Greetings Friends,
Please join Janam, The Helladelics & Brass Menažeri
Friday,
June 1 for a very special evening of Balkan music and dancing
on the lovely island of Alameda. This event is part of Rhythmix
Cultural Works' Island Arts Series and it will be a full evening of
music and merry-making in a beautiful venue with an enormous dance
floor. Buy your tickets now! Bring your friends, your family, &
your dancing shoes and we hope to see you there!
Juliana, Gari, Dan, Tom and Peter
Friday, June 1
Rhythmix Island Arts Presents:
Balkan Music & Dance Festival featuring Janam, The Helladelics
& Brass Menažeri
Rhythmix Cultural Works, 2513 Blanding Ave., Alameda, CA
7:00pm dance lesson
7:30-11:30pm live music and dancing
$15 advance, $20 at the door, $10 students
$30 includes Mediterranean dinner from Little House Cafe
Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/242506
All ages welcome!
Janam (“My Soul”), led by golden-throated Kitka Women’s Vocal
Ensemble veteran Juliana Graffagna,Janam proves that the foothills
of the Balkans and the Appalachians lie in Oakland.Janam’s funky
meters, bittersweet modes, driving tunes, and sultry ballads invoke
the nightingales and dark eyes, the hot love and cold hollows of
Europe and America’s most musical mountains. Janam unites the Bay
Area's most imaginative and devoted practitioners of Balkan &
Near Eastern music, to follow the universal threads of folk songs of
disparate traditions. The resulting music is transcendent, sensuous
and irresistible.
http://www.janamband.com
The Helladelics create richness and grit, low gears and deep grooves
of mostly traditional Greek dance and trance tunes. Captivating
melodies, driving rhythms and passionate improvisations drive the
hypnotic, bluesy material of Epirus, upbeat dance tunes from Thrace,
lilting songs of the islands with a taste of Armenia and Turkey.
Four familiar Bay Area musicians make up this ensemble: soulful
clarinetist Mary Farris, laouto-strummer extraordinaire Tom Farris,
Gari Hegedus on the rippling violin and oud, and velvet-voiced
Michele Simon with her percolating percussion.
http://www.helladelics.com
Brass Menazeri (pronounced "Menagerie") is the San Francisco Bay
Area's ultra-hip Balkan Romani ("Gypsy") powerhouse Brass Band.
Soulful vocals & hot improvisations fuel the band’s performance
with funky infectious beats—toes tap, bodies slam, sweat flies as
vital energy radiates from the dance floor. The Brass Menazeri is a
shining example of traditional Balkan repertoire combined with new
sensibilities, innovative arrangements & original compositions
at the hands & lips of American devotees. Reimagining
traditional Balkan songs with rock beats, funk bass and inspirations
from Bosnia to Bollywood are a trademark of the Brass Menazeri’s
approach to exploring new sounds. Director, Peter Jaques and his
bandmates have travelled extensively around the former Yugoslavia,
discovering brass festivals, expanding musical traditions and
creating signature compositions of their own. Brass Menazeri was the
winner of the SF Weekly’s "Best Crazed Gypsy Brass Band Dance Party”
and 2008 Music awards in the "Best International Band" category.
http://www.brassmenazeri.com
Upcoming Janam events:
July 6, Croatian American Cultural Center
October 5, Red Poppy Art House