Midtown Global Market has got the beat - check it out for yourself

by Dennis Geisinger

Baba Letang brings diverse performers to the Midtown Global Market

Baba's got the beat. Deputy anager and music coordinator for Midtown Global Market, Earlsworth "Baba" Letang, makes it his job to give visitors to the internationally themed markets, shops, restaurants and bars at the intersection of Lake Street and Elliot Avenue in South Minneapolis a little taste of the world's musical variety.

"The people like the variety," said Caribbean-born Letang about the response he's gotten from audiences at the Market's live performances. "The entertainment serves its purpose for customers to really enjoy the unique experience. of the place," he said.

Free performances of music, dance and spoken word in the open court at Global Market's center serve up styles as far removed from one another as Cuban Salsa and Parisian swing, Ecuadorian flute and Appalachian folk, Chinese drumming and Brazilian sport-dance, local hip-hop and Celtic harp, African step dancing and American song standards "I try to bring in not only many types of music," Letang said, "but also many different kinds of performers."
Monday's "Spicy Salsa Aerobics" program from 10:30 to 11 a.m. brings fitness instructor Veronica Suarez Martinez to perform and give free lessons that combine Latin dance rhythms with exercise workouts.

Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6 to 8 p.m. the Twin Cities Steppers Association offers lessons in African American step dancing.

Wednesday nights from 6:30 to 9 p.m., dance instructor Paul McCloskey gives free lessons in "Ceili," Irish folk dancing done in lines, circles and squares.
Friday is "Family Night" which includes entertainment lasting from 5 to 8 p.m. from the likes of local comedian "Balloon Man," David Olson.

Sunday's "Salsa with Rene" features Cuban performer and dance instructor Rene Thompson who gives free demonstrations and lessons in salsa, cha cha, rumbo and mambo dance styles from 12 to 1 p.m. Thompson has performed in Cuba's famous Tropicana club and has appeared in music videos and movies with Will Smith and Gloria Estefan.

Recent special events at Global Market included a tribute concert on April 1 for local jazz icon, James "Cornbread" Harris, who on April 23 will turn 80. Raised in the Twin Cities, Harris started his first band prior to his service in World War II and afterward began to establish a reputation on the local music scene. He collaborated with Augie Garcia in 1955 to record the Twin Cities' first rock and roll hit, "Hi Ho Silver." Harris has fronted many bands, playing just about every venue in the area, and has appeared onstage with Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis and Archie Bleyer. He received a Minnesota Black Music Award in 1998 -and has been recognized with community service awards for playing at benefits and retirement homes. Harris is the author of more than 50 songs and is the father of music writer and producer Jimmy "Jam" Harris.

"We have some really talented performers," Letang noted.

Local trio, "Ensemble Sidewalk Cafe," are no exception. Playing at Global Market for the first time on March 24, guitarist Reynold Philipsek, bassist Jeffrey Brueske and violinist Gary Schulte, performed a type of swing music called "musette," or gypsy jazz, music that found popularity in the sidewalk cafes of Paris during the '20s and '30s. A musical hybrid whose recent resurgence in popularity has been called "ultra-hip" by some commentators, musette has a rhythm and dance-able draw that small children and some adults in Saturday's courtyard crowd found irresistible.

"I feel really blessed to play in front of such a diverse audience," said Schulte, who has performed with Sidewalk Cafe at the Dakota and the Artists' Quarter. Philipsek and Brueske additionally round out a quartet called "Twin Cities Hot Club," that has a regular weekend gig at The Times.

"Playing in a trio gives us the freedom to stretch out and play more solos—explore the music's possibilities," said Schulte, adding, "We'll be back."
According to Baba Letang, freedom is what connects his performers to his customers. Those who come to entertain do so for different reasons, said Letang. Some do it for the exposure, some for the experience and some do it just for the chance to do what they love doing in front of a live audience.
"I'm very relationship-minded with my performers," he said. "It's by word of mouth—both with the performers and with the people who see them perform—that I find out what's working best for everyone." Letang said he finds most of his acts from the recommendations and referrals of both performers and customers.

"And the ones that I have the closest relationships with, the ones that keep coming back, have taught me the most about all the different talent that's out here (in the Twin Cities)," he said.