Rising star headlines Oates Park concert

The first of the free city of Fallon concerts will be presented June 15 on the Centennial Stage in Oats Park and will feature the music of Fatoumata Diawara.

It will be a perfect opportunity to get together with family and friends on the Father’s Day weekend for a night of music under the stars. You can bring your own picnic supper or try a variety of culinary goodies that be available for purchase from the Slanted Porch.

The show begins at 7:30 p.m. and the Art Center’s galleries — featuring photographs of Nevada mines and paintings of desert landscapes — and the Art Bar will be open following the performance. For more information on the concert, you can call the Churchill Arts Council at 775-423-1440.

Diawara was born in the Ivory Coast in 1982, grew up in Mali and now lives in Paris. She was an actress and performed the role of Antigone on stage in Paris.

During her acclaimed career on the stage and film, she began singing backstage during rehearsals to entertain herself. One thing led to another and she soon found herself performing as a back-up singer for Jazz vocalist Dee Dee Bridgewater on her Grammy-winning album “Red Earth.”

Her debut solo CD, “Fatou” was released in the U.S. last year and, since its release the previous year in Europe, it has soared to the top of the world music charts—reaching No. 1 on the chart for more than six months. The “London Telegraph” called her album “the most beguiling talent to hit the world music scene in quiet some time.”

In her music, Diawara fuses elements of Jazz, Pop and Blues with the traditional musics of her native Mali.

She’ll be coming to Fallon immediately following a performance at the huge Bonnaroo Music Festival in Tennessee. And, following the show here, she’ll play in Grass Valley, the Napa Opera House and other venues across the country culminating with a performance on Central Park’s SummerStage in New York.

Note: The Knowledge Center at the University of Nevada, Reno (formerly known as the library) is putting together an exhibition on “The Art of Gaming” which will open in early July. We’ll have more information on this show in the coming weeks.

Kirk Robertson covers the Churchill Arts Council scene.