Desert Companion - September 2014

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4 Sept. 30) and blip-hop (RJDs, Nov. 21). (AK) 8p, various prices, Bunkhouse Saloon, ticketfly.com

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Meet the new boss After two seasons of test-driving new musical directors, the Las Vegas Philharmonic kicks off this fall with the man they chose for the job: new Music Director Donato Cabrera. He’ll conduct the season’s first Masterworks Series concert with a housewarming gift in tow: This fall season-launcher features guest vocalist Deborah Voigt, a soprano acclaimed for her startling range and versatility. For an extra $50, you can welcome the new maestro over cocktails in The Smith Center’s Founder’s Room. (AK) 6p, $26-$96, Reynolds Hall in The Smith Center, thesmithcenter.com

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Admit it: You sing it in the shower With her 2013 hit, “Royals,” a lush outsider club anthem for Generation Y, Lorde went viral — but her sudden popularity felt less like another suffocating overnight sensation than a refreshing antidote to ubiquitous GIFs of a twerking Miley Cyrus. Ironically, Lorde, not yet 18, won’t be able to partake of Vegas’ fabled adult excesses — but, also, ironically, the maturity reflected in her lyrics suggests she’s already over it. (AK) 9p, $50, The Joint at the Hard Rock, hardrockhotel.com

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The more, the mariachi What?! I chose Chess Club as my extracurricular activity, when all this time I could’ve been learning the awesomely mawkish trumpet riffs to “Cielito Lindo”? Indeed, since 2002, the Clark County School District’s Mariachi Music Instructional Program has taught upward of 3,000 students in more than 17 district schools the art of mariachi. In celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, the Viva El Mariachi! student concert will feature the program’s best, brightest and loudest. (AK) Free, 7p, Clark County Library Main Theater

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Music unmasked London-based mixman SBTRKT (4) used to wear a tribal mask at his performances. It wasn’t an image gimmick, but a wardrobe choice born of principle: He wanted the focus to be on the music, not any cult of personality. But the critical acclaim for his work put any such concerns to rest, as both consumers and press praised his cosmopolitan, omnivorous, brainy but groovy sound constructions that meld club beats and mood-drenched UK soul. Mindful dance music? It’ll move you in more ways than one. (AK) $30, 8p, House of Blues

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Explosions + grown men in make-up = rock ’n’ roll The conventional wisdom is that the Vegas residency is the tombstone marking artistic death but, I dunno, I have this strange hope that KISS, in all their stubborn insistence on simply, you know, sticking it out for this long, will turn what was formerly considered musical soul-obliteration into a big ol’ party with lots of unreasonably tight leather clothes and pyrotechnic explosions and total guitar face-meltery. *Unfurls tongue in rock ’n’ roll solidarity* (AK) $49, 8p, The Joint in the Hard Rock Hotel, hardrockhotel.com

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We all live in a yellow harmonium Tahir Faridi Qawwal credits his youthful interest in Eastern music to ... the Beatles? Yep. Qawwal eventually studied under Indian and Pakistani qawwali masters, leading to his signature sound. And what sound is that? The seven-piece Fanna-Fi-Allah Sufi Qawwali Party — featuring two harmoniums, tanpura, tablas, hand-clapping and singing — performs the qawwali music of the Sufis of Pakistan, infectious, hypnotic, evolving melodies that can go on for up to 30 minutes. (AK) 7p, $10-$12, Winchester Cultural Center

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An island of musical delights New Las Vegas Philharmonic Music Director Donato Cabrera has said he hopes to deepen and diversify the organization’s programming, and now he’s putting

his hula skirt where his mouth is, in “Pops Series I: Aloha from Las Vegas.” Conducted by Hawaii Pops’ Matt Catingub, “Aloha from Vegas” will feature traditional and popular Hawaiian music, much of it sung by special guest Amy Hanaiali’i, Hawaii’s best-selling vocalist of all time. (AK) 7:30p, $26-$94, Reynolds Hall in The Smith Center


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