15
MONDAY
Look at meI’m dancing a jig on the keyboard! Such is the power of Iona, a D.C.-based quartet that borrows sounds and inspirations from Ireland to Appalachia. The band’s seventh album, Birken Tree, is a beautiful mix-and-match collection of various Celtic-world instruments (bodhron, guitar, flute, doumbek, pipes, and the like)
and words (Welsh, French, English). For example: “Wrth Fynd Efo
Deio y Dywyn/An Culyek Hos (While Going With Deio to Tywyn/The Mallard Duck)” begins as a Welsh song and then slips into a Cornish tune; the first part of “Fare You Well/Santón de Camadu” has roots in Napoleonic timesbut was collected by John and Alan Lomax during their travels through Appalachiaand the second half is from the Camadu, Asturias, area in Northern Spain. Dance your own jig, of whatever origin, when Iona plays at 8 p.m. at the Paint Branch Unitarian Church, 3215 Powder Mill Road, Silver Spring. $14. (301) 263-0600. (Christopher Porter)