La Peña Cultural Center

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Yoni ki Baat: Mamta Edition – South Asian Vagina Monologues

 South Asian Sisters present: Yoni ki Baat: Mamta edition  (The South Asian Vagina Monologues – Mother’s Day edition).

If your yoni could talk, what would it say? Would it complain about the treatment it’s received? Would it sing a Bollywood song? Would it laugh, or weep, or shout with joy?

Mamta most literally translates from Hindi and Urdu to affection, but is used to describe a mother’s love. This Mother’s day, show some love for yourself (& your mom!) and join us to witness the collective courage and bravery of our sisters sharing their most intimate stories. In these contentious and challenging times, when our mere existence as womxn of color is threatened on a daily basis – a platform to be our unapologetic true selves is both radical and healing.

In addition to the monologues – we’re so excited to offer a community curated Art Exhibition featuring a wide range of South Asian artists from the Bay Area and beyond. Come a little early Friday to check out the art!

Had such a great time at the Friday show? The Art Exhibition & Afterparty will be open to all Saturday night, come hang with us again! (suggested donation).

Get your tickets soon! Don’t miss this opportunity!

Friday, May 12th:
6:00pm Doors open & Art Exhibition
7:00pm Yoni ki Baat Performance

Saturday, May 13th:
6:30pm Doors open
7:00pm Yoni ki Baat Performance
9:30pm Art Exhibition & Afterparty (Open to all, suggested donation)

A portion of the proceeds will benefit Asian Women’s Shelter.

DJ Dave Nada Mixes in Activism for La Peña into Moombahton Tour

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – MAY 3, 2017

Oakland, CA – “There’s a lot of magic in the club world. I believe that parties in general are a form of activism,” declares Los Angeles-based DJ and producer Dave Nada, best know for the fusion genre of house music and reggaeton known as Moombahton.

Pictured: DJ Dave Nada

Nada is currently on his Real Moombahton Hours tour that supports local charities and non-profit organizations in each town he visits. “Moombahton has always been a family affair, so I’m using my platform to help others and to raise awareness for groups and institutions that need it. The world needs to party together some more and nothing brings a dance floor together like moombahton.”

Thursday, May 18, 2017 Nada will bring that magic and activism to ERA Bar & Lounge for TROPIGLO, a benefit event hosted by the art collective Global Barrio in support of the East Bay’s beacon of intersectional Latinx culture and beyond, La Peña Cultural Center. Nada will be joined by Turbo Sonidero, a producer from San Jose, CA who blends Rap/Hip-Hop with Mexican Cumbia Sonidera to create a new sound he calls “Tumbia”. The event will also feature UV mural paintings, body painters, art installation. A photo booth, drink specials, and $2 tacos make this an all-night affair.

Global Barrio is a monthly celebration of community at Era Art Bar & Lounge in downtown Oakland, which features a collective of artists, musicians, producers, performers and organizers for the cause. Proceeds from the night go to La Peña, a non-profit community cultural center with a global vision that has promoted social justice through the arts since 1975.

Nada, born in Maryland to Ecuadorian parents, grew up surrounded by the sounds of folkloric music, cumbia, salsa, merengue, and reggaeton. In 2009 he created moombahton, the fusion genre of house music and reggaeton. Moombahton’s explosive popularity brought Nada to an international audience. He has gone on to remix, produce, and tour with artists including Skrillex, Bomba Estéreo, and Celia Cruz. Nada is making ripples not just in the music world, but in communities across the country.

His visit to Oakland is dedicated to La Peña, a pillar of the Bay Area community for over 40 years. The night supports the vision of both Global Barrio and La Peña by creating a space for artistic expression and community building, rooted in a strong sense of social justice.

La Peña’s mission is to encourage creativity, promote dialogue, share knowledge, and build community capacity for social and economic change. From musical performances to children’s classes to political education, La Peña champions interconnectedness among cultures, cooperative efforts, innovations of new arts expressions, and solidarity among activists.

Events like TROPIGLO provide a space for the East Bay community to come together and be inspired by music that transcends borders. Movements for social justice don’t just exist in the political sphere; they imbue every aspect of our lives, including nightlife. “If you can bridge that gap between your usual social gatherings and community activism, then I think that can take the experience to a new level. You get to raise awareness, money and communication. Everyone benefits even more,” said Nada.  

Pictured: DJ Dave Nada

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Press Contact: Natalia Neira

La Peña Cultural Center

510-849-2568

Tropiglo event page – Thursday, May 18, 2017 at ERA Art Bar & Lounge

https://tropiglo.splashthat.com/

Global Barrio:

https://www.facebook.com/globalbarrio/

La Peña Cultural Center:

https://www.facebook.com/LaPenaCulturalCenter/

www.lapena.org

Dave Nada:

https://twitter.com/davenada

https://www.instagram.com/davenada

https://www.facebook.com/davenadaofficial

Music:

https://soundcloud.com/davenada

Online:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moombahton

 

Berkeley World Musical Festival Kickoff Party!

 FREE! Donations of any size are welcome throughout the night in support of the Berkeley World Music Festival and La Peña Cultural Center!

The Berkeley World Music Festival opens Friday, June 9 with a FREE kick-off party at La Peña Cultural Center!

The party features the cross-cultural exchange between Spain, Peru & Cuba. Afro-Peruvian master percussionist Peta Robles leads multi-textured drumming of the Cajon. Cuban Rumba musicians will give context to the congas, bongos and other African-diaspora expressions in Cuba.

