Kishi Bashi creates music that is hard to classify. The first word that comes to mind is eclectic. The second might be uplifting.

Kishi Bashi, with Oshima Brothers, perform at 7 p.m. May 6, Archer Music Hall, Allentown.

Bashi is known for his violin playing, including one violin with five strings, and for his vocals. He also plays guitar and keyboards, although he is not playing keyboards on this tour. His music mixes rock, jazz, classical, pop, electronic, bluegrass, funk, 1970s progressive and hip-hop.

Bashi calls his music “melodic, orchestral and very positive.”

His Allentown concert is part of a “Retrospective” tour, where he will play songs from the albums he has released over the years. He will perform with banjo player Tall Tall Trees (Mike Savino) and cellist Emily Hope Price.

“There will be some stage banter, stories and talk about the songs,” Bashi says in a phone interview from his former home in Athens, Ga. He now lives in California.

“Mike is a wild banjo player. He will hit it with a mallet, treating it like a percussion instrument,” says Bashi.

Bashi has released six studio albums, two live albums and four EPs. Each displays varied influences without being tied to one music genre.

He does not try to copy the elaborate production of his recordings onstage:

“I treat the live show as different from the albums. I use tracks, but sparingly. I reinterpret to get to the core of the song, depending on the strength of the musicians.”

His concerts include looping with his violin, solo and with his fellow musicians. And they have become known for their acoustic endings, when the musicians go into the audience.

“I try to focus on each album, collecting all my ideas for them. I like to find new inspiration from anywhere. It gives me freedom,” Bashi says.

He will use the violin for classical sounds or as a bluegrass fiddle. He describes his latest release “Kantos” as a “party album” because of the dance-ability of many of its songs.

His previous two releases, “Omoiyari” and “Music from the Sound Film: Omoiyari,” pertain to a documentary he did about creating music in locations connected to United States World War II Japanese internment camps. Of the film, he says:

“It has compassion for migrants and immigrants and shows the effects of xenophobia. Right now, everyone is overwhelmed. They are panicking, waiting for the dust to settle.”

“Omoiyari” is a Japanese word that means to have sympathy and compassion.

Bashi, born Kaoru Ishibashi, explains why he adapted his stage name:

“People always called me ‘K.’ I wanted it to be a mystery whether or not Kishi Bashi was a person. And I didn’t want to be known as a singer-songwriter.”

The Archer Music Hall concert is Bashi’s second visit to the Lehigh Valley. He performed at the Mercantile Home, Easton, in 2012.

Bashi was formerly a member of the bands Jupiter One and of Montreal. He also toured with singer-songwriters Sondre Lerche and Regina Spektor.

“I learned from Regina Spektor how to create an intimacy with the audience, and from Montreal how to put on a show.

“It is important to me to help people get away from everyday life, and respect that they are coming to see me.”

Opening act The Oshima Brothers are two multi-instrumental folk-pop brothers who also use looping. They describe themselves as having “open-hearted music with smooth blood harmonies and groovy guitar lines.”

Kishi Bashi, Oshima Brothers, 7 p.m. May 6, Archer Music Hall, Arrow room, 939 Hamilton St., Allentown, 610-798-1466, www.archermusichall.com