The lighthearted and exquisite melancholy of early 17th century song is the theme of this month’s Brown Bag concert on Friday, Oct. 18. Tenor Aaron Barksdale-Burns and guitarist Joe Carnigan-Garcia will perform a sampling of John Dowland songs and ayres.

The free (donations accepted) Brown Bag Concerts, sponsored by Westport Center for the Arts, connect musicians with local audiences in an intimate space. They are held monthly from 12:10 to 1 p.m. at the Westport Presbyterian Church, 201 Westport Road, Kansas City.

Joe Carnigan-Garcia has performed classical guitar as a soloist and in multiple ensembles across the US and enjoys working with both vocalists and instrumentalists in a small ensemble setting.

Aaron Barksdale-Burns, a tenor vocalist, has appeared in various operas, concerts and recitals in the United States and Germany, and has a flare for chamber music, lieder and art songs.

According to the performers, “Dowland is one of the world’s important artists, as a famous composer and performer of his own unique brand of what’s now considered to be antique pop music.” Not much is clear about Dowland’s early life. He was possibly born in Dublin and composing at the end of the Renaissance period. Dowland worked at the court in Paris followed by a long career at Copenhagen, and later worked for James I at London. He is known to have written many of his own lyrics. The lute was the preeminent instrument of the time and Dowland became famous not only for his compositions, but also as a lutenist and singer. A contemporary of both Dowland and Shakespeare, poet Richard Barnfield, wrote that Dowland’s “heavenly touch upon the lute doth ravish human sense.”