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| Saturdays will bring an incredible variety of themed performances to Downtown Redwood City, showcasing music and dance from around the world. Starting on June 21st with the Kusan African Dance Ensemble, this cultural series includes four very special shows on Courthouse Square from 6pm-8pm. Once a month through September 27th, you can revel in the discovery of a unique culture through its music and movement, including African, Sufi, Russian and Balkan. |
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Kusun Dance Ensemble
West African Music and Dance
Saturday, June 21, 2008
6:00-8:00pm
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| The Kusun Dance Ensemble is an extraordinary ensemble of musicians and dancers based in Ghana, West Africa. Founded by Nii Tettey Tetteh, the group includes past members of The National Ballet and The Pan African Orchestra. Although rooted in traditional music, the group has developed a new brand of music and dance they have dubbed “Nokoko.” They have created innovative rhythms and dances by fusing bass and lead guitar, electrifying jazz and African rhythms, and traditional Ghanaian instruments. In their quest to develop a new style of Ghanaian music, they have been dazzling audiences in Ghana and around the world. With headlines reading “Kusun Electrifies Frenzied Audience” and reviews proclaiming the Kusun Ensemble's sound as a “revival of a vital art,” the band is now considered one of Ghana's most innovative and powerful music and dance ensembles. By blending the authentic sounds of traditional instruments with the exuberance of high-life music and the complexity of African jazz, they are developing a unique Ghanaian sound and bringing the passion of West African music and dance to the world stage. www.kusunensemble.com |
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Haale
Psychadelic Sufi Trance Rock
Sunday, July 20, 2008
6:00-8:00pm
Tunes at: www.myspace.com/haale |
| Haale (as in halle-lujah or jalepeno), is a Bronx-born woman of Iranian descent whose name means the 'halo around the moon.' Her songs are trance-inducing, rhythmically propulsive, and lyrically engaging tapestries that draws on both Persian mystical and American psychedelic musical traditions. She released two mesmerizing EPs in January 2007: 'Morning' and 'Paratrooper' -- and spent the year touring across the country and in Europe, at venues such as the Bonnaroo Festival, SXSW, and the Mimi Festival in France. She has performed at David Byrne's Nonesuch-sponsored series at Carnegie Hall, recorded with Sean Lennon (on 'Before the Skies'), and shared the stage with such diverse artists as the legendary Hugh Masakela and Odetta. On her latest breathtaking full-length debut, "No Ceiling" Haale explores themes of transformation and evolution, singing in English and Persian through a riveting soundscape of percussion, psychedelic guitars, and soaring strings.
"A mixture of experimental downtown stuff with the vocal intensity of U2, but more intimate." ~ DAVID BYRNE |
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Massenkoff Russian Folk Festival
Sunday, August 17, 2008
6:00-8:00pm
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Nikolai Massenkoff, international acclaimed star of The Massenkoff Russian Folk Festival, founded the Massenkoff Russian Folk Festival in 1975 because of his love for his Russian heritage. He has performed more than two decades both nationally and internationally to great acclaim. These performances included: Carnegie Hall; Olympic Stadium in Seoul, Korea before a live audience of 90,000 people; over 100 performances at the International Division of Epcot Center's World Stage in Florida; with major symphony orchestras -- San Francisco, Baltimore, Edmonton, Honolulu, Palm Beach, Flagstaff, London and Edmonton. At Stanford University Stadium, Nikolai performed with over 600 musicians and dancers and rode into the stadium on a black stallion. Hundreds of white birds were released into the air as well as thousands of balloons, while the audience cheered. He has appeared on stage with Jerry Lewis, Tony Bennett, Ray Charles, Liberace, Dinah Shore, Bob Hope, Julio Iglesias, Glen Campbell and Brooke Shields and performed in 35 states and seven countries.
"Massenkoff took 1,776 people on a cultural journey to a distant country, with a brilliant depiction of Russian people!" ~ The Monitor, McAllen Texas
www.nikolaimassenkoff.us |
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17 Hippies
Whirling, bobbing, weaving Balkan music from Eastern Europe
Saturday, September 27, 2008
6:00-8:00pm |
| For the past 12 years Berlin's very own ‘orchester spezial', the 17 HIPPIES, have been playing their whirling, crashing, diving, bobbing and weaving mixture of music from around the world, all over Europe … and beyond. Imagine a mix of Eastern melodies, Balkan rhythms, French chanson, Anglo song writing, Cajun tunes, all perfectly blended together, creating their own unique "Berlin Style“ of ... yes ... pop music. Oh, and they sing in German, English and French. This energetic music is the distillation of many genres. The musicians' musical backgrounds reveal influences from rock-pop to classical and jazz, and is reflected in the instruments they play: accordion, trombone, trumpet, violin, cello, woodwinds, mandolin, ukulele, banjo, Irish bouzouki, guitar, double bass, Indian harmonium and more. |
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