Red Poppy Art House

Motoshi Kosako and Luminance: An Evening of Jazz Harp & Improvisation
2019-04-27 19:30 - 22:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Red Poppy Art House, 2698 Folsom St., San Francisco, CA, 94110, United States
Luminance celebrates the intersection of jazz, classical, and folk repertoire, bringing musical creativity to an unlikely instrument combination. Also sharing the stage, Motoshi Kosako performs improvisation, jazz, and original compositions in conversation with innovative fret-less bassist Michael Manring.

FEATURING:
Amelia Romano – electric lever harp
Matt Ebisuzaki – trumpet
Motoshi Kosako – pedal harp
Michael Manring – fret-less bass

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
Formed in the Mission District of San Francisco, Luminance—an electric harp and trumpet collaboration—is a celebration of folk and concert traditions. The duo’s collaborative process highlights each member as a composer, improviser, and arranger. Together, harpist Amelia Romano and trumpeter Matthew Ebisuzaki bring spontaneous improvisation, contagious rhythms, and soulful melodies to the stage for an unforgettable conversation.
Motoshi Kosako took up harp in 1997 after moving from Japan to the United States. He has received instruction from various teachers and was the principal for Stockton Symphony (2005-2010) and a featured soloist for the 2009-2010 season. He has toured internationally since 2008, giving performances and workshops, as well as featuring in numerous music festivals including The Future of Harp in Yokohama, Japan; VIII Rio Harp Festival in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; American Harp Society National Conference 2014 in New Orleans; and World Harp Congress, Sydney 2014 in Australia.

EVENT DETAILS

Time: 7:00pm doors / 7:30pm show
Admission: $20-25 sliding scale. A limited quantity of additional tickets will be available for purchase at the door.
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French Oak Gypsy Band: French Manouche Meets New Orleans Swing
2019-04-26 19:30 - 22:00
Join French Oak Gypsy Band for an evening of chanson from around the globe, including French classic and contemporary, American traditional jazz, Spanish, Romani, Catalan, and Russian traditional songs as well!

FEATURING:
Stella Heath – vocals
Gabriel Pirard – guitar, harmony vocals
Jimmy Inciardi – saxophones
Skyler Stover – bass
Jamie Foster – drums

ABOUT THE ARTIST:
French Oak Gypsy Band is a wild-around-the-edges band, melding French jazz manouche and chanson, New Orleans jazz, Roma traditionals, and global folk. North Bay native and vocalist Stella Heath leads the band which also features French/American guitarist Gabriel Pirard, reed player James Inciardi, standup bassist Skyler Stover, and percussionist Jamie Foster. With their French-inspired global panoply of sounds spotlighting Heath’s magnetic vocals and the band’s tight rhythms, they transport their audience to lands unknown.

EVENT DETAILS

Time: 7:00pm doors / 7:30pm show
Admission: $20 online / $15-20 door. A limited quantity of additional tickets will be available for purchase at the door.
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Carlos Oliveira & Kata-Vento: Music from Northeastern Brazil
2019-04-19 19:30 - 22:00
This reunion concert features original compositions by Brazilian guitarist Carlos Oliveira written for Kata-Vento’s distinct instrumentation of three flutes, two guitars, and percussion. Inspired by the music of Northeastern Brazil, the tunes invoke the traditional sound of the pífano flute, as well as jazz, samba, maracatu, choro, and even “cholypso.”

FEATURING:
Carlos Oliveira – guitars, compositions
Rebecca Kleinmann – flutes
Chloe Scott – flutes
Daniel Riera – flutes
Brian Rice – percussion
Plus special guests!

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
Kata-Vento (meaning “wind catcher” in Portuguese) has performed at the San Jose Jazz Festival, the National Flute Convention in Las Vegas, and widely in California for several years. Their first album was released in 2012.
A native of Recife, Brazil, who lived in California for a number of years, acoustic guitarist Carlos Oliveira briefly returns to the U.S. after spending the past several years in his hometown. His compositions and arrangements are influenced by the traditional music of Northeastern Brazil, as well as his extensive performance experience in Recife with local samba, choro, and frevo groups. Oliveira is currently recording his next album, to be released at the end of this year, and has also been collaborating, arranging, and composing for many singers and instrumentalists.
Learn more: Bandcamp

EVENT DETAILS

Time: 7:00pm doors / 7:30pm show
Admission: $20-25 sliding scale. A limited quantity of additional tickets will be available for purchase at the door.
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Ricardo Peixoto and Carlos Oliveira + Special Guests: An Evening of Brazilian Guitar
2019-04-13 19:30 - 22:00
Brazilian guitarists Ricardo Peixoto and Carlos Oliveira return to the Red Poppy to celebrate Oliveira’s return visit to the Bay Area. The duo will be joined by percussionist extraordinaire Alex Calatayud.

FEATURING:
Ricardo Peixoto – guitar
Carlos Oliveira – guitar
Alex Calatayud – percussion
+ TBA

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
Originally from Rio de Janeiro, guitarist and composer Ricardo Peixoto‘s eloquent style evokes images far beyond his Brazilian territory. His background in classical guitar, Brazilian music, and jazz—which informs his fluid, melodic sense—along with his original harmonic approach place him among the top representatives of Brazilian guitar in the U.S. today. His recent works include Berkeley Choro Ensemble’s 2018 album, The View from Here, featuring three of his compositions, one of which was commissioned specifically for the recording by SFIntermusic and premiered with BCE and the Echo Chamber Orchestra. Peixoto’s recent release, Scary Beautiful (2019), is a mesmerizing collection of compositions, players, and ensembles from the Bay Area as well as Rio de Janeiro. He has recorded, performed, and collaborated with Claudia Villela, Berkeley Choro Ensemble, Flora Purim and Airto, Bud Shank, Paul McCandless, Dom Um Romão, Sivuca, Toots Thielemans, Dori Caymmi, Guinga, and Claudio Roditi among others.
A native of Recife, Brazil, who resided in California for years, acoustic guitarist Carlos Oliveira briefly returns to the U.S. after spending the past several years in his hometown. Oliveira is a master guitarist and arranger, as well as a prolific composer, whose work is influenced by the traditional music of northeastern Brazil and from his extensive performance experience in Recife with local samba, choro, and frevo groups. He is currently recording his next album, to be released at the end of this year, and has also been collaborating with, as well as arranging and composing for, many singers and instrumentalists in Recife and in the U.S. Oliveira has previously performed in California with musicians such as Claudia Vilella, Mike Marshall, and Harvey Wainapel, and has contributed compositions and arrangements to many recording projects.

EVENT DETAILS

Time: 7:00pm doors / 7:30pm show
Admission: $20-25 sliding scale. A limited quantity of additional tickets will be available for purchase at the door.
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Bal du Kor: West African Trio
2019-04-12 19:30 - 22:00
Three veteran performers/composers/recording artists join forces to create an enchanting blend of traditional and original West African melodies and rhythms. The heart of this dynamic and captivating ensemble are the indigenous instruments balafon (marimba), dun-dun (talking drum), and kora (harp), combined with alto flute, ukulele, melodica, djembe, djun-djuns, shekere, bells, tambourine, and vocals. The band’s emotional range spans from the delicate and longing to the inspiring and ecstatic, while its collective cosmopolitan backgrounds give birth to unpredictable musical excursions.

FEATURING:
Michael Smolens – balafon, djun-djuns, shakers, bell, dumbek, tambourine, alto flute, melodica, vocals
Ben Issacs – djembe, dun-dun, udu, shekere, bell, cajon
Daniel Berkman – kora, djembe, bell, tambourine, electric ukulele, vocals

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
Michael Smolens leads a host of different trios, quintets, and large ensembles. Whereas all of these other groups are highly arranged, Bal du Kor is primarily improvised, combining his love for free improvisation with his fascination for West African music. Smolens has been composing for nearly a half a century and freely incorporates colors, moods, and arranging concepts from a multitude of influences. His primary sources of inspiration include modern jazz, modern vocal flights, 20th-century classical, North Indian classical, contemporary Brazilian music, accompanied Sufi poetry, and stage magic. His works have been recorded by jazz legends Stefon Harris, Paul McCandless, and Pandit Zakir Hussain. Smolens is also a veteran teacher, consultant, author, and poet.
Ben Isaacs (“Professor Slap”) has been playing music his whole life. Starting with violin at age seven, he played trumpet, guitar, piano, voice, clarinet, and saxophone during his youth. When 19, he was introduced to West African percussion and started a passionate connection with hand percussion that has grown for the last three decades. At the same time, he started playing bass and has been working with the instrument in many different styles—from American funk, rock, jazz, and R&B to working with many African artists from different countries on the African continent. P-Slap has traveled four times to West Africa to better understand the culture from which the music comes and to study with master percussionists there, as well as here in the U.S. His teachers include Abdoulaye Diakite, Karamba Dioubate, Abdoul Doumbia, Mabiba Bagne, Sulemon Diop, Dibi Diop-Faye, Mohammed Camara, Moussa Traore, Diop Percussion, Bolocada Conde, Mamady Keita, Fara Tolna, and others.
Daniel Berkman is a composer, multi-instrumentalist (keyboard, guitar, percussion, drum set), vocalist, electronic musician, RTFM recording artist, and innovator on the kora—a 21-stringed harp from West Africa. Upon finding this ancient jewel in 1996, Berkman wasted no time in unearthing the kora’s compositional and sonic potential, first by exploring its rich heritage of traditional playing techniques and repertoire, then by extending its electronic possibilities through devices such as the Whammy Pedal and the Oberheim Echoplex. His first three albums—Heartstrings, Feverdreams, and Headlands—mark this period between 1996 and 2000 which feature Berkman creating other worldly soundscapes and a playing technique drawing on his myriad influences. His latest work, Calabashmoon (2005), is a collection of crafty and poignant kora pieces woven into a tapestry of recorded samples and impressions of West Africa.

Learn more: Website

EVENT DETAILS

Time: 7:00pm doors / 7:30pm show
Admission: $20-25 sliding scale. A limited quantity of additional tickets will be available for purchase at the door.
Purchase advance tickets for this event:

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Volunteer for this event!

