AM and MetroTech Center continue their 2008 BAM Rhythm & Blues Festival at MetroTech.
In its 14th year, the festival continues to feature the legends of R&B and world music — and the genres’ vibrant and innovative newcomers — headlining free outdoor concerts every Thursday now to August 7.
These lunchtime performances (12-2 p.m.) are held at MetroTech Commons, located at the corner of Flatbush and Myrtle avenues. For information, call 718-636-4100 or visit www.bam.org.
The Skatalites headline June 19. More than a band, The Skatalites are an institution, an aggregation of top-notch musicians who didn’t merely define the sound of Jamaica; they were the sound of Jamaica in the ’50s and ’60s.
Although the group existed in its original incarnation for less than 18 months, members brought their signature styles to hundreds upon hundreds of albums. The instrumentals were the group’s glory.
Orchestra Baobab is in the spotlight June 26. From inauspicious beginnings in the 1960s as the house band at a Dakar club for government officials, Senegal’s Orchestra Baobab, named for the club (which in turn took its name from the native baobab tree), went on to become one of the greatest and most important bands of world music.
