High-energy fiddle tunes from Turkey, Greece and beyond, Lars Tergis leads the charge on violin with driving, gritty interpretations of traditional party tunes and his own original compositions. Chris Reid adds a touch of ‘West’ with percussive chordal accompaniment on steel-string guitar. Gopal Slavonic brings his flamenco guitar chops to bear, while Faisal Zedan keeps the beat popping on derbekki, riqq, and davul. Joined on stage by some of the Bay Area’s top dancers, Lars and in Charge delive...
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Vince Delgado’s Mid-East Tapestry Ensemble plays a diverse array of classical, urban, and folk music from the Arabic-speaking countries, as well as Turkish, Greek, Armenian, and Persian traditions along with original compositions. In a time when there is so much negative perception about the Middle East, the ensemble believes that the aesthetics and variety of these cultures would be of interest to American audiences. There is much beautiful music to be heard from these countries that have been ...
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Janam ("My Soul") presents dark love songs from Bulgaria, Greece, West Virginia, and beyond for a different spin post-Valentine's Day.
FEATURING:
Dan Auvil - percussion, vocals
Tom Farris - laouto, guitar, percussion
Juliana Graffagna - vocals, accordion
Gari Hegedus - oud, saz, mandocello, mandolin
Shira Kammen - violin, harp, vocals
ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Combining funky Balkan rhythms, gritty Appalachian ballads, arresting vocal harmonies, and enchanting acoustic textures, ...
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Drómeno returns to the Red Poppy with Turkish-influenced tunes from Asia-Minor, featuring oud, kanoun, violin, and vocals. This nostalgic music came with refugees from Smyrna, and the sounds are shared among other formerly Ottoman-occupied lands, like Macedonia, as well as the Sephardic Jews of this area. Joined by special guest percussionist Sean Tergis, the first half of the evening will be a sit-down concert, then the floor will be open for some lively regional Greek music for dancing!
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Teslim (tes-LEEM) consists of three composers—violinist Kaila Flexer, multi-instrumental string wizard Gari Hegedus, and Elana Brutman on Cretan lyra with sympathetic strings—who share a common love of modal music from Turkey and Greece. Joined by percussionist Joshua Mellinger, the group presents the 7 Decades Project, which features original compositions by Flexer in honor of her parents, Abe and Bobbie.
Flexer’s parents met when they were just 11 years old. Now 83, the two have been togeth...
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Dromeno is a traditional ensemble presenting authentic regional music from the Greek mainland and beyond, overlapping into the surrounding regions and finding the musical legacy that connects the traditions of the Balkans. Featuring wide-ranging instrumentation, the group is able to span the sounds of Greece, from Western Macedonia and Ipiros, through Thessaly and Thrace.
FEATURING:
Christos Govetas - clarinet, bouzouki, vocals
Ruth Hunter - accordion, vocals
Eleni Govetas - double b...
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IpeiroKritika performs a mix of traditional Epirot and Cretan tunes and songs, two styles that are some of the most popular and known to be the most contrasting regional music of Greece.
FEATURING:
Gregory Masaki Jenkins - clarinet, vocals
Aya Safiya - violin, vocals
Tano Brock - laouto, vocals
ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
Gregory Masaki Jenkins, a South Bay native, has been playing Greek music since 1995 when he first attended Balkan Camp in Mendocino. After five years, he became ...
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Diaspora’s Red Poppy debut features an eclectic mix of music from Southern Europe and the Near East. Leah Sirkin, Steve Brock, and Tano Brock are the core members of this San Francisco family band. Special guests joining them for the night include Arabic drum master Faisal Zedan and dancer Nicole Maria.
FEATURING:
Leah Sirkin - violin, vocals
Tano Brock - clarinet, oud, vocals
Steve Brock - tabla, kanjira
Faisal Zedan - darabuka, riqq, frame drums
Nicole Maria - dance
ABOU...
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Wahid is a duo that blends jazz, Ottoman maqam, and traditional rebetika—Greek regional blues from the 1920s. While their instrumentation pairing of the oud and frame drum dates back thousands of years, they have created a new approach using a chromatic bass frame set and improvisation over song forms. Their fifth release, Resonance, is in heavy rotation on the Transglobal World Music Chart, as well as Dore Stein's Tangents Radio.
FEATURING:
Dimitris Mahlis - oud
Chris Wabich - tuned ...
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Multi-instrumentalist Gary Haggerty and Arab percussionist Faisal Zedan return to the Red Poppy to express the dynamic aspects related to Arab and Middle Eastern drumming and its effect on the melodies performed.
FEATURING:
Gary Haggerty - oud, saz, mendochello, tarhu
Faisal Zedan - derbakki, riqq, frame drums
ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
Gary Haggerty is an accomplished performer and composer who specializes in stringed instruments including the oud, saz, violin, mandolin, setar, m...
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Drómeno is a traditional ensemble presenting authentic regional music from the Greek mainland and beyond, overlapping into the surrounding regions and finding the musical legacy that connects the traditions of the Balkans. Featuring wide-ranging instrumentation, the group is able to span the sounds of Greece, from Western Macedonia and Ipiros, through Thessaly and Thrace.
FEATURING:
Christos Govetas - clarinet, bouzouki, vocals
Ruth Hunter - accordion, vocals
Eleni Govetas - double b...
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Pasatempo Rebetika presents the heart and soul music of Greece with authenticity and depth. Christos Govetas and wife, Ruth Hunter, are well-known proponents of this music, both in the U.S. and Greece, and form the core of the group. Vocal harmonies blend to tell the stories of love, loss, exile, and more. They are joined by daughter Eleni on acoustic bass and violin, son Bobby on baghlama, and guitarist Nick Maroussis.
FEATURING:
Christos Govetas - bouzouki, clarinet, vocals
Ruth Hun...
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Using a modern and fluid approach to improvisation, oud player Dimitris Mahlis and frame drummer Chris Wabich explore Greek, Persian, and Indian sounds that date back to antiquity. Described by Digital Jazz News as “eclectic, organic, and unplugged in the truest sense of the word,” Wahid’s newest release, Inside Silence, synthesizes their cross-cultural music into a distinctive jazz idiom.
Featuring:
Dimitris Mahlis - oud
Chris Wabich - tuned frame drums
Admission: $10-20. ...
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Master percussionist Faisal Zedan returns to the Red Poppy Art House alongside multi-instrumentalist Gari Hegedus for an evening of music rooted in Turkish, Arab, and Greek traditions. Displaying a dynamic approach to rhythm and melody, the duo enthusiastically rejuvenates classic styles of Middle Eastern drumming.
Featuring:
Gari Hegedus - Turkish and Arabic ouds, saz
Faisal Zedan - derbakki, riqq, and frame drums
Born in Lebanon and raised in Syria, Faisal Zedan grew up impassioned wit...
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Multi-instrumentalist Gari Hegedus is joined by master percussionist Faisal Zedan and his ensemble for an evening of instrumental music rooted in Turkish, Arabic and Greek traditions.
Gari Hegedus began devoting his life to music 25 years ago with the study of early European, Celtic and Bretagne music. From there he was led east into the intense practice and performance of Turkish classical and Mevlevi ceremonial music. His repertoire and playing styles span outward from Turkey to Greece and ...
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