Welcome To World Music Café

After playing several gigs in Asheville, N.C. musician Peter Kfoury felt like Charleston needed a true “listening room,” a place where folks could come and simply listen to music without the distractions of pool balls clanging, beer bottles being dropped, or people fighting. He envisioned a place where people could come and simply listen to talented musicians and their craft.
“A ‘listening room’ is a specific venue where people go primarily to hear music … not a bar or restaurant that happens to have someone playing,” says Kfoury. “They are intimate settings typically seating 50-100 people.” According to Kfoury, Charleston does not have one venue that meets this description, with the exception of The Mezz downtown for jazz.
“As a musician, it’s difficult to overstate how demoralizing it can be to have to battle through the noise of a bar crowd to be heard,” says Kfoury. “That’s fine if you’re a loud rock band to begin with and are going to overpower the audience anyway, but if you’re playing ballads, jazz, classical, new age or many styles of ethnic music, it’s like a breath of fresh air to have a crowd that really wants to hear what you have to offer. So a listening room is just that … a setting where people come to relax, maybe have a glass of wine and enjoy some great music … like a mini concert hall.”
Kfoury has found a home for his listening room in West Ashley at Hungry Monk Music, which has been offering professional musical instruction to students of all ages and abilities since 1993. It has also served as an occasional music venue for local and visiting musicians, ranging from classical to country. “Here, it’s either a noisy bar setting or a really big hall,” says Kfoury, who has teamed up with Hungry Monk for a monthly program called World Music Café, featuring a set of four different Charleston artists performing in a 30 minute compilation of their music the first Friday of the month. Kfoury will serve as host of the program and will also perform in the first installment, held April 1 at 8 p.m. Admission will be $10 and beer and wine will be available for purchase.
“So, in trying to be part of the solution, we are opening this venue … and hope it may be a first step towards someone wanting to open a full time listening room here,” says Kfoury, who plays the oud, the ancestor of the lute and guitar and has fused traditional Middle Eastern music with jazz, blues, and even funk. Along with Kfoury, jazz guitarist Lee Barbour, soul singer Zandrina Dunning, and Hungry Monk co-owner and multi-instrumentalist John Holenko will play the first World Music Café.
“The lineup of musicians will be different for each month. Of course, some will repeat, but we’ll try our best to present a variety of performers, styles, and genres says Kfoury. Part of our goal is to introduce people to music and original compositions that they may never have heard before.”
Hungry Monk Music is located at 1948 Belgrade Ave. For more information, call 571-3857 or visit hungrymonkmusic.com.