On March 15 at the Chocolate Church Annex club and cabaret space, we have a particular offering which might reveal my music nerdom. Music, in the wide variety of its forms, makes me love humanity. It makes me feel connected to life and the beautiful way our species, at its best, makes sense of being alive and being human. So when someone asks me why we have a musician like Tev Stevig coming to play music from Turkey, Greece and Balkans a month before we have a kick-ass Eagles tribute band, the answer is simple: I love it all. So whether you are familiar with the style of music I am about to tell you about or not, I’ll just say, come either way, and if you are disappointed, you’ll get a refund … and a hug.

Tev Stevig will perform at the Chocolate Church Arts Center Annex on March 15. Courtesy of Tev Stevig

Next Saturday is a multi-part program that is happening thanks to a generous grant by New England Foundation for the Arts New England State Touring Grant. These funds are making it possible to pay the artists and host them for a longer engagement with our community. On the 15th, there will be both an evening concert at 7:30 p.m. and a daytime, free workshop at 4 p.m. conducted by the renowned Tev Stevig and Michael K. Harrist.

Stevig is an acclaimed Boston-based musician and educator who works with contemporary modal music, traditional styles from the Balkans, Greece, Turkey and other Eastern modal traditions. The New York Music Daily calls him “one of the world’s most brilliantly individualistic guitarists.” He composes and performs on a variety of plucked-string instruments from around the world and is the founder of Labyrinth New England. The Boston Globe comments on Tev’s solo release, “Jen Jol: Music from the Balkans, Greece, and Turkey,” “he initiates something new by connecting and combining seemingly disparate cultures.” Tev is also a freelance jazz musician with a focus on traditional jazz from the 1920s-30s as well as more contemporary styles.

Michael K. Harrist will join Tev Stevig for a March 15 performance at the Chocolate Church Arts Center in Bath. Courtesy of Michael K. Harrist

Joining Tev will be Harrist, a master in his own rite of a wide array of world traditions, including Ottoman court music and Turkish folk music, jazz, Western art music, Hindustani music, American roots music. He has performed throughout North America and Europe with various ensembles.

The concert will be at 7:30 p.m. in our intimate Annex space and will last approximately 75 minutes. On the same day, at 4 p.m., will be a workshop presentation titled “What Is Makam?” Acclaimed global music masters and multi-instrumentalists Stevig and Harrist will introduce the idea of modal music in Turkish makam and other Eastern modal traditions. The presentation will include demonstration and discussion about some of the key elements in both traditional and contemporary modal music. Regardless of whether you are a musician or simply lovers of music and world culture (like me), this will be a wonderful offering.

Matthew Glassman is executive and artistic director at the Chocolate Church Arts Center.