In Northampton, the Iron Horse Music Hall has concerts almost every night of the year. It regularly hosts world famous musicians like Michael Franti and Dar Williams. On April 9, one of the best concerts in years at the Iron Horse was performed by the Sierra Leone Refugee All Stars. The dance floor was full of people of all colors, and full of energy, reflecting the full-on performance on the stage.

The band released a new album, Libation, last month. Most of the songs on the album are Afro-Pop or “high life” style. Some are reggae. It's an excellent album.

Habib Koite, a singer and guitar player who lives in Bamako, Mali, in west Africa, will play at the Iron Horse in Northampton on February 16 at 7 p.m. Koite (pronounced KWA-tee) performed an outstanding public concert in Amherst in 2011. He possesses an unusually warm voice and guitar skills that inspired Bonnie Raitt to famously tell him after one concert, "I would drink your sweat."

Chris Kasper is scheduled to perform a free public concert in Northampton on December 7 at 8 p.m. He will play at the Basement night club at 21 Center Street. A video of Kasper performing one of his songs with his band is at www.ChrisKasper.com. More information about the Basement is available by calling 800-THE-TICK or (413) 586-8686 or at the club's web site:

www.iheg.com/basement_main.asp

Ruth Moody will perform a public concert at the Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton on October 8 at 7 p.m. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation -- Canada's equivalent of NPR -- called Moody's new record, These Wilder Things, "a rock-solid sophomore album, impressive in both its lyrical maturity and musical scope."

A video of Moody singing and playing banjo, accompanied by her band, is at:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGFKkyWT4l0

Moody will play public concerts in New York City on October 9, and in the Los Angeles, California area on October 17.

On June 24 at 7 p.m., two outstanding musicians from Mali, Africa will perform a public concert in Northampton. Amadou Bagayoko and Mariam Doumbia will play at the Iron Horse Music Hall www.iheg.com. A video of them performing one of their songs in concert is at:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=shbOmNakdTo

Bagayoko and Doumbia’s current tour includes stops at prestigious concert halls in Los Angeles, Boston, and Washington, DC. Bagayoko and Doumbia are blind.

Local reggae band the Alchemystics will perform on May 10 at the Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton. The band sounds like a mixture of Bob Marley and Michael Franti and Spearhead. The Alchemystics played an outstanding, sold-out concert at the Arts Block in Greenfield in 2011. Almost everyone at the concert danced.

A video of the Alchemystics performing is at

www.YouTube.com/watch?v=zDLqJjIk-cc

In the video, the sound quality is good; the image quality is literally shaky.

Amy Ray and Emily Saliers founded the the Grammy Award-winning band the Indigo Girls. They will play at the Calvin Theater in Northampton on March 1. They have earned a reputation for outstanding concerts. Ray and Saliers founded, with Native American activist Wynona LaDuke, Honor the Earth, an environmental group: www.honorearth.org.

Other winners of Grammy Awards include U2 and Bob Dylan. The March 1 concert starts at 8 p.m. Tickets are available from www.iheg.com.

Oliver Mtukudzi and his band performed a very good public concert at the Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton on January 16. The dance floor was full of people dancing. Mtukudzi is from Zimbabwe, in southern Africa. You can hear one of his songs at:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=rn5nEKvr6aU

Concord Music Group (CMG) Corporation has a web page about Mtukudzi:

www.concordmusicgroup.com/artists/oliver-mtukudzi/

Simba will perform a free, outdoor public concert in Putney, Vermont, near Brattleboro, on August 10. At a recent Simba concert, at least 100 people danced for hours. The band plays reggae and funk, among other kinds of music.

Thomas Mapfumo, a musician and activist from Zimbabwe, will perform a public concert in Northampton on July 22 at 7 p.m. Mapfumo was forced to leave Zimbabwe because he spoke out against the government. He lives in Oregon. Samples of his music can be heard for free at:

www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-music&field-k...