Music News 9/2/2022

The annual SF Bay Brazilian Day and Lavagem 2022 will take place at Berkeley’s Casa De Cultura, 1901 San Pablo Avenue this Sunday, September 4th from 11 am to 7 pm. The free festival produced by BrasArte will honor the late, charismatic local champion of Brazilian Culture, Conceição Damasceno who died in April after a long illness due to Lupus. Damasceno who started with Batucaje in the eighties, formed her Carnaval troupe Ginga Brasil, founded the cultural organization BrasArte and co-founded the Casa De Cultura was both an incredible dancer and dynamic catalyst for Brazilian culture. The festival will feature an all star lineup including Alex Calatayud, Aquarella Samba, the Brazilian Camp All Stars, Ginga Brasil, Grupo SamBay, Sambada, Ricardo Peixoto, Maracatu Pacifico, Damasceno Dance Collective, Estrellas Do Samba, Allex Costa, Rebecca Kleinmann Trio and much more! The event is free to the public. However, there are VIP entrances available to those who want to donate to support BrasArte. For more information, visit www.brasarte.com

All star Percussionist/Bandleader/Educator Michael Spiro debuts his new Afro-Cuban Jazz group Spirology tonight Friday, Sept. 2, 8 pm at the California Jazz Conservatory, formerly the Jazzschool at 2087 Addison Street in Berkeley. Joining Spiro will be an esteemed band of musicians: Jesus Diaz on percussion and vocals, Carlitos Medrano on percussion, Julio De La Cruz on piano, Ernesto Mazar Kindelan on bass and Malecio Madaluyo on saxophones and flute. Spiro wears different hats as co-leader of both Orquesta La Moderna Tradición and Karabali with Santana percussionist Karl Perazo. He also is a member of Grammy nominees The Wayne Wallace Latin Jazz Quintet. For tickets and information, visit www.cjc.edu.

Other Music News: Talented pianist/composer Oskar Ly and his group Rumbalú will be performing this Saturday, September 3rd at one of the fine outdoor SF Venues, The Ramp, 855 Terry Francois Blvd starting at 5 pm. Ly doesn’t perform as often as I think he should…he’s an astonishingly good pianist and a showman to boot! Ly’s current recording Oskar Ly Presents Rumbalú features guest appearances from legendary Fania bassist Sal Cuevas, Nino Segarra, Santana percussionist Karl Perazo and conga phenom Richie Flores. Check this show out…it should be a good one!

That’s it for this time! Ciao 4 now!