Adrienne Shamszad is a singer-songwriter, culture preserver and teaching artist from Oakland, CA. She has a dynamic repertoire of songs in the styles of American folk, soul, rock, and traditional Iranian music that evoke a spirit of love and connection. Her lyrics are poetic, intimate, genuine and inspired by the mystic Poets of Iran as much as the folk poet-songwriters of the 60s and 70s. Her strong and soulful voice, skillful and complex guitar work and bold performance style have developed into.

Adrienne is an Oakland, California native of Iranian and European heritage who has traveled extensively, studying and bringing her music throughout the U.S., India, and other parts of Asia. Her mission is clear: to weave together the threads of her study and creativity into an original musical fabric that moves and inspires her audiences. Her impressive musical range extends from the sacred to the profane, the mystical to the earthy, the lofty to the down-low, and she is equally at home with acoustic or electric, improvisation, jazz, rock and roll, rhythm and blues and Persian classics.

Since beginning formal training in Persian music in 2016, Adrienne's music has expanded to a genre of its own. She sings the blues, lullabies, love songs, revolutionary anthems and prayerful power ballads in English and in Farsi. She mixes her own lyrics with those of the essential Persian language poets such as Hafez and Rumi, bringing the messages of her ancestors into the present moment.

In 2018, Adrienne won the Living Cultures grant through the Alliance for California Traditional Arts (ACTA) to deepen her study of Iranian Classical singing with master teacher and vocalist Mahsa Vahdat. In 2020, ACTA again sponsored Adrienne’s study in Iranian traditional music on Setar with master teacher and composer Atabak Elyasi.

Adrienne has performed with Kitka, David Wilcox, SOVÓSO, Coleman Barks and Mahsa Vahdat. She has been featured in productions by The Berkeley Repertory Theater, Golden Thread Productions and Diaspora Arts Connection. She has self released two albums and several singles and is currently recording two full length albums to be released back to back in 2023.

Learn more: adrienneshamszad.com

SONG LIST

1. Leili Lullaby

2. Love You Without Fear

3. Manjun Naboodam

4. Love Song In The Void

5. Tazarv + Daram Omidi

BACKGROUND MUSIC :

Stagger Lee (I Killed Billy To Save Us All) Instrumental - Aireene Espiritu/Edward Tree

Music Of The Tabla With Manesh Judge. North Indian Classical, Western Folk, Electronica and Beyond

MANESH JUDGE is an Indian-American artiste born in the Bay Area, disciple of Ustad Syed Arshad. He has over 2000 global shows to his credit & has been a TV show host since 1996.

On the production side he has done award-winning music for some films like Maya, For Here or to Go?, Josh, The Descent, Line of Descent and others. Some notable global collabs and shows with legendary singer, Asha Bhosle, Ustad Shafqat Ali Khan, Ustad Rais Khan, Deepak Ram, Habib Wali Mohd, Devika, Gunjan, Noor Lodhi, Amitesh Mishra, Mike Overtone, Dan Ashley, Jorge Santana, Brad Gillis, Cornell Carter, Bali Brahmbhatt and Aki Kumar to name a few. Some labels produced for include BMG Crescendo India and Virgin Records India. He is honored to join such a fine group of artistes.

SONG LIST:

1. Color-Coded Symphony, Live performance 11/12/19 Freight & Salvage, Featured Country India - Color-Coded Symphony

2. Tana Mana - Ravi Shankar

3. Chaos - Manesh Judge, Noor Lodhi

4. Abyss - Karsh Kale, Anoushka Shankar

5. Sakhi - John McLaughlin, Shankar Mahadevan, Zakir Hussain

6. Light - Talvin Singh

BACKGROUND MUSIC :

Stagger Lee (I Killed Billy To Save Us All) Instrumental - Aireene Espiritu/Edward Tree

BO RAZÓN - https://www.fb.com/borazonmusic

Bo did a presentation with us back in October 2021 on the Overview of Philippine Native Music. You can watch that on our YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/K_kZGtRvQuw. But this time we are featuring his own ethnofusion music from the Philippines to Cuba and beyond.

Bo Razón is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, recording artist, and educator whose experience spans more than four decades. His influences are mainly native music from North & Sub-Saharan Africa, Cuba, Southeast Asia, Brazil, the Caribbean, North America, the Iberian peninsula, and the Middle East.