MAPP: Music of the Banned (Chapter Two) - Traditional and Sacred Music of the Banned
2019-04-06 12:00 - 22:00
This concert will explore the seminal, traditional, and folk musical traditions of Muslim-majority countries on the travel ban. Audiences will be introduced to the little-known traditional sacred music of Islam, featuring artists such as Sudanese musician Khalid El Awad who will present the Islamic call to worship (“azaan/salah”) and mystical songs of Sufi music (“madeeh”). The concert will also feature traditional secular music that predates the influence of Islam, such as Syrian music performed by Raman Osman & Faisal Zedan, as well as Art of Improvisation based on Iranian traditional “radif” performed by Iranian musicians Samandar and Sina Dehghani and Aydin Kiasat. The last performance will include Kurdish music performed by Sirvan Manhoobi and Isik Berfin. Audiences will discover the region’s rich music developed within pre- and non-Islamic traditions.

WORKSHOPS:
Regional & Traditional Music of Iran
Oud, Theory of Iranian Music Workshop with Sirvan Manhoobi
Intro to Syrian Music & Arabic Percussion
Derbakki, Riqq & Frame Drum Workshop with Faisal Zedan

EXHIBITION:
Calligraphy Exhibition
Demonstration by Arash Shirinbab

PERFORMANCES:
SUDAN: Azaan & Madeeh
Islamic Call to Worship & Sufi Songs
Khalid El Awad – vocals, oud (stringed instrument)
SYRIA: The Diverse Land
Traditional Arabic & Kurdish Folk Music
Faisal Zedan – derbakki, riqq, frame drum (Arabic percussion)
Raman Osman – vocals, baglama (Kurdish/Turkish stringed instrument)
IRAN: Art of Improvisation
Iranian Traditional Musical Journey
Samandar Dehghani – tar (Iranian stringed instrument)
Sina Dehghani – tombak (Persian goblet drum)
Aydin Kiasat – kamancheh (Iranian bowed string)
KURDISTAN: Dora Rengin (All Colors in Zazaki Language)
Kurdish, Sufi & Zaza-Alevi Music
Isik Berfin – vocals, daf (large Middle Eastern frame drum)
Sirvan Manhoobi – oud (stringed instrument)
Ozden Oztoprak – vocals, baglama (Kurdish/Turkish stringed instrument)
Rumen “Sali” Shopov – davul (percussion instrument)

*Poster design by Mohsen Ghaffari

EVENT TIMELINE

Time
Event Type
Title

12:00pm – 1:15pm
Workshop
Regional & Traditional Music of Iran with Sirvan Manoobi

1:45pm – 3:00pm
Workshop
Intro to Syrian Music & Arabic Percussion with Faisal Zedan

6:00pm – 7:00pm
Visual
Calligraphy Exhibition/Demonstration by Arash Shirinbab

7:25pm – 7:40pm
Music
SUDAN: Azaan & Madeeh

7:50pm – 8:20pm
Music
SYRIA: The Diverse Land

8:30pm – 9:00pm
Music
IRAN: Art of Improvisation

9:15pm – 10:00pm
Music
KURDISTAN: Dora Rengin (All Colors in Zazaki Language)

ABOUT MUSIC OF THE BANNED

Since January 27, 2017, President Trump has issued three travel bans to citizens from countries deemed by his administration: Chad, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Sudan, Yemen, Somalia, North Korea, and Venezuela. In the face of the president’s travel ban, Music of the Banned (MOTB) seeks to build a sonic bridge between peoples. The ten countries of the ban are a source of rich music and art that we can explore in a journey of peace and understanding.
Art will break down the barriers that isolate us — the barriers that either governments or media have worked hard to create. We are inviting the artistic ambassadors of these countries to lay down the drawbridge to their countries’ soundscape and beauty, and invite us all in.
So many have been suffering from a lack of understanding and from this travel ban in particular. Let’s stand to welcome the culture of the unknown, make ourselves aware of those that came to this country for a better life just as our ancestors. This concert series will give voice to musicians from the Banned Nations, breaking the barriers of fear and ignorance by responding with love, peace, and empowerment.
MOTB was first incubated by Dina Zarif, an Iranian artist, during a Mission Arts & Performance Project (MAPP) event at Red Poppy Art House on August 5, 2017. Its success inspired a concert at Yerba Buena Gardens Festival in June 2018. In 2019, with support from the California Arts Council, San Francisco Arts Commission, and Red Poppy Art House, Zarif as lead artist will organize three interdisciplinary concerts, an exploration of performing and visual arts, which feature artists from the countries on President Trump’s travel ban. The three concerts will take place on March 16 (“Borders without Bans”), April 6 (“Sacred and Traditional Music of the Banned” as part of MAPP), and May 5 (“Her Banned Voice” at Brava Theater).

ABOUT MISSION ARTS & PERFORMANCE PROJECT

Launched in 2003, the Mission Arts & Performance Project (MAPP) is a homegrown bi-monthly, multidisciplinary, intercultural happening 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.

ABOUT THE PERFORMANCES & ARTISTS

Azaan & Madeeh
Islamic Call to Worship & Sufi Songs
Azaan is the Islamic call to worship (“salah”) and is recited by the muezzin at prescribed times of the day. The root of the word is “adhan” meaning “to listen, to hear, be informed about.” Madeeh is the mystical songs of Sufi music in Sudan and aspires to achieve the perfection of worship through music.
* * *
Khalid El Awad (vocals, oud) comes from a lineage of esteemed Sudanese musicians and culture keepers. He is an accomplished oud player, vocalist, and teacher of the various traditional Sudanese styles. He is also a talented multi-instrumentalist and composer of Sudanese music, as well as a scholar of the musical history of the region. As a father of three brilliant daughters who love to carry on their cultural heritage, he is always learning how to innovate and grow to bring these traditions to the new generation.

The Diverse Land
Traditional Arabic & Kurdish Folk Music
Syria has been a place for variety of music, most of it drawing from Arabic influences and some from Kurdish, Syrianic, and Armenian traditions. The musical heritage is made of classical, urban, and folk styles. In addition, many local dance forms are practiced, especially folk dancing. Faisal Zedan and Raman Osman present music from different regions of Syria, including songs in the Arabic and Kurdish languages.
* * *
Faisal Zedan (derbakki, riqq, frame drum) is a Syrian/Lebanese percussionist and Arabic drumming teacher. He has been performing Arabic and Middle Eastern styles of music for over 25 years and plays instruments such as derbakki, riqq, and frame drums. Zedan is an active member of a community of musicians who care about preserving, teaching, and performing many styles of Middle Eastern music. He has been collaborating with many musicians both locally and internationally. Learn more at faisalzedan.com.

Raman Osman (vocals, baglama) is a Kurdish composer and master tembûr (saz) musician from Al-Hasaka, Syria. He has performed Kurdish music at a variety of venues, including the Damascus Opera House and universities in Syria. He currently lives in Northern California where he performs Kurdish music as a solo artist, as well as with artists from various global traditions. Osman performed as a guest artist with the UCSB Middle East Music & Dance Ensemble for the fall concert in 2014. His other performances include many concerts in Agoura Hills, Topanga, Berkeley, San Jose, Davis, Oakland, and San Francisco

Art of Improvisation
Iranian Traditional Musical Journey
Musicians Samandar Dehghani, Sina Dehghani, and Aydin Kiasat present Art of Improvisation with a repertoire based on the traditional modal music of Iran, including Radif.
* * *
Born in Esfahan, Iran, Samandar Dehghani (tar) is a professional musician who plays two Persian classical instruments—tar (stringed instrument) and daf (hand drum). He started playing daf at age 15 under the mentorship of his brother and percussionist Sina Dehghani. He started tar with Hasan Tafazoli in Esfahan, and after preliminary studies, he continued his path with master musicians such as Behrouz Hemmati and Keyvan Saket in Tehran. Dehghani moved to the U.S. in 2012 to pursue a professional career in music. He now performs regularly in the San Francisco Bay Area and throughout the country. A composer as well, he released his debut album, Light on Fire, in collaboration with Sina in 2016.

Sina Dehghani (tombak) is known for his innovative style and improvisational mastery on the ancient Persian classical drums—tombak (wooden drum) and daf. He studied with prominent Persian master percussionists such as Bijan Kamkar, Masoud Habibi, and Navid Afghah. Dehghani has performed in renowned music ensembles in Iran. He has been teaching music for a number of years and currently performs in the San Francisco Bay Area and throughout the U.S.

Aydin Kiasat (kamancheh) was born in Tabriz, Iran, into a family of accomplished musicians. He started studying music, particularly Azeri modal systems on the accordion, when he was six years old. At the same time, he started to learn the classical violin in Tabriz. Since then, he has found himself passionate about learning and playing Western classical music. At 13, his passion drew him to the kamancheh, which he studied as his principal instrument under the greatest masters from Iran and Azerbaijan. From an early age, Kiasat began performing publicly, including major music festivals in his hometown, as well as in Turkey, Germany, and Iran. His collaborations in the U.S. have included numerous Azeri ensembles, Silk Road Music Festival, Cal Poly Music Festival, San Francisco World Music Festival, and Zaryab Ensemble. Kiasat is a senior electrical engineering student at San Jose State University and also studies jazz at Berklee College of Music. His knowledge in traditional folk, Western classical, and jazz music allows him to create a body of work that brings his music to the forefront of global music fields. Currently, he is teaching kamancheh and violin in the Bay Area, as well as playing as a soloist in his band Eastern Fusion Ensemble. Learn more at aydinkiasat.com.

