April 6th MAPP

Closing Reception for the Red Poppy Art House’s Interior Mural
“SAY HER NAME” by Mara Lea Brown and Emma Timberlea Brown

Saturday, April 6th, 2024 | 6:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.

Mural Closing Reception 6:30 p.m. to 7:45 p.m.

Join us in celebrating the mural, “SAY HER NAME” by Mara Lea Brown and Emma Timberlea Brown, on the RPAH’s interior walls at its closing reception with introductions and an interactive dance performance by Aisan Hoss, followed by more MAPP performances.

The program is as follows:

Red Poppy Art House
2698 Folsom @23rd

Curator: Dina Zarif
Closing reception: Interior mural “SAY HER NAME” byMara Lea Brown and Emma Timberlea Brown
6:30 – 7:45 “SAY HER NAME” closing reception

7:15- 7:30 Interactive dance performance by Aisan Hoss
7:45 – 8:05 The Butterfly Effect (Shadow puppet short play)
8:20 – 9:00 Diaspora Ensemble (Music of Mediterranean & beyond)
9:15 – 10:00 LOUDA MUSIC

Interior mural “SAY HER NAME”, by Mara Lea Brown and Emma Timberlea Brown

THIS IS A FREE EVENT

MAPP (Mission Arts & Performance Project)

Launched in 2003, the Mission Arts & Performance Project (MAPP) is a homegrown bi-monthly, multidisciplinary, intercultural event that takes place in the Mission District of San Francisco. On the first Saturday of every even month of the year, the MAPP transforms ordinary spaces, such as private garages, gardens, living rooms, studios, street corners, and small businesses into pop-up performance and exhibition sites for a day/night of intimate-scale artistic and cultural exchange among a kaleidoscope of individuals and communities.  Due to COVID-19, we had temporarily changed this dynamic program from an onsite to an online series. Thanks to the mastery and innovation of the presenting artists and curatorial vision we were pleased that the kaleidoscope of cultural exchange continued to be an incredibly enriching experience for the presenter and the viewer. We are glad that the days that we can safely present at our neighborhood venue have finally arrived and we are grateful for everyone’s ingenuity in making the online presentations meaningful and unique experiences.  

This program is funded by the California Arts Council Impact Project Grant.

We will continue our work in presenting unique artistry to the communities that we serve.

 RED POPPY MAPP TEAM:

Artistic Director | Managing Director: Dina Zarif 

PR and Digital Marketing: Anjali Varma

MAPP APRIL 6TH, 2024 PROGRAM

Interior mural “SAY HER NAME” | Mara Lea Brown & Emma Timberlea Brown

“Women, Life, Freedom”

She rises…
her hair flying in the wind…
her voice lifting to the sky…
her being becoming the fire that melts the frozen grounds of time…

SAY HER NAME…
say it loud…

Mahsa Amini the 22-year-old Iranian female whose death enflamed thousands of women and men to rise up. For, the future is female…
A monumental uprising for feminism and women’s rights, against police brutality and oppression is happening in Iran right now…

Say Her Name…
Be the voice of the voiceless…
#MahsaAmini

Mara Lea Brown is a Bay Area Artist. Her work explores human singularity and relationships through realistic charcoal drawing and mixed media with elements from nature. Having been born in California and grown up in Southern Spain, diversity and a search for connection are always subtly present in her work. In her portraiture, Mara enjoys the process of learning from the individual as well as from a phenomenological exploration of the human form. Recently Mara has been working on a series examining human relationships to ancestry, immigration, travel and belonging. She uses motifs, such as roots and wings, to illustrate the beauty and struggle of this search for the self. For her work on the interior mural “SAY HER NAME” she collaborated with her daughter Emma Timberlea Brown at Red Poppy Art House.

ABOUT THE MURALIST

Mara Lea Brown is a Bay Area Artist. Her work explores human singularity and relationships through charcoal drawing, painting, and mixed media with elements from nature. Mara was born in California, grew up in Southern Spain, and moved back to the USA as an adult. Incommensurability and a search for connection are always subtly present in her work. In her portraiture, Mara enjoys the process of learning from the individual as well as from a phenomenological exploration of the human form. Recently Mara has been working on a series of drawings reflecting on the effects of the pandemic on her community.

www.maraleabrown.com

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Aisan Hoss
Interactive dance

Aisan Hoss is a dancer and choreographer from Tehran, Iran. She started studying and performing Iranian dances at the age of twelve and teaching at the age of eighteen. While doing her BS in Business Management at Azad University in Tehran, Aisan attended a study-abroad English language program in London where she first encountered contemporary dance. She became drawn to the form’s unlimited possibilities for individual self-expression and experimentation of form and content. After graduating, she moved to London to pursue contemporary dance as her career. At the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Contemporary Dance in London, Aisan completed a one-year diploma in dance followed by a BA in Dance Theatre. At Trinity Laban, she found her passion in choreography and dance pedagogy, which inspired her to spend one year teaching contemporary dance in Iran and to then pursue her MFA in Dance and Choreography at Mills College in Oakland, California. While at Mills, she received an Innovator Award sponsored by the E.L. Wiegand Foundation. For Aisan, her passion for dance and choreography has been a means for gaining insight into her identity as an Iranian living outside of her home country. Specifically, several of her choreographies have explored the ways in which having physical distance from her home country provides a deeper sense of intimacy with its cultural essence. Aisan uses movement as a tool to find beauty in her history and identity. Inspired by modern Iranian culture, she aims to give voice to the quietest elements of her culture through choreography.

