Rupa & the April Fishes: Liberation Music (TWO SHOWS)

Rupa & the April Fishes create a sound that pulsates with the pluralism of Bay Area culture, celebrating life and the art of resistance through a wide musical palette that pulls from over a decade of playing street parties, festivals, and symphonic concerts through 29 countries with songs in five languages. Under the direction of composer, frontwoman, activist, and physician Rupa Marya, the band creates a live experience which is a manifestation of a world beyond nations, where the heart of humanity beats louder than anything that divides us. This is Liberation Music.
 
FEATURING:
Rupa Marya – vocals, guitar
Mario Silva – trumpet
Matt Szemela – violin
Misha Khalikulov – cello
 
ABOUT THE ARTIST:
The group’s first album, eXtraOrdinary rendition (2007), examines love and loss from many angles, with lyrics mostly in French. The second, Este Mundo (2009), follows their journey from Tijuana to Texas, tracing the plight of migrants crossing borders, largely in Spanish. The 12 songs of BUILD (2012) examine the road from solitude to solidarity in both directions and arise from a particularly tender moment of global awakening—from the collapse of capitalism and false democracies to the rise of populist movements around the world. Their LIVE at the Independent (2013) album was produced at the request of fans and has become a historic document at the center of a lawsuit which liberated “Happy Birthday to You” back to the commons where it belongs. Their next release, OVAL (2015), is a luscious collection of Marya’s most intimate love songs arranged by composer Mark Orton for Quartet San Francisco.​

In April 2019, the group released its sixth album, Growing Upward, in a plastic-free, plantable format as a set of 12 seed packets. These songs come from a time of Marya’s deep engagement as a physician in places where the social underpinnings of what ails us become starkly clear, working closely with groups struggling for dignity, health, and sovereignty in a time of climate catastrophe. Laced with love, optimism, and unflinching analysis, and inspired by direct conversations with Gil Scott Heron, families who have lost their loved ones to police violence and the indigenous grandmothers at Standing Rock, this album is a document of where we are today and where we can focus our gaze in order to rise to the challenges that face us on planet earth. The album features artwork by a longtime collaborator, the art-ivist and muralist, Mona Caron.

Learn more: Website | Facebook | YouTube | Vimeo | SoundCloud | Spotify | Amazon | iTunes

 
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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