Dora Rengin (All Colors in Zazaki Language)
Kurdish, Sufi & Zaza-Alevi Music
Presenting Kurdish music, Sirvan Manhoobi and Isik Berfin are joined by Ozden Oztoprak and Rumen “Sali” Shopov for the final performance of the evening.
* * *
Sirvan Manhoobi (oud) started his musical journey at age 13 taking tar/sehtar, studying with Keivan Saket and Behrooz Hemati. He chose oud as his primary instrument and attended classes with Arsalan Kamkar. Other masters he has studied under include Mohamadreza Lotfi (Radif Navazi-Iranian classical music repertoire), Mehran Rohani (principles and history of music), Siamak Jahangiri (improvisation and analysis of Radif). Upon taking workshops in improvisation with Hossein Alizadeh, Manhoobi was also introduced to the shoorangiz instrument. He was awarded Best Soloist in Iranian music festivals and collaborated with Ardeshir Kamkar. Manhoobi formed the Bamdad Music Ensemble, focusing on Kurdish and Iranian classical music. He is a MA graduate of archaeology from Tehran University and has worked with Bahram Bezaei as a composer and tar player for his most recent play, Tarabnameh, at Stanford. Manhoobi currently lives in San Jose, performing, composing, and teaching Iranian and Kurdish music.

Isik Berfin (vocals, daf) is from Turkey’s ethnic minority Kurdish-Alevi community, which has historically suffered persecution. As a child in Turkey, she grew up surrounded by her mother’s songs and instruments made by her great-grandfather. Berfin and her mother later moved to San Francisco, where music took on even more meaning in their lives. Their distinct melodic voices wowed a packed audience at the Bayview Opera House in San Fransisco in May 2018. As a duo, their distinct Kurdish repertoire of songs stem from a Sufi spiritual tradition that was passed down behind closed doors.

Ozden Oztoprak (vocals, baglama) is a graduate from Istanbul Conservatory. As a duo with her daughter Isik, their distinct Kurdish repertoire of songs stem from a Sufi spiritual tradition that was passed down behind closed doors from Oztoprak’s grandparents to their great-granddaughter Berfin.

Rumen “Sali” Shopov (davul) is a master Turkish-Romani drummer, singer, and string player from Gotse Delchev, Bulgaria. Romani music is not taught formally and does not have a system of notation, but is passed on from musician to musician, generation to generation. Shopov’s primary mentor was his uncle, Mustafa Kobalishtaliev, the best drummer in the region and the first Romani instrumentalist in the Nevrokopski Ensemble, Bulgaria’s first national folk ensemble. He also learned from his cousin Avdraman Teshovski and directors of the Nevrokopski Ensemble, Kyril Traikov and Zaprju Ikonomov. A charismatic and patient teacher, Shopov has taught at the Eastern European Folklife Center’s Balkan Music and Dance Workshops, Berkeley’s JazzSchool, UC Berkeley, University of Oregon, and more.

ABOUT THE WORKSHOPS

Sirvan Manhoobi
Oud, Theory of Iranian Music Workshop
Iran is an ancient country with diverse ethnicities. Each ethnicity of Iran has its specific culture and art and music. Music of Iran is sometimes studied as part of so-called Middle Eastern music. Main Iranian music divisions are classical Iranian music, which is referred to by native Iranians as “traditional music,” and folk music, regarded as “regional music.”
This workshop is about the diverse musicology of Iran. During the first part of the workshop, with a summary about regional music of Iran, Sirvan Manhoobi will talk about the specific instruments of different regions. The second part of the workshop will continue with the theory of classical Iranian music. The classical music of Iran consists of melody types developed through the country’s classical and medieval eras, such as the musical mode “dastgah.” The influence of dastgah is seen as the reservoir of authenticity from which other forms of musical genres derive melodically and performances are inspired.
RSVP TO THIS WORKSHOP

Faisal Zedan
Derbakki, Riqq & Frame Drum Workshop
In this workshop, Faisal Zedan provides an introduction to Syrian music and covers a brief history of the drum, noting regional differences and approaches to the instrument. Learning the basic tones of the drum, as well as emphasizing the proper technique and hand placement, will help develop the necessary mechanics for continued play and study. Students will be introduced to traditional Arabic rhythms, such as maqsoum and malfouf/lef, and will have many opportunities to incorporate the techniques covered at the beginning of the class. This workshop is interactive, with lots of time for playing built in, and appropriate for large groups of beginner (and some intermediate) students. Some drums can be provided, but for larger groups students will also need to bring their own.
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PREVIEW THE MUSIC

VISUAL COMPONENT

Arash Shirinbab
Calligraphy Exhibition & Demonstration
“My work has revolved around the social, political, historical, and spiritual dimensions of Persian poetry and has been informed by questions of transitioning Iranian society from traditional to modernity. My interdisciplinary art practice includes painting, ancient and traditional Arabic-Persian calligraphy styles, ceramics, mixed media, time-based and site-specific work, and collaborative projects. In working with poetry, I revive the use of the Kufic Arabic calligraphy script which developed around 7th century and gradually fell extinct fourth centuries later. My work transmutes Kufic into a tangible form that can survive and even thrive as a modern aesthetic element. Kufic has a very simple, angular, and nomadic form and was used to document both spiritual yet literary texts, both secular and religious. I have explored this style expansively in my work and believe it resonates with the voice in Persian poetry by women and men. This undervalued and overlooked script enlivens poetry by transforming its individual words and letters into illustrations that encapsulate and reflect their lost pasts/histories.”
* * *
Arash Shirinbab has managed to be a successful blend of award-winning artist, Arabic-Persian calligrapher, and designer, as well as art administrator, art curator, and entrepreneur for the past ten years. He studied industrial and product design at University of Tehran from 2001 to 2006 and earned a BA and MA in the field of design. He then graduated with an MBA in design strategy from California College of the Arts in 2010. In 2008, Shirinbab engaged in classical study of traditional Arabic-Persian calligraphy scripts under masters from the Iranian Calligraphists Association and learned two of the oldest Islamic calligraphy scripts. He has participated in over 70 exhibitions (over 10 solos) nationally and internationally—U.S., Spain, Poland, Canada, Russia, France, Italy, Japan, Taiwan, India, and Iran—such as Triton Museum of Art in California, the Kunsthaus-Berlin-Marbella in Spain, and the Saadabad Palace in Tehran. Shirinbab has led over four dozen public art programs, has curated over 10 international exhibitions, and has conducted over two dozen calligraphy workshops and demonstrations, including workshops at Fremont Main Library in California, University of Toronto in Canada, and masterclass at the Contemporary Museum of Calligraphy in Moscow.
Shirinbab’s calligraphy and artworks with his personal painting style, Poem-Painting, have won several national and international awards. Among his awards are the 1st Place and Best of the Show Award for the 50 Shades of Gray competition by Focus Point & Shape Gallery 2014; Special Recognition Award for My Art international competition from Art Quench Magazine 2013; and a prestigious grant award as the leading artist and calligrapher from Creative Works Fund 2015. Shirinbab moved from his home country of Iran to the U.S. in 2010, and in the course of a few years has become a visible and active artist, calligrapher, and cultural producer in the San Francisco Bay Area. Learn more at arash-shirinbab.com and containandserve.com.

ABOUT THE CURATOR

Dina Zarif
Curator, Program Director & Project Manager

Dina Zarif is a performer, vocalist, designer, and art manager who combines Western classical singing with Middle Eastern styles inspired from her Persian roots. Some of her credits include SF International Arts Festival (May 2016 & 2018), Palace of Fine Arts (Sept 2018), the chamber opera The Passion of Leyla in San Jose, Yerba Buena Gardens Festival (June 2018), and the staged reading of Layla & Majnun at BAMPFA as part of the symposium with Mark Morris Dance Group and the Silk Road Ensemble. She was the featured singer in Syria Mon Amour, Golden Thread’s 2017 celebration of International Women’s Day at Brava Theater.
As an actress, Zarif performed in three of influential Iranian playwright and director Bahram Beyzai’s plays: Ardaviraf’s Report (2015), Tarabnameh (2015-2016) as the role of Dancer/Singer, and Crossroads (2018) in the Stanford Iranian Studies department. She is also a costume designer and performer in the shadow production Feathers of Fire: A Persian Epic. As the character Princess Roudabeh, she has performed at SF Cowell Theater, Brooklyn Academy of Music, UCLA, Harvard University, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Wallis Annenberg Hall, and has internationally toured in Poland, Canada, Taiwan, China, and France between 2015 and 2018.
Zarif serves as Program Director at Red Poppy Art House. She received her MA in landscape architecture from the University of Tehran, College of Fine Arts.

EVENT DETAILS

Time: 12:00pm event
Admission: Free
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Hét Hat Club: Balkan Quartet from Budapest, Hungary
2019-03-30 19:30 - 22:00
This year, the Hét Hat Club will be collaborating with Kjartan Code from the Szkojani Charlatans, focusing their repertoire on traditional and traditionally inspired original vocal and instrumental folk music from Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Turkey, as well as highly energetic jazz manouche in the classic style of Django Reinhardt.

FEATURING:
Kjartan Code – vocals, bass, violin
Valentin Desmarais – saxophone
Bitó János – accordion
Isaac Misri – guitar, tambura

ABOUT THE ARTIST:
The Hét Hat Club is an international traveling Balkan folk and jazz manouche ensemble based out of Budapest, Hungary. The band was formed a little over three years ago by individual traveling street musicians who serendipitously met in Budapest and decided to pursue this project due to their common passion and appreciation for Balkan folk music. The band members have traveled extensively through the Balkans and Caucasus, studying music and dance from local village musicians. They will be returning to the states in March 2019 for their third U.S. tour.
Learn more: YouTube

EVENT DETAILS

Time: 7:00pm doors / 7:30pm show
Admission: $15-20 sliding scale.
Purchase advance tickets for this event:
*Advance tickets for this event are sold out. A limited quantity of additional tickets will be available for purchase at the door. Please arrive when doors open the day of the event.
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Brian Andres Trio Latino ft. Christian Tumalan & Aaron Germain: Latin Jazz
2019-03-29 19:30 - 22:00
A trio is a much more intimate, yet demanding, musical setting for musicians to explore. There is no place to hide, no weak link allowed. In such a small setting, the dynamics must become more acute, the musical idea that much more clear, the technique that much more precise. It is in that context that the Brian Andres Trio Latino, featuring Christian Tumalan and Aaron Germain, thrives. Three musicians making a statement with the freedom of jazz and the cultural richness of the Afro-Latino diaspora. Featuring original compositions and exciting new arrangements of jazz and Latin standards, Brian Andres Trio Latino will head into the studio for their debut album in early 2019.

FEATURING:
Brian Andres – drum set
Christian Tumalan – piano
Aaron Germain – bass
Learn more: Website | Facebook | Instagram

EVENT DETAILS

Time: 7:00pm doors / 7:30pm show
Admission: $20-25 sliding scale. A limited quantity of additional tickets will be available for purchase at the door.
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Rumberos de Radio Habana: Monthly Community Rumba
2019-03-24 14:00 - 17:00, 2019-02-24 14:00 - 17:00, 2019-01-27 14:00 - 17:00
Rumba music originated in the Afro-Cuban neighborhoods of Havana and Matanzas as the soundtrack to community, partnered dancing and get-togethers as a means of cultural expression. Its global diaspora means rumba rhythms have found their way into other genres of music such as country, rock, and blues, and continue to impact the genres of today. Rumberos de Radio Habana bring their own contribution to the Red Poppy on the fourth Sunday of each month for a free afternoon of beat-making, hip-shaking, and good company.

EVENT DETAILS

Time: 2:00pm event
Admission: Free; donations accepted for musicians ($5-10)
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The Billie Holiday Project ft. Stella Heath: Celebrating Lady Day
2019-03-23 19:00 - 20:15
The Billie Holiday Project brings you back to the swinging jazz clubs of the 1930s and 1940s. Featuring some of the Bay Area’s finest jazz musicians, the project captures the intensity and intimacy Lady Day is known and loved for. With stories of her life and music interspersed throughout the evening, the performance will include some of Billie’s most recorded songs, as well as lesser-known tunes from her earlier years.

FEATURING:
Stella Heath – vocals
Neil Angelo Fontano – piano
Jason Bellenkes – tenor saxophone/clarinet
Trevor Kinsel – upright bass
Spike Klein – drums

ABOUT THE ARTIST:
The Billie Holiday Project, led by Stella Heath, celebrates the music of Lady Day. Shrouded in mystery, as she was draped in furs, Billie was quintessentially multi-faceted, possessing the sensitivity and ability to make the songs she sang as personal as if she were singing them softly in your very own ear. The Billie Holiday Project evokes the electric and intimate feeling of experiencing Lady Day live in a 1930s jazz club. Drawing from some of Billie’s most recorded tunes—such as “Blue Moon,” “Billie’s Blues,” “God Bless the Child,” and “Strange Fruit” to name a few—the band also revives some of the earlier and lesser-known tunes that Billie interpreted.
Learn more: Facebook

EVENT DETAILS

Time: 6:30pm doors / 7:00pm show
Admission: $20 online / $25 door
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Hernán Reinaudo & Scott O'Day: The Guitar in Argentine Tango
2019-03-22 19:30 - 22:00
Argentine tango guitarist and composer Hernán Reinaudo is joined by local tango guitarist Scott O’Day for a tour of the best music that tango has to offer. Coming together for the second time in North America, Reinaudo and O’Day combine artistry and virtuosity to showcase the distinct voice of the guitar in tango. The duo will also feature original compositions and arrangements by Reinaudo.

FEATURING:
Hernán Reinaudo – guitar
Scott O’Day – guitar

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
Hernán Reinaudo is one of the most outstanding guitarists of the new generation of tango musicians that has emerged over the last years in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He has accompanied renowned Argentine singers including Susana Rinaldi, Ariel Ardit, Alberto Podestá, and Soledad Villamil among many others. Reinaudo was awarded the Clarín and nominated twice for the award Carlos Gardel for best tango group. He has performed with 34 Puñaladas and Hugo Rivas Quartet, and has also toured throughout America, Europe, Asia, and Oceania. With more than 40 album productions under his belt, Reinaudo and his quintet recently released a new album, Neocriollo, which won first prize in the category Best New Work given by the National Foundation of Arts of Argentina. Since 2014, he has toured the U.S. in concerts, as well as conducted workshops and classes.
Scott O’Day is a local Bay Area favorite for tango music, appearing regularly in concert and at the milonga. He attended La Escuela de Música Popular de Avellaneda, a tango music school in Buenos Aires, and has performed with several tango groups all around the U.S., Canada, and Argentina to popular acclaim. Currently, O’Day is also the instructor for the Community Music Center Tango Ensemble in San Francisco.

EVENT DETAILS

Time: 7:00pm doors / 7:30pm show
Admission: $15-20 sliding scale. A limited quantity of additional tickets will be available for purchase at the door.
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Music of the Banned - Chapter One: Borders Without Bans (Sudan • Iran • Venezuela) - TWO SHOWS
2019-03-16 17:00 - 22:00
Musical influence has never and can never be limited by the borders of nations. The far-reaching effect of the arts has created crossover music, with artists adopting elements of each other’s musical traditions. During this concert series, audiences will hear different cultural and artistic linkages across and between the banned nations and the West. The March 16th event features Sudanese musician Tarawa with Seoulstice, Iranian musician Emad Bonakdar with flamenco dancer Mizuho Sato, and Venezuelan-flamenco group Trio Caminos.

MARCH 16TH PROGRAM:
SUDAN: Tarawa ft. Seoulstice
Sudanese Roots, Global Expressions
Tarawa – ukelele, calabash drum, ngoni, Sudanese bongos
Seoulstice – guitar, loop and effect pedal
IRAN: Emad Bonakdar & Mizuho Sato
Persian Music Meets Flamenco
Emad Bonakdar – tar, tanbur, guitar
Mizuho Sato – flamenco dance
VENEZUELA: Trio Caminos
Venezuelan Grooves in California
Carlos Caminos – acoustic guitar
Marlon Aldana – cajón flamenco, bongo
Angelo Tomandl – harmonicas

*Poster design by Mohsen Ghaffari

ABOUT MUSIC OF THE BANNED

Since January 27, 2017, President Trump has issued three travel bans to citizens from countries deemed by his administration: Chad, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Sudan, Yemen, Somalia, North Korea, and Venezuela. In the face of the president’s travel ban, Music of the Banned (MOTB) seeks to build a sonic bridge between peoples. The ten countries of the ban are a source of rich music and art that we can explore in a journey of peace and understanding.
Art will break down the barriers that isolate us — the barriers that either governments or media have worked hard to create. We are inviting the artistic ambassadors of these countries to lay down the drawbridge to their countries’ soundscape and beauty, and invite us all in.
So many have been suffering from a lack of understanding and from this travel ban in particular. Let’s stand to welcome the culture of the unknown, make ourselves aware of those that came to this country for a better life just as our ancestors. This concert series will give voice to musicians from the Banned Nations, breaking the barriers of fear and ignorance by responding with love, peace, and empowerment.
MOTB was first incubated by Dina Zarif, an Iranian artist, during a Mission Arts & Performance Project (MAPP) event at Red Poppy Art House on August 5, 2017. Its success inspired a concert at Yerba Buena Gardens Festival in June 2018. In 2019, with support from the California Arts Council, San Francisco Arts Commission, and Red Poppy Art House, Zarif as lead artist will organize three interdisciplinary concerts, an exploration of performing and visual arts, which feature artists from the countries on President Trump’s travel ban. The three concerts will take place on March 16 (“Borders without Bans”), April 6 (“Sacred and Traditional Music of the Banned” as part of MAPP), and May 5 (“Her Banned Voice” at Brava Theater).

ABOUT THE PROJECTS & ARTISTS

Tarawa ft. Seoulstice
Sudanese Roots, Global Expressions
Tarawa shares with you his journey back home through the themes of love, grief, migration, and revolution that weave through his heritage. In three languages and through the styles and instruments of four countries, we will also see how the waters of the Nile River, which runs through his ancestral land, splash and swirl with the cultures of West Africa, Latin America, Black America, and the Middle East. Accompanied by his best friend, music partner, and “accountability buddy,” Seoulstice, aka Jordon Jo, come sing along and take a deep breath!
* * *
Tarawa (Lead Artist), aka Mazin Jamal, is a community organizer, dancer, leadership trainer, and coach dedicated to social and environmental impact — in the hours between banging out beats, plucking his harp, or channeling his ancestors’ melodies. Born and raised in the Bay Area, Dubai, and Sudan—his family’s place of origin—and currently immersed in the rich Latino cultural heritage of the Mission District, Tarawa’s music pulls in the influences of all the love he’s found on his journey. He is the founder of Holistic Underground.

When not strumming his guitar and singing soulful tunes, Seoulstice, aka Jordon Jo, is an entrepreneur, men’s work and consent workshop facilitator, and hopeful romantic. Born in Arizona and raised in Southern California, he is the co-founder of Wild SF Walking Tours, a company that employs artists and activists to tell the radical history of San Francisco’s diverse communities and social movements.

Emad Bonakdar & Mizuho Sato
Persian Music Meets Flamenco
Where East meets West, musician Emad Bonakdar and dancer Mizuho Sato combine Iranian traditional tunes with flamenco music.
* * *
Emad Bonakdar (Lead Artist) is a composer, multi-instrumentalist, and performer who initially started his training in jazz and pop. Eventually, he found a home in flamenco, a style that touched his heart and allowed him to express his deep emotions and passion in a way that no other music could. His love of traditional Persian music, coupled with expressive and soulful flamenco music, created a style that is distinctively his. His first concert in crossover music was in Tehran, Iran, in 1991, and his first album, ARG (iTunes), was inspired by the immense culture of the ancient Persian Empire. Bonakdar composed a full film score for Momâs Guest in Iran. In 2004, he was nominated for the best fusion album at World Music Festival in New York. Since moving to the U.S. in 2006, he has performed at SF Yoshi’s, Red Poppy Art House, and many house concerts.

Born in Iwate, Japan, Mizuho Sato started classical ballet at the age of three. As she performed on stage and attained years of experience in winning balletic competitions, she pursued her career as a dancer and took summer school in the Royal Ballet Academy of England. Entering Sophia (Jochi) University in Tokyo brought her a strong encounter with flamenco, and she decided to shift her career. The following year she was in Seville, Spain, taking classes from prestigious instructors like Manolo Marin, Maria del Mar Verranga, Javier Cruz, and Alicia Marquez. After her studies, Sato returned to Tokyo and started performing in several well-known tablaos. In 2000, she received awards from the Japanese Flamenco Association and the Ambassador of Spain. Shortly afterwards, Sato started teaching in Tokyo and in her hometown, Iwate. She developed classes of flamenco history and music for further appreciation and comprehension on the tour of Manuel Reyes Company, of which she was a participant. Two years later, she returned to Spain to further develop her skills under Cristobal Reyes, la China, and Manuel Liñan, as well as studied the Spanish language.

