Barbès Moves From Deep Songbook Swing to Sunday Choro

For Thursday, September 17 through Sunday, September 20, Barbes—styled Barbès by the venue—offers a compact lesson in how a neighborhood room can hold several histories of acoustic music at once. The useful way into this stretch is its sense of continuity: The Pre-War Ponies arrive with neglected early-songbook material, The Arntzen Family & Friends bring a family-rooted traditional-jazz approach later that Thursday, and CLUBE DO CHORO with REGIONAL SAMAUMA returns Sunday afternoon to a standing Brazilian-music practice. These shows share a venue, yet each has a distinct relationship to repertoire, community, and the useful pleasures of close listening.^[1][2][3][4]

That makes Barbès the destination here, with a route built around two dates instead of a rushed borough-to-borough itinerary. Its official events page advises checking the individual listing for admission details and notes that some shows are donation based while others require a set door price. The room’s weekday hours begin at 5 p.m.; arrive with enough time to settle in before the music starts and to confirm the details tied to each bill.^[1]

Thursday’s three-part old-music corridor

The first stop is THE PRE-WAR PONIES at 7 p.m. on Thursday, September 17. The group, formed by Daria Grace in 2007, works from sheet music and songs of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, with Grace and trombonist and soprano-ukulele player J. Walter Hawkes at its core. Their own account emphasizes overlooked material alongside the better-known composers of the period, a focus that gives this early set a specific archival tilt without turning the room into a museum piece. For listeners drawn to melody, lyrics, and prewar popular forms, it is the cleanest entry point in the run.^[2]

At 9 p.m., THE ARNTZEN FAMILY & FRIENDS shifts the evening toward traditional jazz. The family name carries real musical weight in this context: Arnt Arntzen describes learning within an immediate and extended musical family, and his work includes the Three Generations of Jazz group with his grandfather, parents, brother, and other relatives. Arntzen is a guitarist, plectrum-banjo player, and singer whose specialty is traditional jazz; he has also played regularly in New York with Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks and the Louis Armstrong Eternity Band. That background makes the Barbès booking feel grounded in an active, intergenerational playing culture.^[3]

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A Sunday afternoon built around the roda

CLUBE DO CHORO with REGIONAL SAMAUMA follows at 3 p.m. on Sunday, September 20, presenting a different kind of continuity. Regional Samaúma was founded by cavaquinho player Fernanda Silveira, percussionist Fabio Oliveira, and guitarist Gabriele Leite, and describes itself as a New York choro and samba ensemble. Since February 2023, the group has served as resident artists and coordinators of Barbès’s weekly Sunday Roda de Choro. The scheduled appearance therefore lands as part of an ongoing local forum for Brazilian music, shaped by a recurring gathering instead of a one-off presentation.^[4]

Choro’s instrumental conversation is central to that setting. Regional Samaúma’s program identifies Silveira, Oliveira, and Leite as leaders who coach ensemble sessions inspired by the traditional roda de choro, connecting performance practice with collective participation. Jazz at Lincoln Center has also presented the ensemble as a group that joins choro and samba traditions with New York energy, highlighting Silveira’s cavaquinho and Oliveira’s pandeiro work. Sunday’s Barbès slot offers an afternoon alternative to the weekend’s late-night calendar and a fitting close to a run centered on durable musical languages.^[4][5]

Plan the short route

Start Thursday at 7 p.m. for THE PRE-WAR PONIES if the deep songbook angle is the priority, then stay for THE ARNTZEN FAMILY & FRIENDS at 9 p.m. Sunday’s CLUBE DO CHORO with REGIONAL SAMAUMA begins at 3 p.m., leaving the rest of the evening open. Barbès is the sole venue on this route, so the practical task is simple: recheck Barbès’s official events page and each show’s official details before heading out, since admission terms, set times, and other changeable information can shift.^[1]

Sources

1. Events — Barbès Brooklyn
2. About The Pre-War Ponies — The Pre-War Ponies
3. Arnt Arntzen — Arnt Arntzen
4. Sobre — Regional Samaúma
5. Regional Samaúma — Jazz at Lincoln Center