LANDFALL SATURDAY

Gather the kids and friends, grab a blanket or lawn chair, and join us in Greene Square Park for an afternoon of outstanding music and dance from around the globe.

Becky and the Ivanhoe Dutchmen perform Czech and German polkas at dances and festivals across the Midwest and beyond. Featured at the Smithsonian’s 1996 Festival of American Folklife and the 2001 Festival of Iowa Folklife, the group consists of "Barefoot" Becky on accordion and vocals with bandmates on drums, tuba and one or more horn players. Becky Livermore, who grew up in Mt. Vernon, took her first accordion lesson at age ten. When she was 12, she had her first job, playing with Ed Ulch and the Jolly Bohemians. By the time she was 18, she had started her own band. She was inducted into the Iowa Polka Hall of Fame in 2005.

Based in Chicago, Eastern Blok is an acclaimed quartet that blends classical and jazz music with the rich folkloric traditions of Macedonia, Bulgaria, and Serbia. Their music is both alluring and complex. Middle Eastern motifs merge gracefully with the evocative sounds of Eastern European klezmer music. Made up of virtuoso Goran Ivanovic on classical guitar, along with Doug Rosenberg on woodwinds, Matthew Ulery on upright bass and Michael Caskey on percussion, the band has been called "relentlessly innovative." Acoustic Guitar Magazine raves that Eastern Blok plays with “blazing virtuosity and sheer beauty.”

Tango artist Luiza Paes is a Brazil-based dancer and teacher. She discovered tango in Portland, Oregon, of all places. For the next ten years, with her partner Norberto "Pulpo" Esbrez, she traveled the world, teaching on four continents and performing at tango festivals from Buenos Aires to Las Vegas, Boston to Amsterdam. Since February 2008 she has taught and traveled, both as a solo artist and with a variety of partners, appearing in the US,  Hungary, Romania and Egypt. This is her first visit to Iowa.

Blurring boundaries and connecting sounds, syncopations, rhythms and roots is central to the mission inspiring the Guy Mendilow Band. Israeli peace songs and Sephardi canticas meet Bahian street beats and blues. Drawing from a life lived in Israel, South Africa and Brazil, where musical collaboration cuts through ancient conflict, Israeli-born musician Guy Mendilow is sowing the seeds of peace with music. It’s no surprise, then, that the Guy Mendilow Band includes world-class musicians from Israel, Argentina, Japan and the United States. Based in Boston, the group includes Aubrey Johnson (vocals), Andy Bergman (electric mbira, clarinet, flutes, saxophones), Rich Stein (percussion) and Tomoko Omura (violin).