World Music Festival: Chicago 2001 returns to Hyde Park

World Music Festival: Chicago 2001, an extraordinary multi-venue festival of concerts, will celebrate its third year showcasing traditional and contemporary music from dozens of countries. Once again, the festival will include several Hyde Park venues and feature internationally acclaimed performers.

World Music Festival Chicago 2001 is a joint production of the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and the Mayor’s Office of Special Events. The two city departments are working in partnership with the Old Town School of Folk Music, the Museum of Contemporary Art, The Field Museum and HotHouse/CIPEX (Center for International Performance and Exhibition) to present World Music Festival: Chicago 2001 at their venues as well as at the Chicago Cultural Center, "Under the Picasso" at the Daley Civic Center, the Chicago Park District, the University of Chicago and other performance spaces around the city.

The World Music Festival’s Hyde Park performances will include:

• ESCHIKAGOU POWWOW and CLAN/DESTINE–free
  10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 22–Clan/destine will perform at 7 p.m.
  10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 23
  University of Chicago, Midway Plaisance at Dorchester Avenue
  Clan/destine, a Native American band that combines rock, reggae and American Indian influences, will play at the Eschikagou Powwow at 7 p.m Saturday. The six-member group includes a champion hoop dancer who will perform traditional and contemporary dance.
  On both Saturday and Sunday, the powwow will feature hundreds of top-quality performers from throughout North America in singing/drumming competitions. The powwow also will include dancing, storytelling, craft-making and authentic Native American food.

• RUP TUNG CACK–free
  3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 23
  57th Street Children’s Book Fair (57th Street and Kimbark Avenue)
  Rup Tung Cack, a seven-member Vietnamese ensemble, plays music drawn from the country’s rural, court and contemporary heritage. The group features more than 15 different instruments, including gongs, kettle drums, bamboo xylophones and a rack of stones.

• ILGI–free
  6 p.m. Monday, Sept. 24
  Harper Court (52nd Place and Harper Avenue)
  The Latvian ensemble ILGI, formed in 1981, initially became known for playing ancient folk music and sacred songs. Over the years, ILGI has developed an original sound that combines Latvian folk music with contemporary influences.

• MUTABARUKA & THE SKOOL BAND–free
  6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 25
  Harper Court (52nd Place and Harper Avenue)
  Born Allen Hope in Kingston, Jamaica, dub poet Mutabaruka renamed himself after a Rwandan poet; the name means "one who is always victorious." Mutabaruka’s music is sparse, rootsy, and uncompromising, his voice confronting and challenging the listener.

• ECLIPSE and SEBA–tickets $5
  7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 27
  DuSable Museum, 740 E. 56th Place
  Eclipse, from the province of Las Tunas in Cuba, is known for its creative interpretations of traditional AfroCuban rhythms: son, cha cha, mambo and salsa. The seven-member ensemble includes piano, bass, saxophone, trumpet, drums, congas and timbales.
  The group Seba is composed of six brothers, born of Algerian parents in the suburbs of Paris. Seba combines hip hop rhythms, reggae, funk and flamenco with traditional Algerian music.

World Music Festival: Chicago 2001 is partially underwritten through a major grant from The Joyce Foundation. Borders Books & Music and the American Express Company are featured corporate sponsors, and the University of Chicago is providing backer support. United Airlines is the official airline sponsor, Days Inn Lincoln Park-North is the major hotel sponsor, and Hilton Garden Inn is the participating hotel sponsor. Media sponsorship is being provided by CLTV, the CTA and WGN-TV, Chicago.

For a full schedule of World Music Festival: Chicago 2001 events, please call the festival hotline at (312) 742-1938 or visit www.cityofchicago.org/WorldMusic.

Additional Contact:
Blythe Lopez (312) 744-0573