Andrew Bird, Amadou & Mariam

Andrew Bird’s 2010 TED Talk “One-man Orchestra of the Imagination” is a look at how the musical prodigy loops and layers violin, guitar, glockenspiel—and don’t forget that whistle, the best whistle in rock music. He articulated how he bridges the gap between the heady idea behind a brand-new unnamed song about loops—feedback loops, the sound of self-destruction, and how it applies to “a whole spectrum of realms, like the ecological”—and the emotional side of the music. The product of Bird’s genius is plain lovely live, by himself or with a full band, and includes engaging stories and a back catalog of nine studio albums, including that “unnamed song,” which became “Eyeoneye” on the 2012 release, Break it Yourself. Amadou & Mariam will also play.