Seven Days: Vermont's Independent Voice

Global Beat, Local Feat

Boston world musician Guy Mendilow’s resume makes him sound like an international man of mystery: Raised all over the globe, he began touring at age 10. Since then, the fine-featured singer-songwriter (pictured, lower left) has raised his voice at such activist hot spots as Chiapas, Mexico, and the School of the Americas. A host of cultural influences show up in the repertoire Mendilow plays with his four-member band, featuring instruments that range from a Brazilian berimbau da barriga (“jaw harp of the stomach”) to an African “thumb piano” to Mendilow’s own versatile voice, which can produce two tones at once. Before playing four weekend shows at the Vermont International Festival, Mendilow and his band drop in for a full evening at the “Benefit for Betty,” organized to help fund the treatment of a local 6-year-old diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia.