With a setlist that ranges from Bulgarian wedding tunes to hot club jazz, the Alex Hand Band mines the common ground between swing and Eastern European folk dance music–the soundtrack of Western music moving across Balkan borders and being changed by European village music.
Featuring:
Alex Hand - guitar
Kevin Gerzevitz - keys, accordion
Gabe Case - bass
Valentino - percussion
Alex Hand, who has traveled to the Balkans to study folk music, is involved with various projects in the Bay Ar...
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Ready to forget everything you thought you knew about marching bands? Don’t miss the eight-piece Axon Orchestra’s dazzlingly electrified Red Poppy debut, which promises to use urban and rural musical styles of the Balkans and Middle East to take listeners on a post-punk, postmodern sonic journey like no other.
Featuring:
Miles Jay - buzuk, bass
Paul Bertin - saxophone
Fabrice Martinez - violin
Morgan Nilsen - clarinet
Dusty Brough - guitar
Andrew Cohen - tuba
Marco Peris - tapan
Ian J...
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In celebration of a one-night reunion show at the Red Poppy, local band Taraf de Locos performs traditional folk and contemporary tunes rooted in the Balkans, Albania, Macedonia, Greece, Spain, Mexico, and Colombia. The evening will mark the group’s first performance together since the end of their last tour in 2015.
Featuring:
Tano Brock - saxophone, guitar, bata, vocals
Miguel Leon - cajon, bata, guira, congas, pandeiro, vocals
Mireya Leon - bass
Cecilia Peña-Govea - trumpet, guira, vo...
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Drawing on their strong musical friendship and shared love of Romani music, Eva Salina & Peter Stan create an inviting, intimate space where mournful contemplation nestles amongst songs of riotous joy.
Featuring:
Eva Salina - vocals
Peter Stan - accordion
Santa Cruz native Eva Salina is an internationally recognized interpreter of Balkan song traditions. A remarkable performer and devoted educator, she has spent the last three years immersed in the Šaban Bajramović songbook. Based in...
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Drawing influences from manouche, Romani and Balkan music, Ultrafaux joins together with accordionist Rob Reich and chanteuse Alexis Tantau for an evening of traditional musette, Piaf tunes, and originals.
Featuring:
Michael Joseph Harris - guitar
Sami Arefin - guitar
Eddie Hrybyk - upright bass
Rob Reich - accordion (featured artist)
Alexis Tantau - vocals (featured artist)
Baltimore band Ultrafaux performs original music with musette, swing manouche, funk, blues, and Dixielan...
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*Due to unforeseen circumstances, this performance has been cancelled. We apologize for any inconvenience.
On tour throughout the US and Canada, Trio Balkan Strings performs at the Poppy for a night of virtuosic Balkan instrumental music. From asymmetrical rhythms to original guitar interpretations, the ensemble's melodies are rich with elements of jazz, swing, classical, and a combination of cultural influences.
Trio Balkan Strings is a Belgrade, Serbia-based family project formed b...
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This special reprise of Janam's 2013 Valentine's Day show will explore the shadowy side of love with tormented love songs, murder ballads, and more ‒ a perfect tone for a dark midwinter evening.
Integrating funky Balkan rhythms, gritty Appalachian ballads, arresting vocal harmonies and enchanting acoustic textures, the band creates an inspiring musical experience. Janam (a term of endearment) unites some of the Bay Area's most playful and imaginative devotees of southern Balkan and American r...
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Since 2009, Beaucoup Chapeaux has played numerous tours throughout Northern California and the Pacific Northwest and has spent countless Friday evenings in a French café in their hometown of Nevada City, CA. Over 500 concerts later, every show is still a new, lively voyage. The band has been referred to as a talented, astonishing juggernaut with music hauntingly wild and beautiful. Reinterpreting traditional tunes from a wide swath of Europe and the Balkans, Beaucoup Chapeaux also presents origi...
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Istanbul Connection features members of the Bay’s hottest Balkan & Latin bands who came together in preparation for a journey to Istanbul, Turkey. Since inception, the band has played at The Mekan, Arsen Lupen, and Leyla Teras in Istanbul; at Great American Music Hall and Elbo Room in San Francisco; and were featured performers at Burning Man.
Featuring:
Paul Bertin – alto sax
Sean Tergis – percussion
Melissa Cruz – flamenco baile & palmas
Bob Sanders – guitar
Kata Miletich – voc...
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