Port City Music Hall, Portland
A live music venue with an intimate, club atmosphere located at 504 Congress Street in Portland’s downtown arts district. All shows at Port City Music Hall are standing-room only with limited reserved seating complete with table service.
December 2017
Banda Magda bursts with humor and a quirky sensibility, powered by unflagging energy. Their songs, sung in French (with forays into six other languages), harken back to the golden age of Brazilian bossa, the best of cinematic arranging, and the lush chic of vintage French pop, all while drawing on the band’s global background. Led…
Find out moreJanuary 2019
“The new princess of Nubian pop” (The Guardian), Alsarah first graced Ovations’ series in 2015 as part of the pan-African music extravaganza, the Nile Project. In 2019, the stunning Sudanese-born singer, songwriter, bandleader and ethnomusicologist returns with her band, the Nubatones. With percussionist Rami El-Aasser, bassist Mawuena Kodjovi, oudist Brandon Terzic, and her sister Nahid…
Find out moreMarch 2019
Maine-based visual artist, Georgia native — Daniel Minter explores sources of artistic inspiration found in Black southern culture and folklore. Illustrated with images of his work, Minter shares the regional and cultural influences, images, stories and sounds that inform both his art and Ranky Tanky’s music. The pre-performance lecture takes place at Port City…
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From playful game songs to ecstatic shouts, from heartbreaking spirituals to delicate lullabies, “[Ranky Tanky] proves that the right musicians can make the past new all over again” (NPR). Trumpeter Charlton Singleton, guitarist Clay Ross, bassist Kevin Hamilton, drummer Quentin Baxter, and vocalist Quiana Parler mix the low country traditions with large doses of jazz,…
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Captivating and ethereal, Niyaz takes folkloric sounds and poetry from their native Iran and modernizes them through contemporary technologies and ideas to create a 21st century global trance tradition that is hypnotic and ecstatic. Led by frontwoman Azam Ali’s “rich and precise voice” (NPR Music), Niyaz’s masterful blend of lush acoustic instrumentation with state of-the-art…
Find out moreOctober 2019
Ever wonder how much of the music you listen to is influenced by ancient Celtic traditions? Kittel & Co’s music is part of a rich tapestry of contemporary string music made today in the American, Scottish, Irish, and Scandinavian music scenes. Join us pre-performance at Port City Music Hall for an exploration of how those…
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Grammy-nominee Jeremy Kittel is recognized as one of the most exceptional violinists and fiddlers of his generation. Joined by his band Kittel & Co., this extraordinary trio of musicians inhabit the space between classical and acoustic roots music, Celtic and bluegrass aesthetics, and folk and jazz sensibilities. From the Telluride Blues Festival to Chris…
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Songhoy Blues is acclaimed for its guitar mastery in the “desert blues” genre of contemporary North African music. The African rhythms underlying the music we know and love as “the Blues” traveled to the Americas via the Trans-Atlantic enslavement and trafficking of Africans. Join us pre-performance at Port City Music Hall as Marc Chillemi highlights…
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“Songhoy Blues puts its own exuberant take on African sounds.” – The Washington Post Sons of Mali, musical refugees, groundbreaking artists, virtuoso performers, survivors. Steeped in the deep traditions of classic Malian music and desert blues infused with youthful and supercharged sounds of today, Songhoy Blues makes music that is unique, exciting, contagious and paradigm-shifting.…
Find out moreNovember 2019
Welcome Home celebrates the vitality of Maine’s immigrant communities through music and storytelling. Palaver Strings will collaborate with guest artists of Franco-American, Burundian, and Iraqi heritage, sharing traditional music and personal stories of their families’ journeys to Maine. As the program tours through Maine, Palaver Strings will celebrate Maine’s cultural diversity, reflect on our own…
Find out moreMarch 2020
“Live, they’re magnetic.” – Los Angeles Times Taking the music scene by storm with electric live performances that cross genres and musical borders, Las Cafeteras embodies a sound that represents a fusion between Spanish, African, and indigenous musical elements. Using traditional son jarocho instruments like the jarana, requinto, quijada (donkey jawbone) and tarima (a wooden…
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