MAY
27th Los Fakires (Cuba): 8pm£12.50 (9)
Opening this 15th Anniversary series these unique musical time travellers are straight out of the 1940s and the early 1950s, five extraordinary Cuban musicians from our grandparents’ world. Their unique sound is liquid velvet , silky smooth, the evocation of an honest, uncomplicated, rural Cuba and their style reflects a repertoire culled mostly from the preceding three decades. This is a Cuban retro music performed as if it was written yesterday - and yesterday was 1952.
June

2nd Los De Abajo: 7.30pm £12.50 (9)
‘…the 10-piece band started at full tilt and continued at much the same pace for nearly two hours… This band has to be experienced live.’: The Guardian ‘…nothing could dispel the euphoria of a night which took many back to the celebratory but politically charged era of the Clash and the Specials. They [Los de Abajo] really are that good.’ Independent on Sunday

9th Jazz Jamaica -Motorcity Roots: 7.30pm £14 (11.50)
Jazz Jamaicas all star 12 piece line up the gamut of Jamaican music, from reggae to rockersi to ska, from lovers rock to mento, all underpinned by some grooving, dancing jazz. ‘Britain now has its own rival to the Buena Vista Social Club. See them now before the rest of the world grabs them’.The Guardian

16th Karine Polwart - 7.30pm £12.50 (9)
Like its predecessor ‘Faultlines’, for which Karine won Best Album, Best Original Song and the Horizon Award at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2005, her new CD ‘Scribbled in Chalk’ balances despair with hope and wit with wisdom Karine is an artist who understands both the best and the worst that the world has to offer.

24th Robyn Hitchcock & Minus3 - 7.30pm £12.50 (9)
Robyn Hitchcock with Minus 3: Peter Buck - electric guitar Scott McCaughey - bass and vocals Bill Rieflin - drums.(all from REM)
‘Hitchcock leads the Minus 3 band long into the night, acknowledging their own influences with a spellbinding take on the Byrds’ Eight Miles High. Now 50, fetchingly grey-haired but still looking like an errant sixth former who clambered on stage with some crazy dudes, the genius-guitarist-songwriters’ genius-guitarist-songwriter is clearly in no mood to come down.’ The Guardian

JULY
1st Jim Moray 7.30pm £12.50 (9)
New CD ‘Jim Moray¹ released May 1st. his first album received both the Horizon Award as best newcomer and the prestigious ‘Album Of The Year Award for Sweet England at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.. in 2004 ‘Moray’s inventive rearrangement of such familiar ballads as Early One Morning and Raggle Taggle Gypsies may just be the most significant new development in English folk music since Fairport Convention’s Liege and Leif.’ Uncut

8th Martyn Joseph 7.30pm £14 (11.50)
First ever appearence in Sounds In The Round after many sell out visits to mac, the open air Arena is the perfect setting for Martyn and his wonderful songs. Latest CD ‘Deep Blue’,

15th The Be Good Tanyas 7.30pm £15 (12)
Oh yes they are back! - tickets selling fast…Their music has been described as beguiling, haunting, rustic, ambient, hobo-erotica, and goth-folk. They are Frazey Ford, Trish Klein, and Samantha Parton. New CD due this summer

22nd Stella Chiweshe Band: 7.30pm £12.50 (9)
The Zimbabwean Mbira Queen comes to town with her band for a classic Sounds In The Round gig, Stella creates warm dance grooves based on Mbira rhythms, she has just released a double CD including nine tracks newly recorded in Zimbabwe last summer. ‘The mbira ripples and chimes like a xylophone, and sounds remarkable galloping alongside shimmering guitars and pulsating drums.”

28th Ska Cubano: 7.30pm £12.50 (9)
Ska Cubano bring us therr unique fusion of the big band Cuban sound of Benny More with Jamaican ska, “as close to a perfect live band as you could hope to find the best performance I’ve ever seen a legendary night” . ..the party starts here.

AUGUST
4th Joyce 7.30pm £12.50 (9)
Brazilian singer, composer and guitarist, Joyce is one
of the great musical treasures of Brazil. Her musical style was
nurtured in Rio’s fertile music scene and combines Brazilian rhythms, jazz harmonies and intelligent lyrics through a beautifully expressive voice.
‘Joyce is one of the greatest stars of Brazilian music, inventive and soulful’ The Guardian

12th The Proclaimers 7.30pm £15.50 (13)
A big welcome back after last years wonderful sold out performance, a brilliant way to close the series.

Venue details:
Open Air Arena
mac
Cannon Hill Park
Birmingham
B12 9QH

0121 440 3838

other June/July:

June 1st Jolie Holland support Sean Hayes 7.30pm Little Civic £10 adv
June 7th Show Of Hands: mac 8pm £15 (12)
July 27th Tom Russell: Ceol Castle 8pm £10 adv