Music
Festivities commemorating Martin Luther King Jr. Day were in full swing Monday with dozens of Oakland residents celebrating the holiday and the national day of service.
Live experimental cinema returned to Temescal Sunday night with the opening night of the second season of Shapeshifters Cinema, a monthly series blending experimental video with live musical accompaniment.
Sirak Tegbaru leads young members of Oakland’s Medhani Alem Ethiopian Orthodox Church in an unusual extracurricular activity: a traditional Ethiopian jazz band. The young musicians, ranging in age from 10 to 15, had their first performance on Sunday, at Rasela’s Jazz Club in San Francisco’s Filmore district.
A few years ago, developers Garrett Dodge and Ketu Patel were working on a mobile app called Fido Factor, which helps dog lovers find canine-friendly parks and stores. But then one night at a bar Patel realized there was a bigger problem that needed solving. “One of the things that Ketu had noticed was that when you’re using a jukebox, it’s kind of a pain in the ass to walk across the bar and go use that while your friends…
Since 1989, Mike Schulman has run Slumberland Records. His label specializes in fusing pop, like 60s girl groups and The Byrds, with “horrible noise.” The label was founded in Washington, D.C., but Schulman brought it with him when he moved to the East Bay.
The sounds of rhythmic drumbeats mixed with guitar, keyboard and bass notes, accompanied by the rustle and rattle of a beaded gourd filled downtown Oakland with the melody of African-inspired songs in recognition of Kwanzaa, a weeklong celebration of African-American heritage. The West African Highlife Band performed Wednesday afternoon in front of a tall Christmas tree in Oakland’s City Center, celebrating the holidays and the city’s diverse cultural heritage. Kwanzaa is usually observed at the end of the month, from…
For the last three years, Emeryville Taiko has moved from place to place, searching for a permanent home.
Brazilian music icon Gilberto Gil, singer and guitarist and former Minister of Culture of Brazil talks to Oakland North Radio about his upcoming show at the Paramount Theater in downtown Oakland Thursday Night.
In 2009, Tomás Alvarez III sat at his desk as a group of nine teenagers filed into his classroom at Oakland High School. This was the fifth year of his Beats, Rhymes and Life program, which uses hip-hop music as a form of therapy for at-risk teenagers. Alvarez began the class in the usual fashion, playing instrumental beats on a boom box. As the class gathered in a circle and began to freestyle, Alvarez recalls, he recognized something particularly special…