Tickets are available at the door!
This special evening at ISSUE hosted by Marc Ribot and Howard Wolfson benefits the Frantz Casséus Young Guitarists Program in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti with a program of works by and in tribute to the great composer and teacher. Marc Ribot, along with two other disciples of Casséus: Italian classical guitarist Alberto Mesirca and Haitian guitarist Marc Mathelier, pay tribute in separate sets. The evening also features Trio Blastphemy (Curtis Hasselbring, trombone; Ben Holmes, trumpet & flugelhorn; Marcus Rojas, tuba;), vocalists Melanie Charles and Barbara (Perlow) Simon (who sung on Casseus’ 1969 Haitiana recording reissued on Smithsonian Folkways) and Frantz’s great nephew DJ Greg Caz.
The event also celebrates the publication of a new book of with newly found compositions, Frantz Casséus Guitar Works, compiled by Marc Ribot and Alberto Mesirca and published by Zimmerman.
Exclusive performance by Marc Ribot & Alberto Mesirca
Reception with complimentary drinks and DJ Greg Caz
Reserved seating for 8pm Performance
Performances by Marc Ribot, Alberto Mesirca, Marc Mathelier, Melanie Charles,
Barbara Simon, Trio Blastphemy
Before Marc Ribot made a name for himself as a pioneering force in NYC's downtown music scene and as guitarist for luminaries like Tom Waits, Wilson Pickett and The Lounge Lizards, he began his guitar studies as a teenager with close family friend, the Father of Haitian classical guitar, Frantz Casséus.
After Haiti was devastated by earthquake in 2010, Ribot founded the Frantz Casséus Young Guitarists Program in Port-Au-Prince, using funds from his former mentor's publishing, which he'd inherited after Casséus' death in 1993. The program, run jointly by the Haitian Music Company, Caracol and the Holy Trinity Music School, offers a haven for creativity and stability to low-income students.
Read an article Marc wrote on Frantz Casséus in 2003 for BOMB Magazine: http://bombmagazine.org/article/2540/frantz-casseus