Intro | Friday | Saturday | Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday

11 AM Claudia Cassidy Theater

Dhafer Youssef See Wednesday 9/24.

Zazhil See Wednesday 9/24.

Noon Daley Center

Son de Madera See Wednesday 9/24.

12:30 PM Claudia Cassidy Theater 

Salvador Duran Mexican singer and painter Salvador Duran owes what fame he has outside his adopted home of Tucson to the members of Calexico (see below), who invited him to perform on In the Reins, the band’s 2005 collaboration with Iron and Wine, and the new Carried to Dust (Quarterstick). He’s a resourceful guitarist with a buttery, resonant baritone voice, but on his own he comes off as an avuncular duffer with a repertoire that consists largely of shopworn favorites like “Guantanamera” and “El Pescador.” —PM

Mor Karbasi See Wednesday 9/24.

6 PM Pritzker Pavilion

Calexico with special guests Pieta Brown, Salvador Duran, and Mariachi Luz de Luna When drummer John Convertino and bassist Joey Burns work as hired guns or producers, there’s no denying their strength and adaptability; when they play together as the core of Calexico, however, they’re not quite so consistent. The Tucson-based group’s new Carried to Dust (Quarterstick) has a gorgeous ambience, its dusty border noir polished to a 1940s Hollywood shine, but that bewitching sound seems intended to paper over holes in the songwriting. Aside from a couple lovely, moody little pop tunes, the material wouldn’t hold up without it, and Burns—whose singing was never all that strong to begin with—has apparently grown fond of the kind of breathy whisper I’d expect from Chris Isaak. Fortunately guest artists do a lot of the heavy lifting, in the process providing most of the album’s redeeming moments: folk-rock singer Pieta Brown steals the show on “Slowness,” and Spanish vocalist Amparo Sanchez brings real tension and intrigue to “Inspiracion” with her throaty moan. Tonight Calexico will be joined by Brown, Mexican singer and guitarist Salvador Duran, and Mariachi Luz de Luna. For more on Duran, see above; for more on Mariachi Luz de Luna, see below. —PM

Zazhil See Wednesday 9/24.

6:30 PM Randolph Cafe

Fandanguero This Pilsen band adds the occasional contemporary pop hook to son jarocho, a joyful traditional style from Veracruz, Mexico, that’s driven by smallish acoustic guitars called requinto and jarana. Though the results are a tad ragged—the vocals tend to be uncertain in pitch—the music has a homey charm, like neighborhood pals getting together over beers to jam on the tunes they grew up with. —PM

7 PM Preston Bradley Hall

Dhafer Youssef See Wednesday 9/24.

7:30 PM Claudia Cassidy Theater 

Mor Karbasi See Wednesday 9/24.

8:15 PM Randolph Cafe

Son de Madera See Wednesday 9/24.

8:30 PM Preston Bradley Hall

Lo Cor de la Plana See Tuesday 9/23.

9 PM Claudia Cassidy Theater

Mariachi Luz de Luna I’m not convinced there was anything special about this seven-member mariachi band from Tucson before they started recording and touring with Calexico (see above) a few years back. Though I’ve only seen Mariachi Luz de Luna in crappy YouTube videos, nothing but their ornate costumes really stood out—that said, I’d be happy to be proved wrong. —PM

9:45 PM Preston Bradley Hall

Fiamma Fumana & Mondine di Novi Choir This is the third trip to the festival for Fiamma Fumana, a shiny, happy northern Italian band that tarts up regional folk songs for accordion and bagpipes by adding electronic dance beats and samples. This time, though, they’re bringing the Mondine di Novi Choir, a long-running informal group comprised mostly of elderly women who began singing together while they worked weeding rice fields during the Nazi occupation of northern Italy. The choir’s repertoire has provided Fiamma Fumana with much of its material, and luckily the women’s massed voices overwhelm most of the treacly production touches the band uses on its records. —PM

10 PM Randolph Cafe

Salvador Duran See above.

10:15 PM Claudia Cassidy Theater 

Los Vicios de Papa Ska has long been a hugely popular part of the rock music of Latin and South America—bands like Los Fabulosos Cadillacs and Maldita Vecindad have built their sound around it. This Chicago outfit likewise relies on a foundation of hard-rocking ska, with stray bits of cumbia and cha-cha tossed in. Los Vicios de Papa have the rhythms down if not quite the songwriting, but their wobbly horn section sometimes gets lost along the way. —PM

Send a letter to the editor.

From the Reader blogs