Will Ridenour has taken on the task of reinventing folk music.
In his band, Kairaba, Ridenour mixes traditional Senegalese music with a palette of Appalachian and natural folk music.
Kairaba — a collaboration between Ridenour and native Senegalese musician Daili Cissokho — will release its first CD Saturday at Cat’s Cradle in conjunction with a performance.
Kairaba draws its style from the genre of kora, a type of Senegalese harp music.
Joining Kairaba is local post-folk group, Midtown Dickens, who will perform songs from their most recently released album at the show.
Both groups use a variety of instruments — from clarinets to traditional Senegalese harps — to create their unique sounds.
Each group will play a set on their own, and then the two bands will play a set together.
A 2010 UNC graduate, Ridenour formed Kairaba after he returned from studying music in Mali and Senegal.
Ridenour, a self-taught musician who has studied kora for 12 years, said he likes the energy of kora music and its hybridized take on traditional music.
“What draws together the show is the folk music that runs in our families or in our community,” he said.
Ridenour said Kairaba will also soon release a music video, which will feature footage of the band in Senegal learning about kora.
The genre’s primary instruments are the kora — a harp, and the jembe — a hand drum.
Kym Register, a guitarist and banjoist for Midtown Dickens, said that she and her band started playing in parking decks.
“We are stoked to play because these bands embody natural and folk music but with a bass pedal synthesizer and clarinet,” she said.
Jonathan Henderson plays in both Kairaba and Midtown Dickens.
He said the two bands are very aesthetically different, but they certainly overlap.
“They both pull out different creative parts of myself,” he said. “My only limit is scheduling.”
Henderson said he believes the show will be special — especially because people will have the chance to see both bands play together.
“It’s the only chance to see this full 13-piece band, with horns and percussions,” he said.
Register said the unusual pairing of the bands will give the show its edge.
“This is not a normal pairing from the indie rock standard,” she said.
“But it’s normal for us, because this is what we do and want to do.”
See the show Saturday at Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro. Doors open at 8:30 p.m. and the show begins at 9 p.m. Tickets are $5.
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