La Mandanga headlines with passionate Spanish Rumba (also known as “Rumba Flamenca”) dance music that fuses the elements of Afro-Peruvian Cajon and Afro-Cuban rhythms with flamenco music. The genre originated in the 19th century in Andalusia, southern Spain, where Cuban music first reached Spain through traveling Flamenco musicians. It was not until the 1970s that the great flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucia incorporated the Afro-Peruvian cajon into Flamenco music – and it is now an integral part of both Flamenco and Rumba Flamenca (Spanish Rumba).

Come celebrate these cross-cultural musical fusions and their original elements at our official Kickoff Party at La Peña!

Donations of any size are welcome throughout the night in support of the Berkeley World Music Festival and La Peña Cultural Center. La Peña is a non-profit cultural center that champions interconnectedness among cultures, arts education, and social justice through a variety of programming and classes.
Click here for more information on the Berkeley World Music Festival! 

Diaspora Arts Connection Presents: Afghan-Indian Duo Qais Essar and Neelamjit Dhillon

Tickets: $25 advance, $30 door

Friday, April 28, 2017 at 8pm (Doors open at 7:30pm)

 

Diaspora Arts Connection proudly presents extraordinary musicians Qais Essar on Rabab and Neelamjit Dhillon on Tabla, performing live in Berkeley. We are very excited to once again present Qais Essar to his fans in the San Francisco Bay Area.

About Qais Essar:
http://www.therabab.com/

Qais Essar, international artist, composer, producer, educator and experienced live performer, carries on the traditional legacy of classical Afghan instrumentation. A student of both classical and traditional forms of Afghan/Indian and western music, Essar is able to present the Rabab with a fresh new perspective. His innovative approach to musical composition and presentation combined with his media savvy presence makes him a rare breed of artist in the classical music world. In the same vein, the richness of his classical music training and the depth of his responsibility to preserve the culture of his war-torn motherland make his music and narrative exceptionally compelling among young, independent musicians.

Essar, having performed in countries all over the world (including Somalia, Kenya, Brazil, and Canada) has collaborated with many prominent artists and masters, covering the musical spectrum. With the premiere of The Green Language (his new album on July 29, 2014, a #1 bestseller onAmazon.com), Essar transports listeners through a sonic time portal from the ancient Hindu Kush to the modern era. With The Green Language, Essar sets his sights on bringing Afghan traditional sounds into the global music frontier, presenting a more modern, sensual, and hungry take on performing Rabab for a world audience than we have ever heard before. Essar followed the release of The Green Language with Klasik (EP), I am Afghan, Afghani is Currency (EP), and critically acclaimed sophomore release, Tavern of Ruin (LP). Recently, Essar joined forces with International Alert, one of the worlds leading peacebuilding organizations, with nearly 30 years of experience laying the foundations for peace, collaborating on a track with Phillip Glass, ABBA, and other well-known artists.

The Rabab, an Afghan lute instrument, originating in Central Asia, can be dated back 2500 years. It is mentioned in countless works of Sufi poetry, having then, and continuing to still ensnare the hearts of its audience, with its charming and sweet tones used either in a classical or folk fashion. The pride of its people, it is carefully crafted from the finest wood, harvested from the mulberry trees native to Afghanistan, goat skin stretched across the top. With 3 core strings, 2-3 drone strings, and 11-15 sympathetic strings, depending on its size (tuned to the specific raga), its struck with a wooden plectrum, producing a deep ambient timbre, unrivaled.

About Neelamjit Dhillon:
http://neelamjit.com/

Neelamjit Dhillon is an award-winning multi-instrumentalist and composer based in Los Angeles. Born and raised in Vancouver Canada, Neelamjit is skilled in both North Indian classical and American jazz music. His music is a reflection of his own multifaceted identity, spirituality, and vision for promoting a more equitable and just society through shared experience and collective action.

Neelamjits primary instruments are the tabla, saxophone, and bansuri. He has played tabla since the age of 10 and continues to study the instrument under the tutelage of world-renowned maestro Ustad Zakir Hussain. Neelamjit has performed around the world at prestigious events and festivals in locales such as Somalia, India, Brazil, Europe, the United States, and Canada.

The Origins of Cumbia Workshop!

FREE / DONATIONS ENCOURAGED

La Peña Presents: The Origins of Cumbia Workshop!
Thursday, April 6 at 7pm. (Doors open at 6:4pm.)

Learn about the history of cumbia, how to play cumbia rhythms and how traditional instruments are made! The workshop is family-friendly and ANY size donation is encouraged to support the instructors’ travel expenses.

This is a GREAT opportunity for anybody that wants to deepen their knowledge of this traditional music form that dates back to the 17th century in Colombia. Since its inception, cumbia has traveled the Americas and found a home everywhere, morphing into the sound that describes each culture it finds.

Instructors Kiko, Shango and Jaime are touring California to share their ancestral knowledge of Colombian cumbia. They will show you the instruments and the rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic patterns that form the traditional sounds. Not only will they show you how to play these instruments and rhythms, but how to make the instruments themselves!

Cumbia was born of a cultural mix of African and indigenous backgrounds and is a musical tradition that symbolizes survival and resistance to colonization. This tradition is a symbol of black and brown unity that is a story of the past, present, and future.

About the instructors:
Shangó Dely comes from a musical family and is a percussionist from Colombia. He has toured with many groups including Carlos Vives, Emilio Estefan and Carlos Santana.

Kiko Villamizar was raised in Medellin and learned Latin American folk music through his family. He studied jazz in Miami and has recently released an album, “Aguas Frías”, which fuses a variety of Latin American regional sounds from the Andes to the Caribbean.

Jaime Ospina has studied Afro-Colombian music with renowned Colombian maestros like Catalino Parra, Encarnacion Tovar, and Antonio Garcia.