Over the decades, the neighborhoods and communities along the CTA’s Green Line “L” have generated scores of musical luminaries and incubated a variety of musical genres including gospel, house, hip hop, and electric blues, all of which have enshrined Chicago as a musical epicenter.
Old Town School’s Green Line Exchange project will produce comprehensive event and educational programming through partnerships on Chicago’s South and West side neighborhoods through multiple residencies throughout the year.
Old Town School seeks to celebrate the Green Line’s important cultural heritage, and bridge neighborhood segregation through collaborative residencies featuring local, national, and international artists. The residencies of The Green Line Exchange include a variety of performance and educational activities held at Old Town School’s campuses as well as with the School’s current and emerging partners on the South and West sides.
Mancha ‘E Plátano
Mancha ‘E Plátano is an all-women bomba group based in Barcelona, Spain. Their traditional repertoire incorporates new arrangements of old school Afro-Puerto Rican songs and poems, as well as original compositions.
Wednesday, September 8, 2021
4544 N Lincoln Ave., Chicago, IL 60625
Live Performance - World Music Wednesday Concert Series - 8:30pm
Old Town School of Folk Music
4544 N Lincoln Ave., Chicago, IL 60625
Open To The Public - Free. $10 suggested donation. Registration required.
Tickets ▸
Thursday, September 9, 2021
International Connections: 50 Years Of Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center with Mancha ‘E Plátano, Chicago’s Bomba con Buya and Cerqua Rivera Dance Theater
Segundo Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center (SRBCC), Chicago’s longest-standing Puerto Rican cultural center, celebrates its 50th Anniversary bringing together Bomba practitioners from Barcelona and Chicago as part of MacArthur Foundation’s International Connections Program.
Zaiko Langa Langa
Founded in early 1969, Zaiko Langa Langa are a seminal contemporary Congolese band from DR Congo. Their music and creativity has greatly influenced Congolese and African music on the whole. Voted and crowned "band of the century" in Democratic Republic of Congo, they remain one of the most influential bands in African music.
Sunday September 12, 2021
Live Performance – 4:00pm-6:00pm
Stony Island Arts Bank
6760 S Stony Island Ave, Chicago, IL 60649
https://rebuild-foundation.org/
Open To The Public - Free
Presented by Old Town School & Rebuild Foundation
Tuesday, September 14, 2021
Dance Workshop - 6:30pm-8:00pm
Dorchester Arts & Housing Collaborative
1456 E 70th St, Chicago, IL 60637
Open To The Public - Free
Presented by Old Town School & Rebuild Foundation
Wednesday, September 15, 2021
Live Performance - World Music Wednesday Concert Series - 8:30pm
with special guests Pibo Marquez y Champetronik
Old Town School of Folk Music
4544 N Lincoln Ave., Chicago, IL 60625
Open To The Public - Free. $10 suggested donation. Registration required.
Presented by Old Town School & Rebuild Foundation
Tickets ▸
Saturday September 18, 2021
Live Performance - 4:00pm - 6:00pm
5804 W Race Ave., Chicago, IL 60644
Presented by Old Town School & Front Porch Arts Center
Rising Star Fife & Drum Band
Larry Taylor & The Soul Healers
American fife and drum blues is a vanishing American folk music tradition derived from country blues, martial music tradition, and African rhythms. The late, great legendary Othar Turner founded the Rising Star Fife and Drum Band which is now led by his granddaughter, Shardé Thomas.
Larry Taylor, legendary band leader, producer, singer, and drummer from the West Side of Chicago, has been there. And he knows how to bring it --the blues, and the rhythm. Real music all people can enjoy. He faithfully carries not only his father's 1950s music traditions (master guitarist Eddie “Playboy” Taylor,) but also a stack of lively R&B/soul tunes which sprang from blues in his own West Side neighborhood.
Wednesday, September 22, 2021
Live Performance - World Music Wednesday Concert Series - 8:30pm
Old Town School of Folk Music
4544 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago, IL 60625
Open To The Public - Free. $10 suggested donation. Registration required.
Tickets ▸
Thursday, September 23, 2021
Live Performance - with Larry Taylor - 6:00pm - 8:00pm
Austin Town Hall
5610 W Lake St, Chicago, IL 60644
Open To The Public - Free
Presented by: Old Town School, Chicago Park District, Front Porch Arts Center
Friday, September 24, 2021
Live Performance - History Of Fife & Drum with Rising Star Fife & Drum Band 2:00pm - 3:00pm
DuSable Museum of African American History - Roundhouse Plaza
Open To The Public - Free
Presented by: Old Town School, DuSable Museum of African American History
Erol Josué
Erol Josué was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti in 1970 and is a world-renowned and highly respected expert in the centuries-old Haitian Vodou religion.
Ordained as a Houngan (Voudou priest) in his teens, Erol Josué currently holds the position of General Director of Haiti's National Bureau of Ethnology, acting as both an academic and living emissary for his birthplace and the Haitian Voudou religion. Erol Josué's work reflects the essence of the heritage of his country with precision, humor, zeal, complexity, surrealism, and entrancing music.
Tuesday, October 5, 2021
Dance Workshop - 6:30-8:00pm
Dorchester Arts & Housing Collaborative
1456 E 70th St, Chicago, IL 60637
Open To The Public - Free
Presented by Old Town School & Rebuild Foundation
Wednesday, October 6, 2021
Live Performance - World Music Wednesday Concert Series - 8:30pm
Old Town School of Folk Music
4544 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago, IL 60625
Open To The Public - Free. $10 suggested donation. Registration required.
Tickets ▸
Thursday, October 7, 2021
Live Performance - 7:00pm - 8:30pm
DuSable Museum of African American History
740 E 56th Pl, Chicago, IL 60637
Open To The Public - Free
Presented by: Old Town School, DuSable Museum of African American History
Angel Bat Dawid & Sistazz of the Nitty Gritty
Sistazz of the Nitty Gritty (named by artist/musician Lonnie Holley) are clarinetist/vocalist Angel Bat Dawid, pianist/vocalist Anaiet, and bassist Brooklynn Skye Scott. Emerging from the Great Black music traditions of Chicago and active Chicago Black Artist Union Members, this ensemble comes together with a myriad of musical backgrounds, textures, and sounds relying heavily on spontaneous compositions and improvisation.
Wednesday, October 27, 2021
Live Performance - World Music Wednesday Concert Series - 8:30pm
with Erthe St. James
Old Town School of Folk Music
4544 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago, IL 60625
Open To The Public - Free. $10 suggested donation. Registration required.
Tickets ▸