Passionate about traditional music of indigenous world cultures as well as by contemporary music genres, he seeks ways in which the two may coalesce organically. His skill sets have brought him to work in a musical capacity with several global institutions of art and culture such as the British Council, the Goethe Institute, the Alliance Francaise, Instituto Cervantes, and the Philippine National Commission for Culture & the Arts. He has taught World & Afro-Latin music at the University of the Philippines, and has taught music to elementary and middle school students in California. Bo plays several stringed and skinned (percussion) instruments from diverse global cultures and has performed with many major artists from around the world in many settings and venues in Asia, Europe, and the Americas.

SONG LIST:

1. Babalu Aye (Gitano Mix)

2. Afroyesa Maranaw

3. And The River Flows On S

4. Sahara Mon Amour

5. Ochun a Mamayog

BACKGROUND MUSIC :

Stagger Lee (I Killed Billy To Save Us All) Instrumental - Aireene Espiritu/Edward Tree

Kainani Hartnett is a musician who teaches and performs with her ensemble, 'AHAmele here in the San Francisco Bay Area. We highlight the songs and compositions written by Queen Liliuokalani, her love for Hawaii and its native people, hula’s connection to lyrics, and beautiful Hawaiian culture.

QUEEN LILI'UOKALANI: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lili%CA%BBuokalani

KAINANI HARTNETT was born in Hilo, Hawai'i and later settled in Honolulu with her family. She was drawn to Hawaiian music and hula from an early age and it was what she turned to in college at University of Michigan when missing home. Kainani became the principal musician for a small hula troupe in Colorado and then moved to the Bay Area, where she joined the Academy of Hawaiian Arts (AHA) for hula in 2003. There, when some other dancers expressed interest in learning Hawaiian music, she started teaching a Hawaiian music ensemble, which became the performing group 'AHAmele. ("concert" in Hawaiian) Kumu Mark Ho'omalu's philosophy at AHA to "do your own and do it well" is the inspiration for 'Ahamele's unique arrangements of beloved hawaiian songs. He honored Kainani with the title of Kumu in 2018.

SONG LIST:

1. Lili'ue - Kawaikapuokalani Hewett

2. Waiomina - Live performance by AHAMele

3. Ahe Lau Makani - Herb Ohta Jr and Jon Yamasato

4. Queen's Jubliee - Shaun Gomban

5. Aloha 'oe - Tia Carrere

6. Ku'u Pua i Paoakalani - Lito Arkangel

BACKGROUND MUSIC :

Stagger Lee (I Killed Billy To Save Us All) Instrumental - Aireene Espiritu/Edward Tree

THE RHAPSODY PROJECT - https://www.therhapsodyproject.org/

We talk with Joe Seamons and Liana Green from The Rhapsody Project, a community based in Seattle, WA that explores and celebrates music and heritage through an anti-racist lens.

Joe is a musician and teacher who co-founded tRp with Ben Hunter in 2013. Through exploring his local heritage of Pacific Northwest folk music and lore, and the troubled history of prejudice therein, Joe's work as a songster and teacher fused with his commitment to agitate for social justice. A descendant of the Aurora Colony in Oregon, Joe continues to explore the ways in which his personal heritage connects him to the legacy of that region. In shedding light on the songs and stories that have been preserved, as well as those that have been forgotten or suppressed, Joe works with his partners in the Rhapsody Project to harness the power of roots music to create empathy and equity. When he's not performing with Ben Hunter, Joe plays with his Portland-based band Timberbound.

Liana is a mixed-black, queer musician and educator who has forged her own path through the music world. Raised in suburbia just north of Seattle, she first picked up the trumpet as a member of the 5th-grade band, and thus began her journey.

She quickly developed a deep passion for music and picked up the guitar and bass in the early 1990’s, beginning a decades-long adventure of playing, teaching, and performing on a multitude of instruments. Most recently, she spent the pandemic adding clawhammer banjo to the toolbox!

Her love of music led her to and through higher education, and on to a career as a freelance trumpet player. This adventure took her from the Pacific Northwest to New England, and eventually back to Seattle in 2007. Upon returning home, she reimagined herself as a low brass player and began gigging on trombone, euphonium, and tuba in ensembles of all genres: from orchestras and chamber music to jazz, funk and rock.

A life-long educator, Liana has been teaching private lessons on various instruments since she was a teenager and she developed a comprehensive 6-12th grade music curriculum during her 13 years as a band director at a small independent school in Seattle. As a mentor, Liana takes pride in finding just the right balance between fun and hard work, and she delights in guiding students toward finding and following their own path through the world.

