Music
Founded in 2011 at the Oakland School of the Arts, the group is made up of high school students at the charter school. They have won the International Championship of High School A Cappella (ICHSA) three times, including this year in April. In 2013, they placed third on NBC’s The Sing-Off, a televised a cappella competition between some of the best musical ensembles in the country. With the level of success they’ve garnered, the group has decided to use their art as a form of activism: “aca-activism,” that is.
Every Friday night the Oakland Museum of California (OMCA) is home to a diverse array of people, music, and dance.
The three-day showcase begins September 23 with events alternating between four Oakland venues: The Starline Social Club, The Flight Deck, Duende and Miss Ollie’s.
Ethiopians in the Bay Area will be ushering in the new year a little differently this year. Oakland’s longtime iconic Enkutatash festival has been cancelled due to lack of funds, according to a letter distributed by Ethiopian Community Services (ECS). “For many years, this event has been graciously supported with a $25,000 grant from The Christensen Fund,” the ECS board of directors wrote in the letter. “Unfortunately the fund expired last year and is not available to ECS.” Tekeste Teclu,…
The New Parish in Downtown Oakland is packed. About 300 attendees wave their hands and clap as five purple stage lights illuminate the silhouette of a guy wearing a plaid suit, a red vest, a tie and shiny black shoes. The band—drums, piano, bass and guitar—starts playing a blues tune with a catchy guitar riff. Finally, the front man grabs the microphone with conviction and sings in a gritty voice: I’m packing up and leaving tomorrow I need a new…
Blue Bottle Coffee’s historic W.C. Morse Cafe on Broadway became a casual and intimate concert hall Thursday night as three members of the Oakland East Bay Symphony performed selections from Vivaldi, Debussy and more. Called “Cup of Classical,” the event was the latest in the Oakland East Bay Symphony’s efforts to bring classical music into the community by performing it in non-traditional venues. The symphony hosted a similar event, called “Bach & Brew,” last May that brought together beer aficionados…
A parade slowly danced its way through the downtown on Tuesday, Feb. 17, monopolizing the streets with music and joy.
The sounds of piano notes, falsettos, and string instruments echo through the empty hallways at McClymonds High School in West Oakland. The campus that once housed over 800 students has had a steady and rapid decline in enrollment in the past few years. Currently, one-fourth of the original population attends the school—putting the enrollment at around 250 students, the majority of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds. This school year, 2014-2015, is the first time in 12 years that a music…
Birdland Jazzista Social Club, a long-time Berkeley staple, moves into North Oakland. Its founder sees the opportunity to turn a stretch of Martin Luther King Jr. Way into a music and art district.