The 2006 Edgetone Music Summit Comes to Oakland's 21 Grand Gallery

Tonight, I'll have the privilege of performing at the Edgetone Music Summit, an artist organized event founded in 2001 with fiscal sponsorship from 21 Grand Gallery, a 501(c) (3) non-profit organization in Oakland. The Summit exclusively features independent artists most of whom are practitioners in music and sound of improvised and or experimental nature. In association with the Summit there are two year-round music series’, The Luggage Store Gallery New Music Series and the S.I.M.M. Series at the Musicians Union Hall. Both series serve as local stages for residential artists as well as for touring artists from all parts of the globe. The summit opened last night at the Luggage Store with the amazing Pamela Z, and moves to 21 Grand Gallery in Oakland tonight. Billed as a "Night of Inventions Played by the Inventors", I'll be joining Boston trumpeter Eric Dahlman, on his most unusual "Trident Trumpet", and inventors Bob Marsh, Steven Baker, Tom Nunn, Krystyna Bobrowski, and Larnie Fox's "Crank Ensemble".

The Edgetone Music Summit began as a festival event to support the D.I.Y. artists of Edgetone Records, an artist operated recording label for improvised and experimental music. Edgetone Records was founded by saxophonist and concert producer Rent Romus. Edgetone began as a place for artists who needed a home for their recordings while finding support and growth within a community. In their fourth year, the 2005 Edgetone Summit was held at The Luggage Store Gallery, 21 Grand Gallery, and The Oakland Metro Theater, three Bay Area venues known for supporting independent experimental music throughout the year. The next Summit will be held July 27-30, 2006.

The Edgetone Music Summit reflects the Bay Area multicultural diversity of discovery and new ideas associated with the region. Historically dating back to the inception of the Barbary Coast of San Francisco in the early 20th century, the S. F. Bay Area is one of the multicultural, politically and socially aggressive, artistically experimental centers of California.

The festival also pays homage to local as well as California’s central role in the development of invention and cutting edge ideas. The San Francisco Bay Area has been and still is the location where many of the founders of new ideas in sound live and have lived including Ives, Pauline Oliveros, Glenn Spearman, Lisle Ellis, and Terry Riley to name a few. Today The SF Bay Area, in the heart of California, is home to one of the most bustling and expanding new music scenes fostering the next generation of music pioneers.

The Curators

Musician and producer Rent Romus is the mastermind behind Edgetone Records, an artist-run new music label and its umbrella organization the Ultra Independent Recording Coalition, an artist-owned and operated distribution portal for new music. Rent also curates the San Francisco-based Luggage Store Gallery New Music Series, the SIMM Series, and Outsound Presents…, an artist collective for live performance. Rent sat on community advisory boards for the SF-ALT Festival, the Big Sur Experimental Music Festival and currently works on numerous other production events here and abroad.

Musician and sound installation artist Suki O’Kane plays locally in punk and experimental genres and was nominated for a 2004 Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award in Sound Design and Original Score for her work with the Theatre of Yugen. In collaboration with Edgetone Records during the 2005 Summit Suki brought her latest incarnation of curated live music and film ensembles to Night Three of the Edgetone Summit: a panoply of Edgetone recording artists and other outstanding Bay Area musicians and performative projectionists using every available interior and exterior surface of the Oakland Metro in a night of public art, live music and performative projection. She continues to work with the Summit to bring her special style of curation for 2006.

