Music From a Painted Cave

Fusing traditional Southwestern Native American tribal music and modern beats, Robert Mirabal: Music from a Painted Cave is a fascinating performance. It's a combination that you might question, but Mirabal is such a talented singer-songwriter that not only does he make it work, you could argue he has created a new genre.

The first part of Music from a Painted Cave finds Mirabal, the Mirabal Singers/Dancers, and Rare Tribal Mob in traditional tribal dress, using native instruments and performing tribal dances. A song he heard from his grandmother, "Ee-you-oo," is a paean to children, and "Little Indians" is a lovely folk ballad he wrote in the same vein. Later in the program Mirabal changes his traditional garb for leather pants, and the music becomes more like rock & roll in the energetic "Hope," although the native-drum backbeat is always there. Besides being musically inspired, Music from a Painted Cave is visually stunning: the costumes are beautiful, the staging elaborate, and the choreography gorgeous. --Dana Van Nest