitments, she can stay and work wherever she is inspired. “In letting go of everything,” she says, “it also means letting go of knowing how to write music. But I do know the world is restless for a new kind of music. As am I. Past music is not serving us as it used to. We are all changing.”