Calendar
Guitar/Kora w Abdoulaye Conde
A night of acoustic solo and duet performances. Nathaniel Braddock performs modern fingerstyle guitar music as well as a large repertoire of African acoustic styles learned on his travels through West and Central Africa. Braddock leads groups Occidental Brothers Dance Band Int'l, Trio Mokili, and the Accra Quartet, and has just released a record of palmwine music recorded with musicians in Accra, Ghana. Abdoulaye Conde is a kora player taught in the griot tradition of his home city Conakry, Guinea. He is also a visual artist and muralist working in his signature style of "Gnabassan," which reflects his Malinke heritage and experiences across cultures. His original paintings and murals can be found throughout Conakry and other cities.
Talking about African Guitar Scenes
Former OTS teacher Nathaniel Braddock returns to share his recent research of guitar music from his travels in West and Central Africa. For this talk, he will focus on his chapter, "African Electrical Networks," from the newly-published Cambridge Companion to the Electric Guitar, as well as from his forthcoming article in the Fretboard Journal, “Mathématiques Congolaises: The Hidden Luthiers of Modern Kinshasa.” This program is designed as a presentation and conversation with the school community, and not as a hands-on workshop. Braddock will share videos, audio, and photographs, and discuss new ideas in how people are writing about guitar music.
Register HERE
Workshop: Roots Guitar from the African Continent
Braddock has spent twenty years traveling in Africa and collaborating with musicians from across the continent. In this workshop, he will share music from the continent's many fingerstyle acoustic guitar traditions. We'll look at music from Ghana, Mali, Congo, and beyond, touching on the styles of palmwine, guitare seche, desert blues, makossa, and more. Tablature provided. Bring a capo.
Register HERE
Trio Mokili @ California Clipper
Two sets of African musics from my Mokili, OBDBI, and Kobeta repertoires. Guests!
Kobeta ya Makasi w Flying Vipers
My new group launches with a show in support of our dub reggae friends, the Flying Vipers, in support of their new record
Kugende mu Kikadde
Boston-area all star Ugandan band with guest singers from Kampala, Sophie Nantongo and Hajji Haruna Mubiru. I play the guitar
Occidental Brothers Dance Band Int’l: Chicago
Join us for the greatest live music series in the world! Chicago Summer Dance.
Occidental Brothers Dance Band Int’l
Join us for a club date in one of the best live rooms in the US.
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Jupiter & Okwess
I’m filling in with this amazing Kinshasa band at the Shakori Fest, Pittsboro, NC
Occidental Brothers Dance Band Int’l: Madison
OBDBI return to Madison, presented by our friends at Blue Stem Jazz. Venue Link here
Occidental Brothers Dance Band Int’l: Chicago
Join us for a record release/20th Anniversary celebration concert
3 Rites: Happiness, w Occidental Brothers Dance Band Intl
3 RITES: Life, Liberty, Happiness is a trilogy featuring three interactive performance rituals that integrate dance, live music, text, visual installations, community discussions and shared meals to humorously and poignantly interrogate why life, liberty and happiness were included as unalienable rights in the United States Declaration of Independence. 3 RITES explores what the right to life, liberty, and happiness means today, who has access to these rights, and how they manifest in the body.
3 Rites: Happiness, w Occidental Brothers Dance Band Intl
3 RITES: Life, Liberty, Happiness is a trilogy featuring three interactive performance rituals that integrate dance, live music, text, visual installations, community discussions and shared meals to humorously and poignantly interrogate why life, liberty and happiness were included as unalienable rights in the United States Declaration of Independence. 3 RITES explores what the right to life, liberty, and happiness means today, who has access to these rights, and how they manifest in the body.
3 Rites: Happiness, w Occidental Brothers Dance Band Intl
3 RITES: Life, Liberty, Happiness is a trilogy featuring three interactive performance rituals that integrate dance, live music, text, visual installations, community discussions and shared meals to humorously and poignantly interrogate why life, liberty and happiness were included as unalienable rights in the United States Declaration of Independence. 3 RITES explores what the right to life, liberty, and happiness means today, who has access to these rights, and how they manifest in the body.
3 Rites: Happiness, w Occidental Brothers Dance Band Intl
3 RITES: Life, Liberty, Happiness is a trilogy featuring three interactive performance rituals that integrate dance, live music, text, visual installations, community discussions and shared meals to humorously and poignantly interrogate why life, liberty and happiness were included as unalienable rights in the United States Declaration of Independence. 3 RITES explores what the right to life, liberty, and happiness means today, who has access to these rights, and how they manifest in the body.
Ugandan Dance Bands: Ekibiitu Ky'endongo Mu Boston
Central African jams w Jaymo Kasenge, Mbalire I Nulu, Sydney MC, Bruno Semax, Julius Juuko and Touch n’Soul Band
Online Workshop: Alternate Tuning Speed Dating
In this workshop you'll be introduced to the different philosophies of alternate guitar tuning, from Open to Modal and beyond. You'll learn the secrets of your favorite players Elizabeth Cotten, Nick Drake, Keith Richards, and Thurston Moore. Instructor Nathaniel Braddock brings his years of experience as a player, teacher, and composer to help you explore the guitar's paths less taken.
Online Workshop: Introduction to Fingerstyle Arrangement
Nathaniel introduces his method for arranging basic folk and pop music for solo fingerstyle guitar with a clear melody on top and harmonic accompaniment on bottom. You'll also get a couple of finished arrangements in this style. A familiarity with the major scale and pitch is recommended.
Online Workshop: New Resources for Creative Fingerstyle
Tired of the same handful of tunes and patterns? Fingerstyle guitarist Nathaniel Braddock shares alternate resources for new rhythmic and harmonic invention and discusses a method for keeping your playing fresh and engaged. Composer and performer Braddock is a former OTS instructor now located on the East coast. Recommended for intermediate and advanced guitarists. Some fingerstyle experienced required.
Online Workshop: Exploring The Guitar with Modes
Explore your understanding of scales and harmony while opening up your access to the fingerboard! This workshop presents a set of shapes that break you from your normal patterns and opens up your ears. These are the tools that inspired everyone from Miles Davis to Carlos Santana. From the familiar to the exotic, you'll come away with tools for interesting solos and sparkling chords, and can even change the way you think about writing songs! Open to electric and acoustic players.
![Non Event Solo Guitar [Online]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5f1f5eda9a4cc521f9dc289f/1621525572563-G40Z0FHFS444QM4T5KCW/IMG_9773.JPG)
Non Event Solo Guitar [Online]
Online concert presented by Non-Event will feature new and experimental work for acoustic guitar
Occidental Brothers in NYC
Join the Occidental Brothers Quartet for a free, outdoor concert at Snug Harbor on Staten Island
ONLINE MASTERCLASS: Yaa Amponsah, the Mother of West African Guitar
West African guitar workshop
ONLINE MASTERCLASS: The Guitar of Nick Drake
Learn the essentials to play the music of Nick Drake
ONLINE MASTERCLASS: American Primitive Guitar of John Fahey
Learn essentials of the music of John Fahey
Online Guitar Concert
An online concert of original, Americana, and African fingerstyle guitar music