Trio Caminos
Venezuelan Grooves in California
Featuring Venezuelan guitarist Carlos Caminos, Mexican drummer Marlon Aldana, and Peruvian harmonica funk player Angelo Tomandl, Trio Caminos’ repertoire is a distinct expression of Venezuelan music and flamenco combined with Afro-Caribbean, Afro-Venezuelan, jazz, and Latin influences. Venezuelan music is very diverse and is the result of European, African, and indigenous cultures that found their home in the South American country. This project intends to show elements found in Venezuelan songs and melodies—including the characteristic 6/8, 3/4, and 5/8 rhythms—while incorporating them in the trio’s own style.
* * *
Carlos Caminos (Lead Artist) is a Venezuelan musician who began playing guitar at age nine and had his first performances at age 14. A long career has taken him on a journey of very diverse projects and collaborations. The Caminos Music Project is the result of years of developing a passion for learning various musical styles including flamenco (bulerías, soleá por bulería, alegrías, fandangos de huelava), Venezuelan music (joropo, vals, merengue), Latin music (bolero, son, tangos, cumbia), and Latin jazz. Caminos has co-founded several projects such as Raíz de Agua, Latifonía, A Tono Acústico, New Caminos Duo, and Trio Caminos. He has also collaborated with groups such as David Byrd and Byrds of a Feather, Mirada Interna, and Café Pa’ Tres.

Born in Guadalajara, Mexico, Marlon Aldana has explored many genres under several great mentors, learning about solid, sensitive, simple drumming with dynamics and unique sound. He has been part of a variety of projects across genres, including jazz, Afro-Cuban, funk, rock, cumbia, reggae, electronic, folk, and many others. He has worked with outstanding musicians such as Jason McGuire “El Rubio,” Antonio Rey, Terceto Kali, T-Sisters, Alex Conde Quartet, La Gente, The Astronauts, Nuvo Chamber Quartet, Caminos Flamencos, Agua Clara, SF Flamenco Dance Company, Rebecca Kleinmann Quartet, ShimShai, Tina Malia, J.A.B, and Trio Caminos. Aldana’s most recent work is with drummer and producer Juan Manuel Caipo as a session musician in a variety of styles. With J.M. Caipo as a mentor, Aldana is now learning about the music production world, along with better ways to communicate and express clearer as a drummer. He currently lives in Oakland, CA, where he works as a graphic designer, photographer, and musician.

Angelo Tomandl is a Latin American harmonica player from Peru. He is known for his energetic solos, musical ingenuity, and passion for music. He has played with a broad variety of projects and musical genres such as Nika Rejto, Victoria Theodore, Janice Maxie Raid, D. Edward, Fantastic Negrito, Adley Penner, and Omega Rae among others. Tomandl has recently performed with Bicicletas Por La Paz, Sang Matiz, and Trio Caminos. He is currently working on a new project called Spondylus in collaboration with different musicians and artists that blend various styles of music like jazz, funk, Latin, rock, and more.

PREVIEW THE MUSIC

VISUAL COMPONENT

Nima Dehghani
Video Installation: “WE ARE STILL LIVING HERE”
What “media” shows us, what “media” doesn’t show us. In the world of mainstreams, we–people–are lost in the news that media wants us to see.
Regarding the banned countries, what do we see on the internet? Who decides what we should see? Journalists or politicians? “They” decide for us. “People” are usually excluded.
This multichannel curatorial video installation shows the contradiction between what the media presents about BANNED countries in comparison to what ordinary people capture from the same countries (collected by artists of BANNED countries in this project). Which one should we look at? Sometimes we just need to see that people are still living, existing, and dancing in those countries; then we can decide about the news…
* * *
Nima Dehghani is a San Francisco-based multi-disciplinary artist whose work explores the relationships between society, politics, and audience interactions in public spaces. Born in Tehran, Iran, Dehghani works predominantly in the mediums of visual art, theater, performance art, and new media, where he focuses on issues such as social discrimination, political ideology, and notions of displacement and diaspora. He has been working directly with immigrant communities since 2013, creating a number of different art projects that have worked to raise awareness about the global refugee crisis. Dehghani’s work has been showcased worldwide, appearing in Iran, Spain, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Georgia, Germany, and the United States. As a playwright and director, he has been the recipient of multiple awards and fellowships, including being named “Best Young Director of the Year” by the Iranian Theater Directors’ Center in 2012 and receiving the Konrad and Gisela Weis Fellowship from the Carnegie Mellon School of Art in 2014.

ABOUT THE CURATOR

Dina Zarif is a performer, vocalist, designer, and art manager whose sound combines Western classical singing with Middle Eastern styles inspired from her Persian roots. She has performed in various festivals, venues, and productions such as SF Palace of Fine Arts, the chamber opera The Passion of Leyla in San Jose, the theatrical dance performance Home, and Golden Thread Theater Company’s staged reading of Layla and Majnun at BAMPFA. Zarif was also a featured singer in Syria Mon Amour, Golden Thread’s 2017 celebration of International Women’s Day that was dedicated to Syria.
As an actress, she performed in three of Iranian playwright and director Bahram Beyzai’s plays: Ardaviraf’s Report (2015), Tarabnameh (2015-2016) as the role of Dancer/Singer, and Crossroads (2018) in the Stanford Iranian Studies department. Additionally, Zarif is a costume designer and performer in the shadow production Feathers of Fire: A Persian Epic. As the character Princess Roudabeh, she has performed at SF Cowell Theater, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Harvard University, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Wallis Annenberg Hall, and has internationally toured in Poland, Taiwan, and Canada between 2015 and 2018.
As a working artist in the community, Zarif is the program director and a lead performance host at the Red Poppy Art House in San Francisco. She most recently curated the project Music of the Banned in response to the travel ban, highlighting the music of eight countries—the majority Muslim nations—Iran, Syria, Libya, Sudan, Yemen, Somalia, Venezuela, and North Korea. The project has been performed at the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival in June 2018 and Red Poppy Art House in August 2017. Zarif received her MA in Landscape Architecture from the University of Tehran, College of Fine Arts.

EVENT DETAILS

Time: (First Show) 4:30pm doors / 5:00-6:45pm show
(Second Show) 7:30pm doors / 8:00-10:00pm show
Admission: $20-25 sliding scale. A limited quantity of additional tickets will be available for purchase at the door for both shows. *No late seating.
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Music Action Women Collective: A Global Collective Advancing Women's Rights (ONE SHOW @ 8PM)
2019-03-14 20:00 - 22:00
*UPDATE: Please be advised this event has been changed to a SINGLE SHOW with an 8:00pm start time. Doors will open at 7:30pm. We apologize for any inconvenience.

The Music Action Women Collective brings together world-class musicians from Singapore, Venezuela, Serbia, Armenia, and the U.S. to create new, original music advancing the rights and causes of women worldwide. At the Red Poppy, the Collective debuts the material they have created in collaboration through the Music Action Women residency, produced by San Francisco’s social impact music organization Giant Steps Music.

FEATURING:
Sevana Tchakerian (Armenia) – accordion, keys, vocals
Mafer Bandola (Venezuela) – bandola
Jasna Jovicevic (Serbia) – saxophones, woodwinds
Claire Marie Lim (Singapore) – electronics, vocals
Liz Draper (USA) – bass
Barb Duncan “The MD” (USA) – drums

ABOUT THE ARTIST:
The Music Action Women Collective features Venezuelan bandola virtuoso Mafer Bandola—member of the all-female supergroup Ladama, internationally touring Serbian saxophonist, and leader of the all-women’s New Spark Jazz Orchestra—multi-instrumentalist extraordinaire Sevana Tchakerian via Armenia and France; Singaporean electronic soundscape master Claire Marie Lim; America’s own ever-versatile and dexterous bassist Liz Draper from the Twin Cities; and Philly eclectic groove drummer, producer, community advocate, and educator Barb “Muzikaldunk” Duncan.
Learn more: Facebook

EVENT DETAILS

Time: 7:30pm doors / 8:00pm show
Admission: $20-25 sliding scale. A limited quantity of additional tickets will be available for purchase at the door.
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Lara Solnicki ft. Jeremy Siskind: Poetic Art Songs
2019-03-08 19:30 - 22:00
Lara Solnicki makes her Red Poppy debut in a program featuring new music from her soon-to-be-released album, The One and the Other—a cinematic, creative music project produced by multi-award-winning Canadian musician and composer Jonathan Goldsmith. The concert also includes music from her sophomore release, Whose Shadow?, tunes from the Great American Songbook, as well as free improvisation. Solnicki is joined by pianist, composer, and arranger Jeremy Siskind—winner of the 2012 Nottingham International Jazz Piano Competition and the second place winner of the 2011 Montreux Solo Piano Competition.

FEATURING:
Lara Solnicki – vocals
Jeremy Siskind – piano

ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Honored as a “world class jazz singer” with a “spellbinding voice” (All About Jazz), Canadian, Brooklyn-based vocalist, poet, and composer Lara Solnicki has been praised on four continents, with #1 songs on Canadian jazz radio charts. She has carved a distinct artistic path for herself, combining various, often conflicting, elements from classical, jazz, improvised music, and poetry. Solnicki is the recipient of numerous grants from The Canada Council for the Arts, Chalmers Foundation, Ontario Arts Council, Toronto Arts Council, and FACTOR. She has released two albums, A Meadow in December (2010) and Whose Shadow? (2014), on Greg Osby’s label Inner Circle Music, and is currently preparing to release The One and the Other later this year. Solnicki holds a BA in classical voice/opera from The Glenn Gould School.
Learn more: Facebook | SoundCloud

EVENT DETAILS

Time: 7:00pm doors / 7:30pm show
Admission: $20 general / $15 student (with ID). A limited quantity of additional tickets will be available for purchase at the door.
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Alash Ensemble: Tuvan Folk Music (TWO SHOWS)
2019-03-07 19:00 - 22:00
SECOND SHOW ADDED! Advance tickets are now available online for the 8:45pm show.
Additional tickets will be available for purchase at the door for both the 7:00-8:15pm (6:30pm doors) and 8:45-10:00pm (8:30pm doors) shows. Please arrive when doors open the day of the event.

