Heartbeat LA

 

      Discover the heartbeat of L.A. this summer!  

This year's schedule is especially rich in the musical streams that live and flow in the region and often merge to create new sounds. Our official season opens June 1 and runs through October, offering an eclectic and innovative lineup:

 

Krautrock Classics: An Evening of Cosmic German Music, presented by DUBLAB & The Goethe-Institut Los Angeles kicks off the summer June 1. Local bands Nite Jewel & friends, Pharaohs and others perform music by such bands and artists as Kraftwerk, Faust, Can and Neu! On August 12, banjo picker Sammy Shelor, the winner of the Steve Martin prize for Excellence in Banjo and Bluegrass, headlines a bluegrass evening with his Lonesome River Band. 

Krautrock

A trio of drum-centered events is on tap. Beat the Drum (July 15) moves to the Ford from the Craft & Folk Art Museum. Titled East Los Meets West Los, the show features East LA Taiko (Latin-Afro-Cuban-Japanese taiko), CAVA (taiko and cajon) and Atabey (Puerto Rican bomba). Son of the Drum (July 27) layers the Cuban music of the bata, conga and cajon with modern sounds created by samplers and turntables. TAIKOPROJECT presents some of the largest drums in Southern California as well as the nuanced music of the koto (Japanese harp), the mellow tones of custom-made marimbas and the group's new hand-crafted tank drum in Rhythmic Relations 2012: The Remix Show (June 30).

 

Taiko

Several events focus on the cultural traditions from regions of Mexico. The son jarocho of Veracruz is the centerpiece of Fiesta Jarocha - Conjunto Jardin 15th Anniversary (June 2) bringing together two masters of the genre from Mexico, Alberto de la Rosa and Don Fallo Figueroa & Son Candela. The 4th Annual Noche Veracruzana: Arpas de America (September 1) spotlights the harp as used in son jarocho and other traditions; headliner Tlen-Huicani combines the music of Veracruz with the sounds of Venezuela and Latin America. The odyssey of mariachi music from Mexico to the U.S. is traced in Viva La Tradicion! A Tribute to Nati Cano y Los Camperos (September 15). Grandeza Mexicana Folk Ballet explores the  magic and mysticism of Mayan culture in the Yucatan, Tabasco and Chiapas (July 14).

 

Conjunto Jardin

The Ford adds a second spoken word event to its schedule with WordTheatre presents Storytales (October 6), featuring selections from John Edgar Wideman's groundbreaking new collection of micro-fiction, BRIEFS, as read by well-known actors such as Lynn Whitfield and Robert Wisdom, among others. Flypoet Entertainment returns with Mid-Summer Classic (July 7) melding internationally-known spoken word artists, live music and intepretive performance art.

 

This is just a sampling of the many diverse groups who will be performing this season. We look forward to seeing you this summer at the Ford!

 

 

 

2012 Ford Amphitheatre Season Announcement

 

2012 Season-at-a-Glance

 

 

Cahuenga Pass