Friday: Munit Mesfin at Lubber Run

Based in the D.C. area, Ethiopian-born vocalist Munit Mesfin is skilled in multiple genres. She plays some gigs strictly focused on Ethiopian music, as well as Roberta Flack tribute shows and family performances with Munit and Z Lovebugs, but she’s a member of global music ensemble Project Locrea. In an email to City Paper, Mesfin says this free gig with her own band at Lubber Run will offer “a mix of Ethio-jazz, both old-school classics from legends such as Mulatu Astatke (‘Yekermo Sew’), Tilahun Gessesse (‘Tiz Alegn Yetintu’), Asnakech Worku (‘Abet Abet’), and Aster Aweke, and some of my own originals (‘Ante Lej,’ ‘Noro Noro’), and songs that have an Ethiopian feel or that we will give an Ethiopian feel … from both the realms of jazz and soul.” Mesfin has noted in previous interviews that many of her influences come from Ethiopian radio and the American jazz and soul records her parents played. But her time living in India and Namibia as a child, and later in South Africa, has also impacted her sound as well. Not to mention her time at Smith College in Massachusetts. Mesfin is currently a project director for Carpe Diem Arts’ Ukes on the Move program, teaching ukulele and songwriting to third and fourth graders in Montgomery County Public Schools. When she’s not teaching, she’s working on a solo album and a recording of her family band. Her vocals in Amharic and English exhibit quite a range—she can sound smooth, lush, and honeyed; deep and passionate; or light and poppy. Expect to hear all of that at the season’s second show of the Lubber Run 2024 summer concert series. Munit Mesfin performs at 8 p.m. on June 14 at Lubber Run Amphitheater, 200 N. Columbus St., Arlington. arlingtonva.us. Free. —Steve Kiviat

Friday, Saturday, Monday, and Wednesday: The World’s Greatest Sinner at AFI Silver 

You want an over-the-top performance from a hulking ectomorph? Nicolas Cage is the current go-to guy for your ultra-hammy needs, but once upon a time Timothy Agoglia Carey (1929-1994) would have ordered Cage to hold his beer. Carey had the honor of working with Stanley Kubrick and John Cassavetes, and boasted about turning down parts in all three Godfather movies. But even though he worked with some of the best directors in the business, he would take on any role, perhaps none lower than the unwatchable exploitation fare of Chesty Anderson, USN. Off-screen, Carey was equally unhinged; while working in Munich on Kubrick’s Paths of Glory, he staged his own kidnapping as a publicity stunt. By the end of his life, Carey was obsessed with the creative potential of flatulence, and among his possessions was a device he called a fart chastity belt. But Carey’s labor of love was the legendary 1963 cult obscurity The World’s Greatest Sinner, which he wrote, directed, and produced. It’s a hot mess, as fascinating and uncompromising as his acting. Carey plays Clarence Hilliard, an insurance salesman who quits his job to follow a strange path: He becomes a rock star (despite having no musical ability) and, calling himself “God,” Hilliard founds his own religion and political party. Sinner’s reputation, and its rarity, was such that even Elvis Presley asked to see it (Carey has an uncredited role in the 1969 Presley/Mary Tyler Moore vehicle, Change of Habit, as a hulking, massive grocery store clerk). Sinner’s rock ’n’ roll cred is further enhanced by the young composer who made his professional music debut with its score: Frank Zappa. The World’s Greatest Sinner was hard to see until TCM Underground rescued it from obscurity. Now, thanks to the Academy Film Archive and the Film Foundation (whose founder Martin Scorsese calls The World’s Greatest Sinner one of his favorite rock films), Carey’s still-shocking vision, more relevant than ever, is screening in a new 4K restoration. The World’s Greatest Sinner screens at 9:30 p.m. on June 14, 9:30 p.m. on June 15, 9:20 p.m. on June 17, and 9:10 p.m. on June 19 at the AFI Silver Theatre, 8633 Colesville Rd., Silver Spring. silver.afi.com. $13. —Pat Padua

Ends Saturday: Jo Levine’s Trees 360° at Studio Gallery

Jo Levine’s previous photography exhibit at Studio Gallery was about grasses. With her latest (and much larger) exhibit at the same venue, Levine graduates to trees. A lesson from her previous show still holds, however: Stay close to your subject. At a distance, Levine’s arboreal subjects—spindly trunks in the mist, lazily hanging branches, fall foliage reflected in rippling water—come off as distinguished but somewhat routine. When Levine inspects them from a closer perspective, however, their visual quirks emerge. Some of the trunks she photographs offer mottled, multicolored patches of lichens or isobar-like patterns on textured bark. Fallen leaves flaunt their divergent hues, or collect rain droplets in surprisingly orderly arrangements. Cherry blossoms cast a reflection in pond water that turns into a crazily twisted pattern. An arrangement of fallen, beige-toned leaves is seen encased in ice, covered by an unexpected layer of frozen bumps. Most notably, several images capture the ghostly imprints of leaves on sidewalks. Often paired with actual leaves elsewhere in the frame, the negative leaf imprints of this series spark a dialogue about the interaction between presence and absence. Jo Levine’s Trees 360° runs through June 15 at Studio Gallery, 2108 R St. NW. Wednesday through Friday, 1 to 6 p.m.; Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. studiogallerydc.com. Free. —Louis Jacobson