The Alash Ensemble performs and presents the art of xöömi, the tradition of Tuvan throat singing. Featuring original compositions and their versions of Tuvan folk music, the ensemble will certainly bring you on a musical journey all the way to Tuva.

FEATURING:
Bady-Dorzhu Ondar – vocals, igil, guitar
Ayan-ool Sam – vocals, doshpuluur, igil, guitar
Ayan Shirizhik – vocals, kengirge, shyngyrash, shoor, murgu, xomus

ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Alash are masters of Tuvan throat singing (xöömi), a remarkable technique for singing multiple pitches at the same time. Known for mixing the traditional music of Tuva with contemporary influences, one can find complex harmonies and Western elements—but a decidedly Tuvan sound—in the ensemble’s music.
Learn more: Facebook

EVENT DETAILS

Time: (First Show) 6:30pm doors / 7:00-8:15pm show
(Second Show) 8:30pm doors / 8:45-10:00pm show
Admission: $15-20 sliding scale. A limited quantity of additional tickets will be available for purchase at the door.
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Water Feature: Modern Jazz
2019-03-02 19:30 - 22:00
Water Feature is comprised of some of the Bay Area’s young emerging talent. Together, the group explores original compositions and other tunes that pull from influences such as jazz, hip-hop, and global music.

FEATURING:
Nora Stanley – saxophone
Danielle Wertz – vocals
Luis Salcedo – guitar
Owen Clapp – bass
Matt Buckner – drums

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
Nora Stanley is a Bay Area-based saxophonist and composer. She attended Berkeley High School and participated in conglomerate programs, such as SFJAZZ High School All-Stars and Latin Jazz Youth Ensemble of SF, before moving to Ohio to study with Gary Bartz at Oberlin College and Conservatory, where she received a BM in Jazz Studies and a BA in Latin American Studies. Stanley has shared the stage with such greats as Ambrose Akinmusire, Gary Bartz, Dayna Stephens, and Jerry Gonzalez, as well as performed at Monterey Jazz Festival, SFJAZZ, and internationally in Spain, Cuba, and Brazil.
Danielle Wertz is an internationally recognized jazz vocalist, composer, arranger, and educator. After being named a semi-finalist in the 2015 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocals Competition, she self-released a duo project, Intertwined. The album was recorded at ABC Studios in Sydney, Australia, and has been receiving high praise since its 2017 release. Wertz is quickly gaining recognition as one of the Bay Area’s most in-demand vocalists. She frequently plays at local venues including the Black Cat and Red Poppy Art House, as well as larger-scale national venues including Blues Alley in Washington, DC.
With a firm grasp on the jazz idiom, Luis Salcedo is a featured member of several ensembles, as well as the leader of his own groups, covering original material, jazz repertoire, and beyond. Having graduated from the California Jazz Conservatory, where he received the Jamey Aebersold Scholarship, he has performed at Yoshi’s Oakland, the Fillmore Jazz Festival, the Herbst Theater, SFJazz, in addition to other venues in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Colombia, Spain, and Canada.
Owen Clapp is a bass player, composer, and songwriter living in the San Francisco Bay Area. His versatility on upright bass, electric bass, and keybass has given him the opportunity to work with a variety of artists across a range of genres, including hip-hop artists Anderson .Paak, Dumbfoundead, and George Watsky, as well as Grammy Award-winning jazz musicians Kenny Burrell, John Clayton, Ruslan Sirota, Mads Tolling, and Evan Price. Clapp’s recording credits include sessions for Sony Pictures, Lyft, and various Los Angeles-based commercial licensing agencies.
Matthew Buckner is a drummer, composer, and producer hailing from Minneapolis, MN. Known for his musicianship and versatility, Buckner has worked with a wide range of artists and has performed at clubs and festivals throughout the U.S. and Canada. He is currently an active member of the SF Bay Area jazz scene and can be heard with bands such as Aaron Kruziki’s Education Reform.

EVENT DETAILS

Time: 7:00pm doors / 7:30pm show
Admission: $15-20 sliding scale. A limited quantity of additional tickets will be available for purchase at the door.
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Danielle Wertz ft. Dillon Vado & Jeff Denson: Emotions, Stories & Improvisation
2019-03-01 19:30 - 22:00
Danielle Wertz, Dillon Vado, and Jeff Denson come together for the first time in this new trio setting. Presenting both arrangements of jazz standards and original compositions, their approach to the music comes from a place of honesty and raw emotion. Using this unconventional instrumentation, they work with new sonic possibilities to evoke deep emotions from the listener.

FEATURING:
Danielle Wertz – vocals, pedals
Dillon Vado – vibraphone
Jeff Denson – bass

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
Danielle Wertz is an internationally recognized jazz vocalist, composer, arranger, and educator. After being named a semi-finalist in the 2015 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Vocals Competition, she self-released a duo project, Intertwined. The album was recorded at ABC Studios in Sydney, Australia, and has been receiving high praise since its 2017 release. Wertz is quickly gaining recognition as one of the Bay Area’s most in-demand vocalists. She frequently plays at local venues, as well as larger-scale national venues including Blues Alley in Washington, DC.
Dillon Vado is a professional drummer, vibraphonist, and educator in the San Francisco Bay Area, and a recent graduate of the California Jazz Conservatory. He has performed locally with Art Lande, Hafez Modirzadeh, Marcus Shelby, Erik Jekabson, Jeff Denson, Alan Hall, Sandy Cressman, and Marcos Silva. Vado regularly performs on vibraphone with Alan Hall’s Ratatet, on drums with the Electric Squeezebox Orchestra and the Jeff Denson Quartet, and leads several of his own projects, including the Table Trio, Never Weather, and Beyond Words: Jazz and Poetry.
Jeff Denson has balanced a full career as both an acclaimed performing musician and a highly respected educator. Currently leading or co-leading four distinct ensembles, he has toured extensively throughout the U.S. and Europe with both his own groups, worked with some of jazz’s finest artists—such as Brian Blade, Jane Ira Bloom, Dave Douglas, Charles McPherson, Cuong Vu, Joe Lovano, Ralph Alessi, Walter Smith III, Dayna Stephens, Vadim Neselovskyi, Florian Weber, Dan Weiss, and Paul Hanson—and had an ongoing relationship with the legendary Lee Konitz since 2007. Denson’s most recent album, Outside My Window, is a feature for his “elastic vocals” (Jazz Times Magazine), where he has composed four original pieces and arranged four pieces by inspiring vocalists in an array of genres: Jeff Buckley, Peter Gabriel, Chris Cornell, and Abbey Lincoln. He is currently a full professor and head of the Bass Department at the California Jazz Conservatory in Berkeley, California.

Learn more: Facebook | YouTube

EVENT DETAILS

Time: 7:00pm doors / 7:30pm show
Admission: $20-25 sliding scale. A limited quantity of additional tickets will be available for purchase at the door.
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The Daniel Rotem Ensemble: Bay Area Premiere
2019-02-24 19:30 - 22:00
Saxophonist Daniel Rotem presents new music with an ensemble featuring some of the Bay Area’s incredible horn players. The ensemble will perform new original compositions and arrangements by Rotem, as well as music off his second album, Serenading the Future.

FEATURING:
Daniel Rotem – saxophones, compositions, arrangements
Steven Lugerner – alto saxophone
Henry Hung – trumpet
Danny Lubin-Laden – trombone
Alex Boneham – bass
Roberto Giaquinto – drums

ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Saxophonist, composer, and educator Daniel Rotem fell in love with music at an early age and started playing tenor saxophone when he was 13. Now at age 27, Rotem is a graduate of Berklee College of Music in Boston and the world-renowned Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz Performance at UCLA. He has performed on four continents and has had the honor to share the stage with legendary artists from Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Billy Childs, and Esperanza Spalding, to Stevie Wonder, Usher, and Miguel Atwood-Ferguson. Rotem has performed at acclaimed festivals including the Monterey Jazz Festival, the Playboy Jazz Festival, the Red Sea Jazz Festival, and at famed venues such as the Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, the Hollywood Bowl, and many more. He released his second album, a double record entitled Serenading the Future, in September 2018.
Learn more: Facebook | Instagram | YouTube

EVENT DETAILS

Time: 7:00pm doors / 7:30pm show
Admission: $15-20 sliding scale. A limited quantity of additional tickets will be available for purchase at the door.
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Janam: Dark Side of Love
2019-02-23 19:30 - 22:00
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, Janam creates a distinct musical experience. Janam unites some of the Bay Area’s most playful and imaginative devotees of southern Balkan and American roots music who weave together folk tunes and their own colorful compositions, taking their audiences on a labyrinthine musical ride.
Learn more: Facebook | YouTube

EVENT DETAILS

Time: 7:00pm doors / 7:30pm show
Admission: $15-20 sliding scale. A limited quantity of additional tickets will be available for purchase at the door.
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Orchestra Euphonos w/ Ionela Guzic: Romanian Folk Songs & Dances
2019-02-22 19:00 - 21:30
Joined by folk singer Ionela Guzic, Orchestra Euphonos presents a special program of traditional Romanian music.

