The New York Guitar Festival’s 25th Anniversary begins with a typically eclectic event.  The duo ofMarc Ribot, the New York guitarist, andLeyla McCalla, the New Orleans cellist and banjo player, may seem unlikely at first.  Ribot is known for his work with Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, his own avant-noise trio Ceramic Dog, and much more; McCalla writes songs that draw on the African-American string band tradition, Cajun music, and her own Haitian heritage.  But Ribot was also a student of the Haitian classical guitarist/composer Frantz Casseus, and the two musicians share a strong genre-agnostic streak.  Joining them on this first of two nights celebrating a quarter century of the NYGF isYasmin Williams.  She has extended the “tapping” technique into a whole new way of approaching the guitar, and occasionally adds tap shoes and kalimba to the sound, becoming a literal one-woman band.  And the NYGF has long presented related instruments from around the world; for this event, it’s sitarist Neel Murgai, co-director of the globally-inspired Brooklyn Raga Massive, accompanied by Jeff The Brotherhood guitarist Kunal Prakash.

Medicine Singers is the name of an ongoing collaboration betweenYonatan Gat, the wildly virtuosic Israeli-born, New York-based guitarist, and theEastern Medicine Singers, an Eastern Algonquin powwow group from Rhode Island.  Now joined by the legendaryLee Ranaldoof Sonic Youth, Medicine Singers combine ancient trance and spirituality with modern psychedelia, and make inventive use of the similarities – and differences – between the steady pulse of Indigenous American drumming and the rhythms of rock.  Other special guests will includeLaraaji,Mamady Kouyaté MaalemandHassan BenJaafar.