The California East Bay has become a host for many incredible West African artists and cultural expressions. Drumming and dance Senegal and Guinea, for example, have captured the heart of many communities in this region. There are a variety of musical expressions, forms, and instruments that have been transplanted from…
Bay Area Youth Arts is a nonprofit program with a mission to help at-risk, inner-city youth develop discipline and self-confidence necessary to lead positive and productive lives. Offering African and jazz percussion, as well as classical and jazz violin, students learn listening and learning skills that…
International dance and music
Pasadena Community Job Center connects skilled day laborers, both men and women, for a variety of services. They have been a part of the community for 14 years providing over 12,000 jobs to skilled workers. Affiliated with the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, they are committed…
Jewish/East-European Yiddish music
The West African Dunun and Djembe drumming tradition is an old performance art form of the Susu and Mandinka peoples of the region. Versions of these forms can be found throughout West African nations such as Mali, Guinea, Senegal, Gambia, and the Ivory Coast. Dunun, Sangbani, and the Kinkini are…
INCA, the Peruvian Music & Dance Ensemble, was founded in 1981 in Los Angeles, for the purpose of researching, preserving, and presenting Peru’s rich multi-cultural heritage of ethnic and folkloric music, songs, dance, and traditions. INCA performs music and dances from the Andean region of Peru…
For over 40 years, the Inlakech Cultural Arts Center/Lucha, Inc. has provided youth and adults with a free, afterschool cultural education program. Centered in the heart of Oxnard, California, many of Inlakech’s students come from low-income agricultural families, who are greatly underserved. Children from the age of two to the…
Japanese court music
Son Jarocho is a folkloric music developed from the southern Mexican states of Veracruz and Tamaulipas. This Afro-Mestizo hybrid blends Spanish, indigenous (primarily Huastecan), and African elements into a joyous celebration of Mexican identity. Son Jarocho is often played only on jaranas (small stringed instruments) and sung in a call…
