Music to Your Ears

Worming Out the Early Birds

They're two to three times pricier than a show at the Sunshine, but don't let sticker shock keep you from experiencing New Mexico's independent music festivals. You can get passes to two of the best in the West at an attractive discount—but you've got to buy them within the next two weeks.

Coming up on four years at the National Hispanic Cultural Center, ¡Globalquerque! features acts that are just as likely to get a blurb in Rolling Stone as they are in National Geographic.

The 2008 program has an especially strong showing of women vocalists, led by Lila Downs (Mexico), Mor Karbasi (Israel) and Savina Yannatou (Greece), plus Genticorum (Quebec, Canada), HAPA (Hawaii), Orchid Ensemble (China/Canada), Vieux Farka Toure (Mali), Kanda Bongo Man (Democratic Republic of Congo) and 17 Hippies (Germany). These are just the artists confirmed so far.

At the moment, adult two-day passes are $40, but they slide up to $50 on June 21, then get bumped to $60 on the days of the shows. Consult the complete table of adult and children's pricing at www.globalquerque.com, where you'll also find reliable updates on performers and other ¡Globalquerque! attractions. ¡Globalquerque!'s on MySpace, too: www.myspace.com/globalquerque.

On the purely American front, discounts for the ninth annual Thirsty Ear Festival (Labor Day Weekend, Aug. 29 through 31, at Eaves Movie Ranch near Santa Fe) are up for grabs right now. Richard Thompson, Patty Griffin, Buckwheat Zydeco, Shemekia Copeland and Junior Brown are featured headliners, and there are plenty other artists of their ilk joining them.

Two day passes start at $60 through June 20. Regular pre-sale admission is $65 thereafter and hits $70 at the gate. The only way to get the deal is by calling the quasi-secret early-bird hotline at (505) 473-5723. For information on all the events and performances planned for Thirsty Ear, hit www.thirstyearfestival.com.