The Cedar Presents
Robert Lehmann "Ancestral Currents" Album Release with sunpearl
Friday, June 27, 2025 / Doors: 7:30 PM / Show: 8:00 PM
All Ages
Seated
$20 General Admission
*For Cedar Presented shows, a $4 facility fee is included in the ticket price (Ticket fee info here).
This is a seated show with general admission, first-come-first-served seating. The Cedar is happy to reserve seats for patrons who require special seating accommodations. To request access accommodations, please go to our Access page.
For Cedar presented shows, online ticket sales typically end one hour before the door time, and then, based on availability, tickets will be available at the door. Tickets purchased at the door will include a $1 Eventbrite fee.
LISTEN
ABOUT THIS SHOW
Where are we from? What ancestral currents flow together to coalesce in the person you see before you today? In Robert Lehmann’s debut release Ancestral Currents: Stories of My Lolo, Immigration, and Self, he digs into those questions, tracing moments of his Lolo’s life growing up in the Philippines under the shadow of war, immigrating to the U.S. in the 1960s with a blossoming family, and Lehmann’s own journey reconnecting back to family and place in Ilocos Sur. Pulling together samples of stories, traditional Filipino instruments, and his own rich fabric of keyboard playing, Lehmann aims to be part of the efforts to heal generational trauma in the wake of catastrophe. Opening the night is sunpearl, an ambient improvisatory vocal project led by fellow Filipina Isabel Fajardo.
Robert Lehmann
Robert Lehmann is a mixed-Filipino musician specializing primarily in keyboard-based instruments, with significant experience in Arabic drumming, as well. Robert’s keyboard work draws on his many years studying western classical music on the piano, re-examining those sounds under new lights of improvised music and electronic synthesis. He gathers disparate influences across minimalist and classical piano, house and electronica, hip-hop, choral, ambient, jazz, and film scoring, particularly drawing on Romantic and Impressionist era influences, as well as pulling from Arabic music and Afrobeats from his years spent in those ensembles.
Robert Lehmann plays keys and beats with several Twin Cities groups including Afrobeats/hip-hop artist Fanaka Nation; Asian-American pop trio, The Umamies; Afrorock artist, Obi Original; Arabic drumming group, Yalla Drum; Arabic music chamber group, The Arab Band; and improvised music in solo format as well as a duo with Toby Ramaswamy on the drums that is not quite jazz, not quite neoclassical, not quite minimalist, not quite drum and bass.
In Spring of 2024, Robert and Toby embarked on a successful 11 date international tour to Brooklyn, NY and back to perform and record with esteemed multi-instrumentalist and grammy-nominated artist, Shahzad Ismaily. Their debut offering with Paul Taylor of Crowded House is in the works.
To learn more about Robert Lehmann:
sunpearl
sunpearl is an ambient vocal project that draws improvisation from the dancing thrum of the rain, and the gentle echoes of a near empty room. Through soft, reflective soundscapes, sunpearl soothes and creates a feeling of introspection, inviting you in.
This iteration of sunpearl is Isabel Fajardo (vocals, effects), Nathan Levin (bass) and Joe Strachan (keys).
To learn more about sunpearl:
Robert Lehmann is a fiscal year 2024 recipient of a Creative Individuals grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board. This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.
