May 6, 2007

By John R. Moses

Frontiersman TALKEETNA - Two African bands and some hot Latin jazz are among the highlights in a supercharged summer concert series KTNA Radio Events Coordinator Mike Lindgren said is the hottest lineup yet.

The KTNA Summer Concert Series takes off June 3, when Alpha Yaya Diallo & the Bafing Riders brings its unique music to the Sheldon Community Arts Hangar.

Lindgren said he's been fortunate to grab some of the bands playing in larger venues, and sometimes even to suggest groups from his private “wish list.” If those groups are signed in to venues like the Alaska Oceans Festival, KTNA has a chance to hire them.

“It's not easy, especially because I can't pay as much as Anchorage, or Chicago,” Lindgren said.

Once promoters or someone else gets the groups in the area, “I sneak in the side door,” he said. “Once they get a taste of Talkeetna, they like it. They'll do anything to come back.”

That was the case with the Cajun group BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet, which is playing the hangar on Aug. 19. Lindgren said the band specifically asked to be reinvited because they had such a great time last year.

Organized by Talkeetna Community Radio, the concert series is funded by several sponsors. There's a little bed tax money and cash from Princess Tours and MTA, as well as the Matanuska Valley Federal Credit Union and the Alaska Railroad Corporation.

Does it make any money for the station? Not a dime. It's expensive.

“We do it so the folks up here have a good time,” Lindgren said. “We skate by, although it would be great if it could turn into a fund-raising series.”

That would be someday. Right now Lindgren is working to get the information online at ktna.org so people can start buying tickets online in advance. While some concert prices have not yet been set, the first concert is expected to go for $22 per ticket.

Diallo and the Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars on June 17 are two big and much-anticipated draws. While the All Stars are more widely known, Lindgren said Diallo may be the most talented individual guitarist in the whole lineup.

Diallo began touring in the U.S. in 1993. Music critic Peter Burt wrote of him, “Alpha's playing is a remarkably fluid current of notes, framed within a timing at once precise and free.”

Other critics call his rhythms “hypnotic.”

The band will travel from Canada to play the Alaska Ocean Festival and appear in Talkeetna during that time frame. Then they're back to Canada before beginning a series of concerts in California.

Samples of their sounds can be found at www.alphayayadiallo .com along with photos and other band information.

This will be Lindgren's last concert series for KTNA Community Radio. He's given two weeks notice and will soon be at the helm of the historic Fairview Inn, where he'll be organizing his own musical events while trying to revitalize a bar that closed in December.

The concert lineup as planned is Alpha Yaya Diallo & the Bafing Riders, June 3; Refugee All Stars June 17; John Damberg Latin Jazz Quintet, July 1; Rocco John Group, July 18; Robin Dale Ford & Pat Fitzgerald, Aug. 5, and BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet, Aug. 19.

Check the ktna.org Web site for final dates, times and ticket prices. Tickets purchased online in advance will cost less than at the door.

Contact John R. Moses at

352-2270 or john.moses@

frontiersman.com.