Concert Previews

The song and sound of Parisian hot jazz come to the Philadelphia Museum of Art on Friday night; more specifically, for Stephane Wrembel's 2012 Django a Go-Go Festival. The festival, a six-year-old tradition of New York jazz cafe society, celebrates the life and sweet-and-lowdown music of gypsy jiving guitarist Django Reinhardt and his lusty shuffling rhythms. Wrembel, too, is no slouch when it comes to the six strings and pulsating grooves. If the guitarist's name sounds at all familiar, blame auteur Woody Allen, who pegged the French-born Wrembel to write the original theme song for the director's Golden Globe-winning

Midnight in Paris

flick (Wrembel also scored the soundtrack to Allen's Golden Globe-winning

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

). While you can expect Django a Go-Go (including David Langlois on washboard, fondue pot, and musical saw) to tackle Reinhardt's torrid and tender best, surely Wrembel and his crew will slip in a few tunes from his cinematic soundtrack catalog. Plus the cost of museum entry gets you into photographer Zoe Strauss' show in the basement - a bargain at twice the price.

- A.D. Amorosi

Endearingly talented singer-songwriter Carsie Blanton has built a fervent fan base since her 2005 self-released debut

Ain't So Green

. Admirers include big-name folks like Paul Simon, with whom she has toured, and John Oates, with whom she has performed. Blanton's clever wordplay, hummable melodies, and unique vocal stylings, by turns girlish and sexy, make her a standout onstage. She has honed her craft through relentless gigging. For Saturday's CD release show, the Philly-based/Virginia-born Blanton will perform with a five-piece band to plug the Oliver Wood-produced

Idiot Heart,

funded by $30,000 raised through a fan campaign. Inspired in part by Blanton's fascination with New Orleans and the "juxtaposition of death with joy and pleasure," as she puts it,

Idiot Heart

continues her unfailing knack for finely etched story-songs that meld folk-pop, jazz, and even touches of cabaret.

- Nicole Pensiero

The surfeit of fine, live African music that graced the Philadelphia region in 2011 was mostly, and notably, Malian in origin. However, despite his name, Mali Yaro proudly hails from Niger, music-rich Mali's neighbor. "Niger is my country," Yaro sings in French on the reggae-esque, rock-guitar-spiked "La Paix" (an atypical number for the Nigerien front man and his capable six-piece band, Goumbé Star, that slightly recalls Alpha Blondy, the Ivory Coast's Afro-reggae pioneer). For many, Niger remains obscure to the point of uncertainty even in its pronunciation (officially, it's "nee-ZHAIR"). Ethnically diverse Niger is a historical crossroads of cultures with a fascinating music scene. (Also touring with Yaro is Hadiza Mangou, an ascendant diva who launched her career at university in Niamey, Niger's capital.) Over 15 years and five acclaimed albums, Yaro has freely blended current pop styles but also retained traditional elements (his first instrument was the goumbé drum). And the cheery hopefulness he often imbues his music with, is, on several levels, irresistible.

- David R. Stampone