Postponed Until July 20: Tekno at Fillmore Silver Spring

Nigerian vocalist Tekno may be best known to some for his vocals on “Don’t Jealous Me” from the 2019 Beyoncé-curated album, The Lion King: The Gift, but he won acclaim with afrobeats listeners back in 2012 for his ability to croon and rap over that genre’s programmed beats. Tekno, born Augustine Miles Kelechi Okechukwu, released his debut album, Old Romance, in 2020, and in 2023 the track “Enjoy” was used in an episode of Ted Lasso. While Tekno learned how to play piano and guitar as a kid in music school and still plays a keyboard at times, his fame has come from the distinctive way he enunciates his tales of romance, love, and lust. Sometimes using Auto-Tune, Tekno’s flow—whether singsong, spoken in clipped phrases, or emoted in a melancholy manner—is what captures our attention. Billie Eilish, no stranger to careful word-bending and oration, once told Vanity Fair that he was her favorite artist. Tekno has also lent his skills to other afrobeats stars. He wrote and produced the cleverly syncopated song “If” for Davido, and appears on Kizz Daniel’s “Buga (Lo, Lo, Lo),” which enthralls with its catchy chorus and staccato beats. On his own hits, Tekno, working with cleverly constructed instrumental rhythms, makes his songs shine with his repeated, warbled recitation and memorable earworm chorus. Due to visa issues Tekno’s June 15 show at Fillmore has been postponed until July 20. livenation.com. $48 to $68. —Steve Kiviat

Monday: Kumbia Queers at Songbyrd

Certain artists sound better in certain seasons. Long-running cumbia punk band Kumbia Queers sound best in warm weather and, lucky for you, it’s going to be hot in D.C. this week. Since 2007, the group from Buenos Aires have released music that’ll inevitably get you to move. Touring regularly across the globe since 2012, Kumbia Queers would fit well on any major punk or even jam band festival. They’re billed as tropical punk and it’s a pretty apt description. Their tunes are head-nodders, some with laid-back vibes, some thick with heavy distortion. Their newer singles are more electronic-based, but the beats will still get you on your feet (well, we should say stay on your feet—we all know shows at Songbyrd aren’t seated). Nearly 20 years as a group, the band is far from their Madonna-inspired lo-fi antics. The sound has increased in quality over the years, both in terms of production and skill. They’re a well-oiled cumbia machine that knows how to move large crowds—there’s a reason they’ve played Pride concerts all across the world. While D.C.’s Capital Pride Weekend may be over, it’s still June, which means the party continues. Kumbia Queers play at 8 p.m. on June 17 at Songbyrd, 540 Penn St. NE. songbyrddc.com. $20–$25. —Brandon Wetherbee

Opens Tuesday: 10,000 Dreams: A Celebration of Asian Choreography at the Kennedy Center

The Kennedy Center has not hosted a dance festival on the scale of 10,000 Dreams: A Celebration of Asian Choreography since 2017. The weeklong event brings dancers from four countries and nine companies to Washington for three rotating programs of work by choreographers of Asian descent. Modern-day impresario Phil Chan—a New York-based historian, choreographer, and cultural consultant—cocurated the festival with the goal of bringing high-level dancers and varied choreography to the stage. He chose the name 10,000 Dreams to reference both a popular number in East Asian cultures and the infinite creativity of Asian peoples working in dance around the world. Program A features the Washington Ballet, Utah’s Ballet West, and Seattle’s Pacific Northwest Ballet performing works by contemporary U.S.-based choreographers, including new Washington Ballet artistic director Edwaard Liang. There will be a one-night celebration of the longtime Washington Ballet choreographer-in-residence Choo–San Goh, who died of complications from AIDS in 1987, on June 21. “Goh’s ballets will stand as a testament to the fructifying effect of the cultural blending of East and West,” wrote the late Alan M. Kreigsman, a Pulitzer-winning critic for the Washington Post, praising Goh’s “sculptural” dances that sometimes used arms, hands, and fingers to suggest Chinese calligraphy. Although Goh choreographed for Mikhail Baryshnikov and major companies around the world, his works have rarely been staged in the U.S. since his death. Chan worked with Goh’s niece and his estate holder to resurrect three for the Kennedy Center stage, including “Fives,” a classic created for the Washington Ballet. The festival wraps with weekend performances of works by two Chinese-born choreographers, Disha Zang and American Ballet Theatre’s Zhong-Jong Fang. 10,000 Dreams: A Celebration of Asian Choreography opens June 18 and runs through June 23 at the Kennedy Center, 2700 F St. NW. kennedy-center.org. $33–$126; discounts are available.