FEATURING:
Ionela Guzic – vocals
Peter Bonos – trumpet
Balder ten Cate – cimbalom
Zina Pozen – accordion
Asaf Ophir – clarinet
Travis Hendrix – bass
Ivan Velev – percussion
Matthew Stein – violin

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
Ionela Guzic is a talented young singer and a rising star in the world of Romanian traditional music. She has performed with many iconic musicians from Romania (Ansamblu Doina Gorjului, Ionica Minune, Cristinel Turturica) and Moldova (Lautarii din Chisinau, Fratii Stefanet). Born in Targu Jiu, Romania, Guzic graduated from the Music Department in Craiova and has received numerous awards at national and international folk music competitions. In 2015, she released Spune-mi mamă ce e doru, an album of songs that represent the beauty of the folklore from the Gorj region where she grew up. The album was received with widespread acclaim, was featured on many radio and television stations in Romania, and helped launch Guzic’s international career, including tours in the United States. Her second album is set to be released in August 2019.
Orchestra Euphonos is a Bay Area-based Eastern European folk and klezmer band, performing traditional music from Moldova and Romania. Their performances are joyous occasions filled with wild takes on old favorites, group improvisations, and more than a few opportunities to dance. Guzic first met with Orchestra Euphonos in early 2018 when she was visiting California to perform for the Romanian community. Together, they will also be performing at the 8th annual Balkan Night Northwest festival in Seattle on March 9, 2019.

EVENT DETAILS

Time: 6:30pm doors / 7:00pm show
Admission: $20-25 sliding scale. A limited quantity of additional tickets will be available for purchase at the door.
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Fula Brothers: West African Grooves & Global Guitar
2019-02-16 19:30 - 22:00
Master West African kamale ngoni player and fingerstyle guitar wizard Mamadou Sidibe and guitarist Walter Strauss create deep, soulful music that is simultaneously ancient and fresh. They create an intoxicating blend through intertwining melodic grooves, spirited improvisation, and songs in two languages.

FEATURING:
Mamadou Sidibe – kamale ngoni
Walter Strauss – guitar

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
Multi-award-winning composer and musician Mamadou Sidibe plays the West African hunter’s harp (kamale ngoni). Hailing from the Wassoulou region of Mali, West Africa, Sidibe has toured with Malian greats Oumou Sangare, Coumba Sidibe, and Toumani Diabate in Africa, Europe, and the U.S.
Walter Strauss is a “wizard of the fingerstyle guitar” (Folk and Roots) who weaves elements of American roots and jazz with music from West Africa and other global music traditions. He layers on highly articulated melodies and harmonies, rhythms and counter-rhythms, creating an impression he is playing multiple instruments at once. Strauss performs internationally, both solo and in collaborations, with artists as varied as Grammy-winning Malian kora player Mamadou Diabate, American guitarist Alex de Grassi, and Scottish fiddler Jonny Hardie.
Learn more: Website

EVENT DETAILS

Time: 7:00pm doors / 7:30pm show
Admission: $20-25 sliding scale. A limited quantity of additional tickets will be available for purchase at the door.
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Noe Valley Chamber Music Presents: Omer Quartet
2019-02-11 18:30 - 19:45
The Omer Quartet, fresh from its triumphant NY debut, presents an hour-long program of gripping selections by Haydn (his early masterpiece Opus 20 no. 2), Debussy (his only string quartet), Chris Rogerson, and Beethoven (the “Grosse Fuge” from the late quartet in B-flat, Op. 130). This will not only be a fabulous SF debut for the Omers, but also a keen sampling from the whole history of string quartet repertoire. The concert, part of Noe Valley Chamber Music‘s informal SNAPSHOTS series, will be a terrific introduction to the communication, power, drama, intimacy, and virtuosity that is the hallmark of great chamber music.

FEATURING:
Mason Yu – violin
Erica Tursi – violin
Jinsun Hong – viola
Alex Cox – cello

ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Distinctive among today’s young string quartets, the Omer Quartet won First Prize in the 2017 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, and in the 2018-2019 season, it makes debuts in New York at Merkin Concert Hall, in Washington, D.C. at the Kennedy Center, and in San Francisco at the Red Poppy Art House. The quartet came into prominence in 2013 when it received Grand Prize at the Fischoff National Competition and has since won major prizes at international competitions in Italy, Norway, and France. The Omer Quartet appears courtesy of the St Lawrence String Quartet’s Emerging String Quartet Program at Stanford University.

EVENT DETAILS

Time: 6:00pm doors / 6:30pm show
Admission: $25. A limited quantity of additional tickets will be available for purchase at the door.
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Sibarg Ensemble: An Evening of Iranian & Jazz Improvisation (TWO SHOWS)
2019-02-09 19:00 - 22:00
SECOND SHOW ADDED! Advance tickets are now available online for the 8:45pm show. Additional tickets will be available for purchase at the door for both the 7:00-8:15pm (6:30pm doors) and 8:45-10:00pm (8:30pm doors) shows. Please arrive when doors open the day of the event.

Sibarg Ensemble explores creative intercultural music by combining the sounds of traditional Iranian melodies and jazz. Through original compositions, arrangements of classical and folk songs, and structured improvisations, the members draw on their own distinct musical backgrounds while creating a dialogue with one another. With each performance, Sibarg sets out to create a sense of unity and peace while facilitating multiculturalism.

FEATURING:
Niloufar Shiri – kamancheh
Kyle Motl – contrabass
Hesam Abedini – vocals
Josh Charney – piano

ABOUT THE ARTIST:
In 2008, vocalist Hesam Abedini and kamancheh player Niloufar Shiri established at the Tehran Music Conservatory as the first university ensemble to combine Iranian and non-Iranian music. When the ensemble moved to the United States in 2010, they reformed with tar player Ebrahim Poustinchi, pianist Josh Charney, and bassist Kyle Motl. Their first album, Cipher, released in 2018, was sponsored by the Jordan Center for Persian Studies and the Farhang Foundation. Sibarg Ensemble has performed at numerous music festivals, universities, and cultural institutions, including MSMU’s Women in Music Festival, Carlsbad Music Festival, IcM, Central Stage Berkeley, Royce Hall, Bovard Auditorium, UCI, and UCSD. Their music has been featured on WNYC’s New Sounds, KEXP’s Wo’ Pop, WFMU, KZSU, and KFJC.
Learn more: Facebook

EVENT DETAILS

Time: (First Show) 6:30pm doors / 7:00-8:15pm show
(Second Show) 8:30pm doors / 8:45-10:00pm show
Admission: $20-25 sliding scale. A limited quantity of additional tickets will be available for purchase at the door.
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February 2nd MAPP @ Red Poppy Art House
2019-02-02 18:30 - 22:00
Launched in 2003, the Mission Arts & Performance Project (MAPP) is a homegrown bi-monthly, multidisciplinary, intercultural happening 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.

RPAH PROGRAM:

Time
Performance/Event
Description
Featured Artists

6:30pm – 7:30pm
Crochet Jam, Ramekon O’Arwisters
Public Art-Making
Ramekon O’Arwisters

7:45pm – 8:15pm
Emmanouela Trio
Sounds of Greece
Emmanouela Niniraki (vocals)
Gregory Masaki (bouzouki)
Darcy Noonan (guitar)

8:30pm – 9:15pm
The Marriage of Erato and Euterpe
Piano, Cello & Spoken Word
Mauro ffortissimo (spoken word)
Lewis Patzner (cello)
Elektra Schmidt (piano)

9:30pm – 10:00pm
IVERIA, Sounds of Georgia
Polyphonic Singing
Irakli Rusia (vocals)
Zaza Korinteli (vocals)
Giorgi Kikvidze (vocals)
Balder ten Cate (accordion)

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
Crochet Jam, Ramekon O’Arwisters
Ramekon O’Arwisters started Crochet Jam in 2012. His social-art practice is rooted in a cherished childhood memory that is steeped in the African-American tradition of weaving in a calm and non-judgmental environment without rules or limitations. Crochet Jams engage the public to think differently about the role of art within community and the power of art within society. The practice is about bringing people together to participate in crocheting large free-form rag rugs in public.

Emmanouela Trio
The trio first started playing together last year when they started a weekly residency at Ikaros restaurant in Oakland. Over the months playing there, they honed their chemistry on stage and deepened their repertoire. This will be their first public appearance of 2019, and they are excited to showcase the beautiful music of Greece, from the songs of Asia Minor in modern day Turkey to the rebetika of the hash dens of urban Piraeus.
Emmanouela Niniraki is a native of Crete who spent three years working professionally as a singer in Greece before coming to the U.S. last year. She is known for delighting audiences with her soulful, skillful, and passionate readings of Greek folk songs as well as from the rebetika songbook. Niniraki will be releasing her first set of songs in the coming months with guitarist Haris Manousakis.
Gregory Masaki Jenkins is well known in the Bay Area as a clarinet player and singer of Greek and Balkan music and has recently added bouzouki to his repertoire of instruments. He performs locally as a singer with old-school rebetika band Disciples of Markos, at Greek Festivals with Helios, and directs the Balkan Brass Band Fanfare Zambaleta in addition to numerous other projects. He taught for over 10 years at the Mendocino Balkan Camp and is currently on staff at Lark Camp teaching Balkan tunes and Greek songs.
Highly regarded as a top Irish fiddler in the Bay Area, Darcy Noonan plays guitar and fiddle and sings in the Disciples of Markos. She also plays vintage ballroom with Bangers and Mash. In addition to performing, Noonan has an active teaching schedule, instructing violin to students of all ages, as well as teaching at the Lark Camp and Fiddlekids workshops.

The Marriage of Erato and Euterpe
The Marriage of Erato and Euterpe features song transcriptions, original poetry, as well as carefully selected great works of spoken word accompanied by cello and piano. The Program includes music by J.S Bach, Robert Schumann, Manuel de Falla, as well as poetry by Mauro ffortissimo and others.
Mauro ffortissimo grew up in Argentina, where his interest in art and music lead him to study classical piano and visual arts. He is a founding member of 849 Folsom Music, a 13-member music and spoken word performance troop that brought vital energy to the San Francisco South Market artist underground scene in the pre-dot-com years of the late 80s. Also a founding member of the Enso Art Collective and the Miles Davis Memorial Hall, ffortissimo has been investigating sounds with the deconstruction of pianos, becoming more able to expand the 12-tone scale. He does not subscribe to the romantic notion of a solitary artist, a suffering individual, hidden in a state of despair, creating work that only few can appreciate; instead, he travels the world, looking to the mundane, the sacred, and the original with the same eyes, and listening to the music of diverse cultures, bringing it all home to work with its particular way of assimilation making art and music available to the community.
Lewis Patzner is an Oakland-born cellist and composer who plays a variety of styles, including classical, jazz, and many genres of rock and pop. Known for his 11-year stint playing metal with Judgement Day, Patzner now plays with the Town Quartet, Cosa Nostra Strings, Trio Étrange, the Composer Arranger Performer Orchestra, and the Proteus Trio.
Pianist Elektra Schmidt has been active in the San Francisco Bay Area as a soloist and chamber musician for the past nine years. Originally from Athens, Greece, she has performed locally as well as in the UK, Greece, and France. Patzner and Schmidt have been collaborating for several years.