Diaspora Ensemble
Music from the Mediterranean and beyond

Diaspora plays music of the Eastern Mediterranean region. The Sefardic songs they cover have roots in the musical traditions of Medieval Spain. The soulful and lively songs in varied meters are sung in Ladino (Judeo-Spanish). Diaspora also plays music from Greece, Turkey, the Balkans, and Afghanistan.

Featuring:
Leah Sirkin – Violin and vocals
Tano Brock – Clarinet, laouto, guitar, and vocals
Steven Brock – Tabla, frame drum and kanjira

Leah Sirkin, Tano Brock, and Steven Brock are the core members of this family band from Bernal Heights. Diaspora has been performing at venues and events in the Bay Area and beyond since 2010. They had their Red Poppy debut in 2018 and are excited to return for Spring 2024 MAPP.

Leah Sirkin was raised in a singing, music-loving family and started playing violin at age eleven. She became more passionate about playing music as an adult and owes her inspiration to music camps she has been attending since 2000, notably the Middle East & Balkan Camps in Mendocino. Leah has performed with the Aswat Arabic Ensemble, Helm, and the Silk Road Caravan. 
Leah is also a playwright and songwriter and has recently written a musical based on the life of Mirabai.

Tano Brock is a multi-instrumentalist, recording artist, and producer. Born with a sixth sense for rhythm, he grew up attending music camps and began playing darbuka and piano at age seven. Tano’s current main instruments are clarinet and sax. He founded the Sarma Brass Band while in school on the East Coast and he co-leads Kali Orkestar in San Francisco. A graduate of Berklee College of Music, Tano is based in LA, where he produces music for a wide range of artists. He performs regularly with La Doña and directs the kids’ band at the Mendocino Balkan Camp.

Steve Brock has been playing tabla for over 30 years, studying with the master Swapan Chaudhury at the Ali Akbar College of Music. He has been playing and studying kanjira with two South Indian master musicians for the last decade. Steve is also a professional photographer and bookmaker.

 

 

Louda y Los Bad Hombres
Intimate and acoustic Nuevo Latin Soul originals and standards

Collaborating since 2017, Laura, Leo, and Jeff have organized over 200 performances including community havens, private events, street and seasonal festivals, local restaurants, elementary schools, and on tour at known venues across California, Illinois, and Oregon. Their inspiration to write and perform original music comes from their mix of cultures as young Latinx kids growing up in the 90s in San Diego, Hemet, and Chicago, and their experiences as friends and artists in the Bay Area.

Featuring:
Dave Eagle – Percussion
Leo Nava – Guitar
Marley Edwards – Bass
Laura Camacho – Vocals

Their last two studio releases, Deja Que Baila and Dejanos en Paz, Capitalist debuted shortly after shelter-in-place. Lyrics and songs circulate themes of human empowerment and social justice as well as more personal moments of a child struggling to focus during remote learning, expressing a need to move and dance instead and lamenting cumbias that speak to the struggles of desperation from overworking without proper compensation, nations being denied vaccination, children and families separated.

Newly written and unreleased are two singles, Que Sera and Maldita Palomita – just as raw as their previous compositions. Que Sera questions; what will happen when the sun weakens, who taught you to build mansions, who is accepting of police brutality, and who is willing to come together to create joyful spaces to survive? Maldita Palomita is about the love/hate dependence of in a car-centric society. Is it a place to live, a work tool, a luxury? Additional originals come from LOUDA’s pop and R&B catalog rearranged by the musicians. Supported by hits made famous by Celia Cruz, Edyie Gorme, and Selena – this group will keep you in motion and leaning in to listen with your heart.

https://loudamusic.com/losbadhombres

 

Leo Nava is from San Diego. He has spent a lifetime studying, composing, teaching, and playing music. He graduated from the California Jazz Conservatory in 2016 with a BM in Jazz Studies. Since then he has focused on teaching and composing and arranging music for Louda y Los Bad Hombres. After finishing his Masters of Jazz Guitar Performance from San Francisco State University, his goal is to continue blendling music from his Latinx heritage with modern jazz and hip-hop.

Marley Edwards is from Redwood City. He has studied Jazz music for 10 years, first at the College of San Mateo, and then at the California Jazz Conservatory in Berkeley where he received a B.M. in Jazz studies in May 2019. Marley is interested in playing different styles of music in an authentic way, especially music from other countries. Hearing music from his mother’s home country of Nicaragua has no doubt led to this interest.

Laura Camacho, Chicago native, has been creating in the Bay Area since 2017. Since co-producing Los Bad Hombres, and enduring the pandemic, Laura has been expanding alongside artists in both cities. Her network is a testimony to her enthusiasm for working on stage and dedication behind the scenes. She is returning from a hiatus of performing, due to teaching credential coursework to be a K – 12 music teacher. Hurray for teachers! She plans on releasing Louda and Los Bad Hombres new music later this year.

Dave Eagle is a Berkeley native greatly influenced by his father, who is a conga drummer and a collector of world music, and Capoeira Mestre who introduced him to Brazilian culture and music. Now you can find him in the community playing weekly at a church and at many senior centers throughout the Bay Area. He also plays most nights at local venues with different bands, playing many styles and instruments; including New Orleans, Boogie and Blues washboard, Brazilian, Latin, Reggae, and more. Dave lives his life trying to spread the love of music to make people happy and dance!

 

PREVIEW THE PERFORMANCE

Aisan Hoss

 

Diaspora Ensemble

 

Louda y Los Bad Hombres

 

PREVIEW THE PERFORMANCE

IN PERSON EVENT DETAILS

Time: April 6th, 2024, 6:30pm- 10pm (IN-PERSON)

Admission: Free!

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