This event has been cancelled. Our Box Office will be calling to process refunds. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact the UC San Diego Box Office at 858-534-8497 or email artpower@ucsd.edu.
“A new-breed marching band music that’s part Punjabi wedding, part New Orleans second line, and all New York.”—Boston Globe
Red Baraat Festival of Colors is an immersive celebration of the Hindu holiday of Holi through music, dance, and visuals. Red Baraat has taken the spirit of the festival to the next level: a year round show of communal revelry that brings together what NPR has called “the best party band in years,” a montage of classic Bollywood visuals, and a fiery dancer.
Traditionally, Holi is marked by public gatherings of families and strangers sharing songs, dance, and the exchange of “colors”— colorful dry powder or colored water playfully thrown among the crowds of revelers. It signifies the victory of good over evil, the arrival of spring, and for many, a festive day to meet others, play and laugh, forget and forgive, and repair ruptured relationships.
Red Baraat Festival of Colors debuted in 2012 at a sold out Le Poisson Rouge in New York City, and it has since expanded to over a dozen cities in the United States. Returning to its roots of just brass and drums and complete in colorfully painted white jumpsuits plus a dancer, Festival of Colors is a full- blown immersive experience as the band, the visuals, the dancer are like a mélange of colors, each bold on its own but commingling to form a stunning panorama.
“Maria de Barros opens a window to Cape Verde.”—Seattle Times
An invitation into the musical realm of Maria de Barros calls for an intriguing geography lesson. The charismatic young chanteuse is a native of Dakar, Senegal, and lived the first 13 years of her life in Nouakchott, Mauritania, in Northwest Africa. De Barros’s creative heart, however, lies in the culturally rich land of Cabo Verde, a former Portuguese colony located 350 miles off the coast of Senegal, the birthplace of her parents and her godmother, Cesária Évora, also known as the “barefoot diva.” It’s the island’s incredible melting pot of music—which includes everything from African and Portuguese to Argentine and Cuban influences—that has always inspired de Barros to set her heart on home.
Due to unforeseen circumstances, Msaki & the Golden Circle show at ArtPower on February 12 has be cancelled. The concert will be rescheduled for the 2019–20 season. Questions or concerns: please contact the UC San Diego Box Office 858-534-TIXS (8497), Mon–Fri from 10 am to 4 pm.
Trailblazing vocalist and guitarist Msaki creates a sound that combines soulful folk, Xhosa lyrics, and African polyrhythms with moments of sincere improvisation. Her raw delivery disrupts your senses as she weaves subtle tales of love, loss, home, revolution, and hope. For this performance, Msaki plays with the Golden Circle, an ever-evolving and expanding band of incredible musicians from different backgrounds that was created to retain and promote Africa’s identity and culture through soulful music.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
ArtPower regrets to inform you that Bassekou Kouyate and his musicians have not received their visas to come to the U.S for their February 26 concert at ArtPower. We are pleased to have Habib Koité and his percussionist able to share their duo performance as originally scheduled. Habib is a fabulous solo performer that we’re certain you will enjoy. Thank you for your understanding and our apologies for the difficulties.
If you have decided not to attend the concert due to programming change, we would be happy to process a refund. Please contact the UC San Diego Box Office directly regarding your tickets at 858-534-TIXS (8497). They are open Monday through Friday from 10 am to 4 pm.
One of Africa’s most recognized musicians, Mali’s pop icon Habib Koité has a deep and varied musical vocabulary, blending Afro-pop with jazz, rock, and even classical. His intimate vocal delivery blends beautifully with both the modern and ancient musical traditions from which he derives his inspiration. Koité is joined by Bassekou Kouyate, Malian musician and master of the ngoni, a traditional African lute. Time Out says, “Ngoni virtuoso Bassekou Kouyate can make notes bend like light rays in the desert heat.”
Together, Koité and Kouyate exemplify the shared experience associated with the historical, cultural, and unifying properties of Malian music. Kouyate’s comfort in a vast array of musical settings actively complements Koité’s presence, resulting in a spirited collaboration that brings innovation and a sense of unity.
“A band that deserves to be seen live.“—NPR
Mokoomba is one of Africa’s most exciting young bands, dazzling audiences worldwide with their knockout live shows and electrifying blend of Afro-fusion and tantalizing traditional Tonga rhythms. “Mokoomba” is a Tonga word that connotes the deep respect Tonga people have for the Zambezi River and for the vibrant life that it brings to their music and culture.
The Zimbabwe-based group’s latest album, Luyando—a stripped-down, mostly acoustic album— took critics by storm. Mokoomba have rocked legendary rooms and stages worldwide, from New York City’s Apollo Theater and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., to London’s 100 Club and Amsterdam’s Melkweg, to WOMEX and SXSW, sealing their reputation as one of Africa’s best young live bands.
After having played more than 300 live shows in the last four years, Yemen Blues finally arrives to make its San Diego debut. An astonishing musical concept that resides at the crossroads of traditional Yemenite melodies and the world of funk, blues, and jazz, Yemen Blues is led by the “ridiculously charismatic frontman” Ravid Kahalani, who burst onto the world and contemporary music scenes in 2010 to create a global buzz that has only gotten louder and more intense since then. Conjuring up a rich and diverse aural palette with the use of percussion, oud, horns, and strings, the collective coexists in both the past and present, at once timeless and modern.
Born in Sudan, raised in Yemen, and now based in Brooklyn, Alsarah is not only a gifted musician and singer but also a self-proclaimed practitioner of East African retro-pop. Alsarah & the Nubatones was born out of many dinner conversations between Alsarah and percussionist Rami El-Aasser about Nubian “songs of return,” modern migration patterns, and the cultural exchanges between Sudan and Egypt. Soon the project expanded to include Armenian American oud player Haig Manoukian and French-born, Togo-raised bass player Mawuena Kodjovi. Since their first show in 2011, the group has performed nationally and internationally at many prestigious festivals and venues to audiences varying in age and ethnicity, proving that soul crosses all cultural and linguistic barriers.
Called “one of the wonders of world trance music” by the Los Angeles Times, Iranian singer Mamak Khadem captivates audiences by blending her roots in the ancient poetry and music of the Persian masters with a bold and revolutionary new sound. Her latest album, The Road, invites us on a journey that includes her native Iran as well as Serbia, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Greece, and Arab-Andalusia. Always searching for threads of connection, Khadem draws upon a treasure trove of traditional melodies, rhythms, and poetry to create a lush sonic landscape that is nothing short of intoxicating.
