BRATTLEBORO — The Brattleboro Music Center's Season Guest Concerts continue Sunday, Dec. 9, with Glen Velez and Handance, featuring special guests, vocalist Loire Cotler; percussionist, composer, and arranger Shane Shanahan; and the contemporary acoustic ensemble Dunham Shoe Factory.
Velez, a four-time Grammy winner, “is considered the founding father of the modern frame drum movement and regarded as a legendary figure among musicians and audiences worldwide,” according to the biography on his website.
“Velez brought a new genre of drumming to the contemporary music scene by creating his own performance style inspired by years of percussion and frame drumming studies from various cultures.
His “virtuosic combinations of hand movements, finger techniques, along with his original compositional style, which incorporates stepping, drum language, and Central Asian Overtone singing (split-tone singing), has undoubtedly opened new possibilities for musicians around the globe, resulting in a shift in modern percussion.”
Cotler is “a world music stylist, composer, recording artist, educator and certified music therapist known for her outstanding Konnakol [an Indian and Australian percussion style], scat singing, and original world jazz standard interpretations,” according to her Wikipedia page. “She contributes much of her rhythmic approach and Konnakol studies to her collaboration with Glen Velez.”
Percussionist, composer, and arranger Shane Shanahan has, according to his biography, “combined his studies of drumming traditions from around the world with his background in jazz, rock, and western art music to create his own unique, highly sought-after style.”
“Since 2000 he has been touring the globe with Yo-Yo Ma as an original member of the Grammy Award–winning Silk Road Ensemble. He has performed and/or recorded with Bobby McFerrin, Aretha Franklin, James Taylor, Philip Glass, Alison Krauss, Deep Purple, Jordi Savall, Sonny Fortune, and Glen Velez, among others.”
Local ensemble Dunham Shoe Factory is a collaboration among Anna Patton, Mac Ritchey, Todd Roach, and Dave Haughey playing original compositions and influenced by world traditions. Combining the clarinet, loud, percussion and cello, their music draws from an array of styles including Egyptian, Jazz, Brazilian, Turkish, Classical, and Indian music.