NEFASHA AYER ~ THE SPACE OF IN BETWEEN
A Transcontinental Odyssey of Music
Friday February 6th & Saturday February 7th. 8pm.
At the Brava Theater Center - 2781 24th Street (at York)
This February, get ready for an extraordinary concert collaboration bringing together some of the Bay Area's most dynamic musicians and poets! It's Black History month, and Nefasha Ayer is performing at the Brava, telling the tale of the way in which the African diaspora is still weaving its course throughout the world today.
A Red Poppy Art House resident artist ensemble, Nefasha Ayer is an eight-member music ensemble that tells of a transcontinental odyssey of multiple characters who find themselves caught between national identities, cultures, and politics. Headed by Ethiopian-born vocalist/lyricist, Meklit Hadero, and composer/multi-instrumentalist Todd Brown, Nefasha Ayer joins melodies, rhythms, and poetic texts from the continents of Africa, South Asia, and the Americas. Through this interweaving, the ensemble explores the intangible quality of living in a world where borders have given way, where identity is fluid and moving, no longer framed by nation or tradition, but born in the space between the many.
NEFASHA AYER:
Keenan Webster: balafon, kora, m’bira (bandleader of Pan-African ensemble Talking Wood)
Michael Warr: poetic text (author of the book, "We Are All the Black Boy.")
Mohini Rustagi: drums (from the all-women jazz-indian trio "Ambika")
Prasant Radhakrishnan, tenor saxophone (composer/saxphonist/band leader of South Indian carnatic jazz trio VidyA)
Abdi Jibril: percussion (percussionist from Talking Wood)
Meklit Hadero: voice, lyrics/composition (Nefasha bandleader)
Todd Brown: guitar, composition (Nefasha bandleader)
GUEST ARTIST:
Howard Wiley: tenor saxophone (composer/band leader, 2007 release, "the Angola Project")
Gabriel Teodros: emcee (first generation Ethiopian-born Emcee, flying in from the North West's hip-hop community)
Marcus Shelby: upright bass (acclaimed composer/bassist/band leader of the Marcus Shelby Jazz Orchestra)
Lalo Izquierdo: cajón (Founding member, musician and choreographer, of the world-acclaimed Afro-Peruvian performance troupe Peru Negro)
Adrian Arias: poetic text & performance (Peru-San Francisco interdisciplinary surrealist and creator of
"Ilusion")
Show at 8:00pm
Tickets: $18 in advance, $25 at the door
Tickets are $7 less in advance, so buy now!
HEREBrava Theater Center
2781 24th Street (at York)
San Francisco, CA 94110
PHONE: 415-647-2822
Box Office HOURS: 3:00 PM - 6:00 PM Monday - Friday
top image by Dan Won.
