This is a guest post by Music Division intern Liliana Lopez.
THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS and WASHINGTON PERFORMING ARTS PRESENT
SUMMER CONCERTS ON THE LAWN
Thursday evenings at 7 pm, July 19-August 23, 2018
Great music on a beautiful green lawn… bring your friends and some nice cold lemonade—don’t miss the Library’s brand-new, free outdoor concert series coming up on July 19th!
This summer the Library of Congress joins forces with Washington Performing Arts’ Mars Urban Arts Initiative to deliver a lively lineup of terrific musicians from the DC scene. For a wonderfully relaxing evening, race down after work to find us on the north lawn of the Library’s Thomas Jefferson Building. Tickets are not required, but real estate on the lawn can fill up fast, so do come early: first-come, first-served. You can register using the links below to receive any updates about the events (registration is not required).
Our concerts will be presented as preludes to the LOC Summer Movies on the Lawn, a six-film series showcasing classic, family-friendly films from the Library’s National Film Registry. Each film screening will follow the musical performances at sundown. Capitol Hill staffers—avoid the rush hour! Interns—it’s all free and really fun! Parents—share your favorite films with your children, and forget about babysitters!
Starting up on the 19th, you’re in for a treat. Batalá offers Afro-Brazilian percussion sounds that will lift your feet off the grass (just remember to stick your dancing shoes in your briefcase.) These six performances will be a diverse and engaging sampling of styles and trends, from jazz and tango to hip-hop and West African world music. A marvelous double bill closes the series on August 23: DuPont Brass and VeVe and Tha Rebels. Representing the rich variety of musical genres held in the Library’s music collections, this new concert series is the latest of many activities presented by the Library of Congress that seek to make America’s library and its treasures more accessible to everyone.
For more information and to register for the events, please visit loc.gov/concerts.
THURSDAY, JULY 19, 7 PM
Batalá Washington DC

Batalá Washington DC is an all-female Afro-Brazilian percussion band (banda feminina) that plays samba-reggae rhythms from Brazil’s north east state of Bahia. With colorful costumes and instruments, its exuberant performances create a striking visual and auditory experience. Founded in 2007, the DC group is part of a larger international community, the Mundo Batalá family, including over 30 bands worldwide. Register here for free (registration not required). This concert precedes the screening of The Goonies.
THURSDAY, JULY 26, 7 PM
Chelsey Green

With performances often described as passionate, vivacious, electrifying, and innovative, Billboard-charting international recording artist Chelsey Green brings the vibrancy of exhilarating violin and viola playing and unique, rich vocals to worldwide audiences in a whole new way. A native of Houston, Texas, Green was born into a family of jazz and funk musicians and started her performance career as a violinist at age 5. She is the 2017-2018 Washington Performing Arts Mars Urban Arts Initiative Artist in Residence. Register here for free (registration not required). This concert precedes the screening of E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.
THURSDAY, August 2, 7 PM
Cheick Hamala Diabate

Though Cheick Hamala Diabate sticks to the old-school roles of the griot, his music embraces the panoply of sound he discovered in America, taking him beyond the traditional trio of griot instruments: the n’goni, kora (gourd harp) and the balafon (wooden xylophone). He has long explored the connection between America’s traditions and his own griot roots. In 2007, Diabate’s collaboration with banjo player Bob Carlin, “From Mali to America” led to a Grammy nomination for Best Traditional World Music Album. Register here for free (registration not required). This concert precedes the screening of Back to the Future.
THURSDAY, August 9, 7 PM
Trifilio Tango Trio

Formed in 2015, Trifilio Tango Trio is an international project that presents virtuosic performances of original tango music from Buenos Aires and Washington DC. Led by Argentine Emmanuel Trifilio (composition, bandoneon) and Devree Lewis (arrangements and cello), the trio celebrates the tango classics while creating new repertoire for today’s audiences. A DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities grant recipient, the group has performed recently in Havana, Cuba, San Francisco, Miami and Houston. Register here for free (registration not required). This concert precedes the screening of Superman.
THURSDAY, August 16, 7 PM
Sarah Marie Hughes and Coy Fish

Sarah Marie Hughes is an alto saxophonist, composer, and music educator from Pasadena, Maryland. She is primarily a free improviser who creates within and on top of many genre frameworks including but not limited to jazz, experimental, swing, blues, folk, pop and rock music. She appears with her quartet Coy Fish. Register here for free (registration not required). This concert precedes the screening of The Wizard of Oz.
THURSDAY, August 23, 7 PM
DuPont Brass and VeVe & Tha Rebels

DuPont Brass describes itself as “a unique, soulful brass band hailing from the DC metropolitan area.” Started by five music majors from Howard University, today the band has thirteen musicians: brass, a rhythm section and vocalists, trained in both classical and contemporary genres. The band has taken its irresistible stylistic blend of jazz, hip-hop and R & B to appearances throughout the city, including concerts for the D.C. Jazz Festival and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
VeVe & Tha Rebels is a Washington, D.C. based Afro-folk band, led by singer-songwriter Violet Marley. The Afro-folk sound is a mixture of folk, blues, go-go and reggae. Veve & Tha Rebels will release a new culmination of songs written over the past year by Marley that addresses issues of love, community, race, criminal justice and much more. Register here for free (registration not required).
This is a standalone concert, with no film screening.