FRIDAY
>> Iron & Wine brings his folk style to Oahu
Iron & Wine brings its touching, stream-of-consciousness stylings to The Republik on Friday.
Sam Beam, a former film professor turned singer-songwriter from South Carolina, is the mastermind behind Iron & Wine. He first used the name when he was still a solo act, taking the name from a sign he saw promoting a protein supplement called Beef, Iron & Wine.
“I’m trying to show both sides of the coin — the sour and sweet,” he told Spin Magazine.
IRON & WINE
Presented by BAMP Project
>> Where: The Republik
>> When: 8 p.m. Friday
>> Cost: $44.50
>> Info: 941-7469, jointherepublik.com
He’s toured with a 12-piece band, a trio and other combos, but still goes solo frequently. Whether as a band or solo act, Iron & Wine’s indie-folk rock sound, delivered with Beam’s soothing delivery, has made it a favorite on the club circuit. His more intimate tunes are introspective and thoughtful, with a sentimentalist streak that inspires a sense of rural America.
Beam is also able to go big, as in his 2011 album “Kiss Each Other Clean,” which featured flute and sax as well as synthesized sounds and dubbed reggae. It has been his biggest hit out of his seven studio albums, reaching No. 2 on the U.S. Billboard Top 200 chart and charting in seven other countries.
The Washington Post called it “a wonderfully recorded clutch of songs, full of rubbery bass lines, epileptic clavinet riffs and hyper-studied production values that fall somewhere between the soft rock of the ’70s and the global-minded pop of the ’80s.”
SATURDAY
>> Belly dancing and trap music at fundraiser
Shake up your weekend with Shakti Den, a fundraiser by Waimanalo belly-dancing studio Shakti Dance Movement.
Shakti founder and director Kalae Kaina, pictured, has been belly dancing for 22 years and founded her studio in 2004. Her dancers practice a modernized style of belly dancing known as fusion belly dance, combining dance styles like flamenco and hip-hop with classical bellydancing, which originated in Egypt.
“SHAKTI DEN”
A fundraiser featuring Shakti Dance Movement
>> Where: NextDoor, 43 N. Hotel St.
>> When: 6:30 p.m. Saturday
>> Cost: $15-$20
>> Info: shakticrush.eventbrite.com
Belly dancing in particular is challenging because all parts of the body must be in independent and in control.
“We’ll use a lot of different layers. The arm is doing one layer, the chest is doing something different, and the hips are doing something completely different. I call my classes ‘brain gym for adults,’ because it’s a lot, putting these pieces together,” she said. “I love being active in my body.”
Saturday’s performance will include both classical and fusion belly dancing, performed to traditional and modern music.
“Trap music is really popular in the electronic scene, so we’ve got some belly dancing to trap music, which is kind of different,” Kaina said.
SUNDAY
>> Pianist Philippe Bianconi to perform Schumann
Pianist Philippe Bianconi, “an old-school performer” with a majestic presence on stage, joins the Hawai‘i Symphony Orchestra in a concert of German music.
HAWAI‘I SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
Featuring pianist Phillippe Bianconin and maestro Naotomo Otto
>> Where: Blaisdell Concert Hall
>> When: 4 p.m. Sunday
>> Cost: $34-$92
>> Info: 800-745-3000, ticketmaster.com
Bianconi was silver medalist in the 1985 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, debuted at Carnegie Hall two years later and has gone to perform in all the major concert halls around the world. He’s been praised for his sensitive performances; the Washington Post described him as “always close to the soul of the music, filling the space with poetry and life.”
In 2014, he was appointed to lead the American Academy, a French institution founded in 1921 Paris devoted to teaching Americans about French music; he’s also well-versed in the German repertoire, having recorded both Schumann and Schubert.
He’ll perform Schumann’s “Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 54,” a dynamic work that reflects the composer’s preoccupation with conflict, as represented by two fictitious characters, the energetic Florestan and the dreamy, romantic Eusebius.
Maestro Naotomo Otto returns to conduct the orchestra in a program that includes works by Mozart, Brahms and Wagner.