IVERIA
IVERIA is a trio of well-known musicians from the country of Georgia. Their performances are inspired by Georgian dance, motion, urban and folk music—including traditional polyphonic singing—and they strive to promote cultural curiosity, friendship, and respect between nations. Situated on the border of Europe and Asia, the mountainous country of Georgia is home to a variety of traditional and urban singing styles, including a distinct and otherworldly style of polyphony, as well as reflecting Middle Eastern and late European harmonic influences. For part of the performance, the trio will be joined by Balder ten Cate on accordion.

EVENT DETAILS

Time: 6:30pm event
Admission: Free
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Yeraz Trio / Saideh & Khatch: An Evening of Armenian, Persian & Arabic Music
2019-01-26 19:30 - 22:00
Yeraz Trio is a cross-cultural collaborative project that explores traditional and popular music from Armenia and the Levant, adding new, rich, and delectable layers of texture through its distinct instrumentation. Following the journey of band member Khatch’s background and upbringing, the trio weaves together music from Armenia, Lebanon, and Syria, with Eastern European elements.
Saideh & Khatch explore an enchanting and soulful blend of Persian and Armenian music in their album, Delbedel. They will share pieces from the album and offer new improvisational and contemplative melodies. Saideh & Khatch draw from these vast musical traditions while also blending them with contemporary sounds for an evening of deep listening.

FEATURING:
Yeraz Trio
Zina Pozen – accordion
Khatchadour Khatchadourian – vocals, duduk
Balder ten Cate – cimbalom, guitar
Saideh & Khatch
Saideh Eftekhari – vocals, setar, guitar, violin
Khatchadour Khatchadourian – vocals, duduk, def, synthesizers

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
Zina Pozen is a familiar face in the Bay Area Balkan music scene. Originally from Ukraine, she grew up in a family of classical musicians, playing piano from a tender age. As an adult, Pozen picked up the accordion and started playing traditional Eastern European repertoire. She was a founding member of Seattle’s infamous Bucharest Drinking Team. Since moving to the Bay Area in 2015, she has been performing Eastern European and klezmer music with Orchestra Euphonos, rembetika with MetaNastys, and old Soviet songs at various afterparties and impromptu jams.
Balder ten Cate, born into a musical family, was steeped in Eastern European music from a young age. He studied Romanian music with cimbalom master Giani Lincan, and after moving to the Bay Area in 2008, he explored music from the Balkans with Rumen Sali Shopov, performing regularly with Balkan Ensemble Meraklii. Currently, ten Cate plays cimbalom with Orchestra Euphonos as well as with Mahala.
Saideh Eftekhari is a multi-instrumentalist, teaching artist, and sound healing practitioner based in San Francisco. Her work is inspired by the years she spent studying and living in Latin America, the Middle East, and Europe. She is trained in classical violin as well as the Persian setar and holds a certification in Sound Healing from the California Institute of Integral Studies.
Based in the Bay Area, Khatchadour Khatchadourian is a vocalist grounded in the musical traditions of the Middle East and Caucasus regions. He combines sacred Armenian and Arab vocals with instruments such as the duduk, def, and synthesizers. He has four albums to date and works with multiple local bands in cultural fusion, meditation, and sound healing contexts.

EVENT DETAILS

Time: 7:00pm doors / 7:30pm show
Admission: $20-25 sliding scale. A limited quantity of additional tickets will be available for purchase at the door.
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CANCELLED - A Challenge of Being: A Collective Exploration by mariA
2019-01-20 19:30 - 21:30
*Due to unforeseen circumstances, this event has been cancelled. We apologize for any inconvenience.

The Red Poppy Art House invites you to join “A Challenge of Being,” a collective exploration on empathy, presence, authenticity, and vulnerability. How vulnerable is it to be real? What prevents us from being authentic? What is the challenge to be present for another? How can we empathize with the uncomfortable?
“Within a simple and respectful structure, that is based on my practice of Authentic Movement, I let myself dive into the depths of the subconscious, to move and be moved. I have no intention to entertain you. I challenge myself to be wholeheartedly real at your presence, and I challenge you to be active witnesses; because “the soul cannot exist without its other side, which is always found in a ‘You’ (Jung, 1954). I surrender to the unknown, and You become the owners of your experience. I follow my inner impulses and You have the free will to just witness or to participate by ‘making special’. In any case, we are all co-creators of this collective Alive exploration.”

ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Originally from Greece, Maria Lentzou is an expressive arts therapist, interdisciplinary performing artist, and the founder of Authentic Movement SF. Her performance work has been presented locally at Z Space, PianoFight, Red Poppy Art House, and CounterPulse, as well as internationally in England, Peru, and Argentina. mariA enjoys creating simple performative acts as an invitation to the imaginary through embodied experiences that provide an all-time-in-between space, where playfulness meets sacredness and vice versa. Her mission is to honor the beauty of our multifaceted existences, along with the mystery of life-death-life in its paradoxical nature; to embody and communicate the power of authenticity, of humbleness, and of love.

Ian Maksin ft. Morgan Maudière: Songs of the Vagabond Cello (TWO SHOWS)
2019-01-18 19:00 - 22:00
SECOND SHOW ADDED! Advance tickets are now available online for the 8:45pm show. Additional tickets will be available for purchase at the door for both the 7:00pm (6:30pm doors) and 8:45pm (8:30pm doors) shows. Please arrive when doors open the day of the event.

Internationally acclaimed cellist, composer, and multilingual vocalist Ian Maksin is back in Bay Area with his freshest original compositions and latest acquisitions from his world travels—from the Balkans to Lake Baikal and from the Caucasus Mountains to Cuba. Joining him as a special guest for both shows is French pianist Morgan Maudière.

FEATURING:
Ian Maksin – cello, vocals
Morgan Maudière – piano

ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Russian-born, Chicago-based cellist, composer, and multilingual vocalist Ian Maksin has gathered a large global ever-growing audience and offers a distinct musical experience bringing together different genres and cultures from all over the world. He performs nearly 200 concerts annually on five continents. He sings in nearly 20 languages: Russian, Ukrainian, English, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Yiddish, Ladino (language of the Sephardic Jews of Spain), Turkish, Kurdish, Armenian, Arabic, Latvian, Lithuanian, Belarusian, and Macedonian. Equally fluent in jazz, classical, and world music—using his cello as a main unifying element—Maksin has created his own style combining these genres in his original music filled with many elements: Balkan rhythm, West African blues, rumba, flamenco, music of Tuvan and Mongolian shamans, and more. Maksin describes his artistic goals as “bringing people together through music despite their religious, political, cultural differences and languages barriers.” (Photo by: Cuanticapictures)
Learn more: YouTube | Facebook | Twitter

EVENT DETAILS

Time: (First Show) 6:30pm doors / 7:00-8:15pm show
(Second Show) 8:30pm doors / 8:45-10:00pm show
Admission: $20-25 sliding scale. A limited quantity of additional tickets will be available for purchase at the door.
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Mozaik w/ Storyteller Dana Sherry: Songs & Stories from Around the World
2019-01-12 19:30 - 22:00
Dive into the rich folk traditions of Europe, the Balkans, the Caucasus, Mongolia, and Americana through songs and folk tales with Mozaik and storyteller Dana Sherry. Harmonies are woven together with legends and tales to create a colorful tapestry of the distinct sounds and images from cultures around the world.

FEATURING:
Mozaik
Sandy Hollister – vocals, percussion
Adina Sara – vocals
Hilary Seamans – vocals
Liz Stuart – vocals, accordion, percussion
Natalia Ukrainska – vocals
Dana Sherry – storytelling

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
Sandy Hollister has played percussion with acclaimed Bay Area Arab music ensemble Aswat, has sung with Ya Elah, and currently sings with the Temple of Light Georgian Choir. She has performed with various dance groups, bands, and ensembles in the Bay Area and appears on Brenna MacCrimmon’s album, Kulak Misifiri.
Adina Sara has been with Mozaik since it formed in 2001. A singer-songwriter, she produced three albums of original songs and performed her music in folk clubs and festivals throughout the West Coast. For over 15 years, she has participated in folk, jazz, classical, and pop ensembles, and also sings with Voci Woman’s Vocal Ensemble.
Hilary Seamans grew up singing in the California Christmas Revels teen and adult choruses. At UC Berkeley, she sang in and directed the Perfect Fifth, Cal’s student-led classical a cappella ensemble. After graduation, she joined the Ariose Singers under the direction of Michael McGushin. Trained classically but in love with folk music, Seamans has sung in Kitka’s community chorus and is thrilled to be singing with Mozaik.
Liz Stuart was a member of Vocolot for over 20 years. She plays percussion with several Middle-Eastern ensembles and has performed live with Anne Bluethenthal and Strong Current dance companies. With over 12 years experience as a sound designer and video game producer, Stuart has also composed and recorded original music scores for Chimene Pollard, as well as arranged, sang, played keyboards, and composed for musical theatre.
Natalia Ukrainska is a native of Kiev, where she received a diploma in music and choir-conducting. She was a member of the Ensemble of the Border Guard of Ukraine, performing and touring as a soloist. Natalia emigrated to the U.S. in 2005 and joined Kitka shortly thereafter. She currently also sings in the Orthodox Church Choir of San Francisco.
Dana Sherry is Director of Storytelling Programs at Silk Road House, a lecturer at St. Mary’s College of California, a storyteller at senior theatre company Stagebridge, and a former lecturer of Russian History at UC Davis. She studied Slavic Languages and Literatures at University of Washington.
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Learn more: Website | Facebook | Bandcamp

EVENT DETAILS

Time: 7:00pm doors / 7:30pm show
Admission: $15-20 sliding scale. A limited quantity of additional tickets will be available for purchase at the door.
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