The 2006 Edgetone Music Summit
Friday July 28th
Sonic Foundry
'a night of inventions played by the inventors'
21 Grand Gallery
416 25th St. @ Broadway
Oakland, CA 8pm
$12 general $8 students/seniors @ the door
$10 advance general only
http://www.edgetonemusicsummit.org/06/summit_schedule.html

The West African Highlife Band and Shumba Marimba Comes to Ashkenaz

Berkeley's famed Ashekenaz, has long been on my list of venues to visit, and now I'll finally have my chance with two great groups, The West African Highlife Band, led by Kotaja's Ken Okulolo, and the youthful "Shumba Marimba". Following a request by David Nadel, the late director of Ashkenaz, for a band to concentrate on Ghanaian and West African highlife dance music and rhythmic styles, the West African Highlife Band was created. With master musicians from several West African countries and the United States, the band draws on folk traditions combined with modern stylistic elements played with acoustic and electric instruments, and include the infectious classic highlife dance hits of Ghana and Nigeria. Along with Okulolo, the band features Soji Odukogbe, Nii Armah Hammond, Lemi Barrow, Rasaki Aladokun and Pope Flyne.

The West African Highlife Band

The Bay Area's own West African Highlife Band, led by Ken Okulolo, is renowned for reviving Nigerian "highlife" dance classics. By seamlessly fusing African and world music, the Band has garnered a strong fan base and praise from critics. Rich vocal harmonies, intertwining guitars, and exciting percussion characterize their unique music.

The Band consists of five talented members: Ken Okulolo, Soji Odukogbe, Pope Flyne, Nii Armah Hammond, and Lemi Barrow. Okulolo, the bandleader, is a bassist, percussionist, and vocalist who has been deeply influenced by traditional village music. First seen touring in the United States with King Sunny Ade's African Beats, Okulolo has been voted "Nigeria's Best Bassist" five times. He has worked with several other great highlife bands, including that of highlife master, Victor Olaiya. Okulolo also leads the modern Afro-beat band Kotoja and the acoustic group The Nigerian Brothers.

Soji Odukogbe was lead guitarist for five years for the late Fela Anikulapo Kuti. He draws on his extensive background in Nigerian Afro-beat, highlife, and spiritual music to bring a unique sensibility to his highlife guitar interpretations. Pope Flyne is a performer, composer, and educator originating from Ghana. He is best known as lead vocalist for the legendary Sweet Talks band. When not performing, Flyne contributes to his community by sharing his vast knowledge of African folk music, dancing, and percussion with his American students. Nii Armah Hammond is a present and founding member of the seminal Ghanaian group Hedzoleh Soundz, which has recorded several albums with famed Hugh Masekela. Tap drummer Lemi Barrow has gained great skill through his many years of experience performing with African, Brazilian, and African-American musicians. Together, this vastly talented group makes the West African Highlife Band a joy to listen to.

The Shumba Marimba Youth Ensemble



Opening the show at Ashkenaz, are the remarkable "Shumba Marimba Youth Ensemble", and I have it on good authority, that these kids are truly amazing. The youth that make up Shumba range in age from 9 to 15, and they have studied with their director, Sheree Seretse for at least 3 years, some as many as 8. The ensemble usually plays using eight marimbas; three sopranos, three tenors, a baritone, a bass and hoshos, or gourd shakers. These marimbas are hand-crafted xylophones made from various hardwoods, and the keys are fine-tuned to reflect the tones played in African societies. Each key sits above a resonator with a vibrating membrane to amplify the sound and add a unique "buzz" to the music.

In addition to private parties, Shumba has had the wonderful opportunity to play publicly with National Childrens recording artist Dan Zanes at the Moore Theatre, at the Folklife Festival in Seattle, the Paramount Theatre and the famous Apollo Theatre in Harlem, New York! They have also shared their music at educational events at our local schools, A.I.D.S. awareness workshops, and fundraisers for Zimbabwean orphanages.

This promises to be a really great show, and reminds me of one of my favorite Zimbabwean chants, "Nyama Yekugocha", which roughly translated means, "Now the meat is ready for roasting!"


The West African Highlife Band, and the Shumba Marimba Youth Ensemble
Ashekenaz, 1317 San Pablo Avenue (near Gilman St.) Berkeley
Saturday, July 15th. Doors at 8:30 pm; Show at 9:30 pm
African dance lesson with Comfort Mensah at 9:00 pm
$15 general/$12 student