Entrain is back — not that the high-voltage global rhythm percussion band (you really can’t pin it down to one genre) actually disappeared. Just that, having veered away from producing new albums, Entrain is back with an album of all new songs, a new lead singer, new take on old philosophies, and new phase of what band founder Tom Major calls “prolific creativity.” Released in March by Dolphin Safe Records, Just A Matter of Time is the first album of new songs Entrain has put out in seven years.

The Island Community Chorus will open the 2008 season of programs at the Tabernacle in Oak Bluffs with a concert at 8 p.m. this Saturday, July 5.

The chorus of more than 100 voices, under the direction of Peter Boak and accompanied by L. Garrett Brown at the Tabernacle’s nine-foot Steinway piano, will present a program of music designed for the holiday weekend, music whose variety pays tribute to the richness of the American experience.

Steve Gorn’s Luminous Ragas, a concert of Indian classical music on the bansuri bamboo flute, will take place on Thursday, August 14, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at Che’s Lounge on Main street in Vineyard Haven. Tickets are $15.

Mr. Gorn will guide the audience through the beauty and intricacies of this music with words.

Folksinger, storyteller and all-around funny guy Rabbi David Shneyer gave a coffeehouse performance Monday evening at the Martha’s Vineyard Hebrew Center. Fingerpicking his Guild guitar, accompanying his tunes on harmonica too, donning different hats ­­— literally a cowboy hat or yarmulke or Greek sailor’s cap as the song demanded — the rabbi demonstrated for Islanders just how he has drawn a following within and well beyond the Jewish community.

Time does not heal all wounds, at least for the Gulf Coast, which is why, three years after Hurricanes Rita and Katrina, Finding Our Folk, the New Orleans Hot 8 Brass Band, and the KatrinaRitaVille Express Trailer are coming to the Vineyard this weekend, under the leadership of Derrick Evans.

Lagoon Music

Jazz pianist John Alaimo will give a sunset serenade on Sunday, August 31, when Pam and Jim Butterick open their home at 359 Barnes Road for a benefit evening of music on the Lagoon. From 6:30 to 10 p.m., there will be great music and light refreshment and, with luck, a lovely sunset over the lagoon.

A donation of $50 will be taken at the door to benefit the Steeple Fund of the Federated Church in Edgartown. For details, call the church office at 508-627-4421 or the Buttericks at 508-693-6871.

Three questions came to mind as I headed out this past Friday to see Berklee College of Music students and faculty work their therapy magic on the Island. One, can you ever get high school kids to sit around and pay attention? Two, is there a career in music therapy? And three, can nursing home residents carry a beat?

Vineyard Haven Band

Begins Summer Practice

The Vineyard Haven Band has started rehearsing for its 138th season of Sunday evening concerts, which begin June 29 at Ocean Park in Oak Bluffs, alternating with Owen Park in Vineyard Haven.

Other venues this summer include the Old Whaling Church in Edgartown and the Tabernacle in Oak Bluffs.

New musicians are welcome to join the returning members by attending rehearsals at 7:30 p.m. on Monday evenings at the Sailing Camp Park off Barnes Road.

The Chappaquiddick Summer Music Festival concludes its 2008 season on Thursday, August 7 at 8 p.m. with a performance by violinist Jennifer Koh and pianist Ieva Jokubaviciute. The program includes sonatas by Mozart, Brahms and Bartok.

Get Island musicians riffing about what makes a chord-sparring, memory-jarring, above-par, raise-the-bar jam session here, and the name Maynard Silva inevitably comes into the conversation.