On this leg of her journey, Liana has settled back into the northern suburbs of Seattle, where she lives with her trumpet-playing wife, their young son, and Maya the puppy. Pre-pandemic, you could find her on stages in the greater Seattle area most often with The Chris Poage Band and The Together Collective. Until all that really gets humming again, you can find her strumming a banjo on her front porch!

Song list:

1. Keep It To Yourself - Briar and Joe Seamons

2. Surely by the Creekside Live Performance Recording - Ejus Kisenga, Neige Kisenga and Tate Linden

3. I’m Goin’ Home - Charley Patton

4. Can’t Get Right - Justin Golden

5. Ain’t Just Luck - Justin Golden

BACKGROUND MUSIC :

Stagger Lee (I Killed Billy To Save Us All) Instrumental - Aireene Espiritu/Edward Tree

Continuing in highlighting music from Indigenous Artists here is a playlist of songs:

1 My People My Land (Part 2) - Pura Fé

2 Rise Up Tuscarora Nation - Pura Fé

3 Using’s Like A Habit - John Trudell & Kwest

4 Rich Man’s War - John Trudell

5 Ku'u Pua I Paoakalani - Kekoa

6 Sanoe - Maunalua

7 Allay Na Lee No - Joy Harjo

8 Calling the Spirit Back - Joy Harjo

9 Becoming Human - Peter Kater and R. Carlos Nakai featuring David Darling

10 Victory Song - R. Carlos Nakai

11 Reindeer Herding Song - Pamyua

12 Pulling (Version B) - Pamyua

13 Red Dirt Boogie, Brother - Jesse Ed Davis

14 Big Dipper - Jesse Edwin Davis

BACKGROUND MUSIC :

Stagger Lee (I Killed Billy To Save Us All) Instrumental - Aireene Espiritu/Edward Tree

SIHASIN - https://sihasin.com/

For three decades , brother and sister Jeneda and Clayson Benally have been recording and touring bringing their empowering organic conscious raising charged music to communities throughout Europe and North America.

Multi-award winning musicians, Jeneda and Clayson Benally from the (Diné) Navajo Nation in Northern Arizona create an explosive duo of just bass, drums and vocals with a traditional Navajo backbone bridging folk, rock, world, pop and a little punk. As brother and sister they grew up protesting the environmental degradation and inhumane acts of cultural genocide against their traditional way of life. Sihasins music reflects hope for equality, healthy and respectful communities and social and environmental justice.

Accomplishments: Their first album “Never Surrender” produced by Grammy award winner Ed Stasium has won just about every award on the American Indian Music Scene. “Never Surrender” spent 18 weeks on Sirius XM'S Aboriginal countdown reaching the #1 spot and was highlighted in the Huffington Post as the #1 Freedom Fighting band to get you through the Trump Years .

Sihasin's second album “Fight Like A Woman” also produced by Ed Stasium, released in May 2018 has received 11 nominations in the Native American Music Categories, has won 2 Global Music Awards, Best Pop in the Indian Summer Music Awards and 5 nominations in the Native American Music Awards and is in current rotation throughout the world on Undercurrents radio and many college and independent radio stations.

Sihasin is a rare band that does more than just perform. They leave their audiences with an exhilarating feeling of hope and respect and cultural appreciation. The duo also gives presentations and workshops on Native American culture and history. Workshops combine the creative process of solution -finding with music and are tailored for every age group especially in schools but not limited to libraries, conferences, concerts and festivals.

Sihasin has been featured in The London Sunday Times, NPR's All Things Considered, Arizona Highways, The Huffington Post, Ryot Magazine, Radio France's RFI, Arte TV, PBS, ABC and many many more.

Sihasin has recent;y performed at the Kennedy Center, Grassroots Festival, Festival Alfonso Ortiz Tirado in Mexico, Tanz n Fest in Germany, The Museum of Native American History, Globalquerque, SXSW, World Fest, The Woody Guthrie Center and many more. They have had a national television commercial with Tony Bennett for Hyundai cars, they have done over 30 tours in Europe and many more across the U.S. Mexico and Canada. They are looking forward to continue to touring the world bringing their message of Hope, respect and understanding. See less

SONG LIST:

1. We the People

2. Strong Together

3. Shine

4. Fight Like A Woman

BACKGROUND MUSIC :

Stagger Lee (I Killed Billy To Save Us All) Instrumental - Aireene Espiritu/Edward Tree