Gamelan X world music ensemble presents original, dynamic music for concerts, dancing, and processions. Drawing inspiration from Indonesian, Balkan, African, Indian, and American electronica, Gamelan X creates a transcendent sound and engaging group choreography that connects viscerally with the audience. Dozens of small and large gongs, wind and stringed instruments, synthesizers, drum set, and percussion from across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East combine interlocking rhythms and sinewy melodies in an entrancing groove tapestry.

Central to the evolution of Ryan's work is recording perception and cognition, through his surroundings and direct experience. The urban environment provides a setting for his investigations, as well as an exploration of individual and social identities. His interest in human behavior is focused on how we have transformed the landscape to meet our ideas, perceived needs, and desires. The logic of utilitarian spaces, seen in rows of packaged meat, the grid of a parking lot, or a maze of freeways, is indicative of our self and collective conceptions.

Opera, Modern and Old World! 1920's European Cabaret! Balkan Bellydance! Yiddish Theater! Welcome to the six-piece, Portland, OR based Vagabond Opera. The ensemble delivers an eclectic mix of original and traditional compositions, unified by an old-world mood. Gut-bucket swing, dark tangos, Paris hot jazz, Ukranian folk-punk ballads, Arabic bellydance, Klezmer, Operatic Arias and vigorous originals mingle with Absurdist, Bohemian Cabaret style, all played with skill, exuberance and a gritty vagabond edge. The band's line up includes trained operatic tenor and soprano, accordion, saxophones, cello, acoustic bass, drums and a dancing hoola-hooping performer! "These neo-cabaret fire starters roll out a rabble-rousing vision of globalization, 1920s-style!" - SFBG

The former Thursday night weekly at Kingman's Lucky Lounge, Slow Gin, returns to Oakland. "Laid-back attitude prevails at Slow Gin, the brainchild of King Kooba (who's released two albums on the influential indie Om Records), and his cohort the Trout. The DJs aren't situated in a remote pulpit-like booth in the back, but on a comfortable couch located right by the door. It's just like chillin' in your own living room... Crate-diggers to the bone, Kooba and the Trout only spin records they love. Their style leans mostly toward old-school jazz, funk, and soul records, with a twist of downtempo toward the end of the night... It goes a little something like this: Lonnie Liston Smith, followed by Roy Ayers, followed by the JB's, followed by the Headhunters, followed by some obscure cat from the '70s who put out one awesome Latin-tinged fusion record then dropped off the face of the earth..."

Capacitor, San Francisco’s interdisciplinary dance company, has become renowned for their conceptually-rich and bound-breaking performances. Capacitor artists collaborate with members of the scientific community to create mind-expanding, heart-gripping live performance. From the movement of the human diaphragm to the story of evolution, from the behavior of electricity to genetic manipulation, from the birth of the moon to the cycles of digestion - natural and synthetic processes form the basis for Capacitor’s study of performance. Obsessed with the mechanics of the human body as well as machines that propel the body through space, Capacitor artists have become masters of rigging systems, designers of wearable sculpture couture, and engineers of large-scale props designed to stretch the limits of physical poetry.

There’s something about The May Fire that grabs you by scruff of the neck. Perhaps it’s the cowbell chug or brilliantly fuzzy guitars that demand your attention. Or maybe you’re lured in by a voice that slithers like a lustier Patti Smith or Kim Deal. Whatever compels your ear, it doesn’t take more than a few notes to realize you’re in the presence of a band that knows how to meld indie rock, simmering ache & indestructible pop chops into just the kind of ear candy you’ve been craving. Colombian drummer El Pipe (pronounced “el peepay”) and Chilean singer/guitarist Catty Tasso met in L.A.’s alternative rock scene in 2004. After recording their debut Right and Wrong, they moved to San Francisco to assemble the powerfully edgy live group that is now The May Fire with Colombian guitarist Nachito and American bassist Rob Gwin. "Like a whirlwind tour of the last 40 years of rock n' roll history" -- First Coast News

The Brass Menazeri ("Menagerie") is the Bay Area's premier Balkan Brass band, specializing in the high-energy, sometimes stretchy, always exciting music of Serbian Rom (Gypsy) brass bands, as well as the Greek/Macedonian border region. In the tradition of the great Rom brass bands, we also exhibit influences from many neighboring & not-so-neighboring musics of the world.

Much like the man himself, Sean Hayes' musical sensibilities defy easy categorization. Just because there's a banjo featured in a track, don't expect it to sound Appalachian -- and certainly don't expect that reoccurring tuba to have anything to do with Sousa and severely metered marches. With his new album "Big Black Hole and the Little Baby Star", the North Carolina-bred, San Francisco-rooted artist continues to embrace the multifarious, channeling Billie Holiday in her more melancholy moments (Fucked Me Right Up) or hitting the pavement with broken-hearted, wild eyed friends who take strength in numbers (Calling All Cars). With subject matter that ranges from polka dot panties to innocent death row inmates, it's best to keep an ear cocked to sort out Hayes' lyrics. A masterful songwriter and fingerpicker, the singer plays guitar, mandolin, and banjo on the album.

Pirya stands for women being free and empowered to express themselves in any way that is most authentic to them and to their highest purpose. Her work intends to bring the unseen into the world and assist people in recognizing their ethereal self while experiencing deep intimacy and aliveness. Her colorful figures elicit an appreciation of the divine feminine and tend to attract those who have a desire to be in touch with the power and beauty of the goddess archetype. She draws her inspiration from people who are excited about what’s possible in life, and from situations in which everyone wins.

Founded in 2002, Zooz Dance Company presents original choreography. Their uniquely refined compositions are heavily influenced by Middle Eastern, North African and Contemporary dance. The company sees their craft as an instrument for education, expression, and exploration. Highlighting a harmony of styles, Zooz seeks to transform diverse audiences and performers alike. Zooz Dance Company reserves a portion of their schedule for local outreach programs. (Photo: ©RJ Muna 2006)

dj fflood (born as richard, a 1st generation Jamaican born in New York City) is a dj, remixer, activist and producer. As a dj he has been musically transporting crowds with his intuitive, driving, and eclectic style for over 20 years now. From the sound clashes of Kingston, to the warehouses of New York City, to the clubs of Europe, to the art houses of San Francisco, and lounges of Oakland, his exceptional sense of selection and connection to the crowd has become his signature. His empathic flow from genre to genre is sure to take you along with him as he moves fluidly from the sublimely subtle to the liberatingly raucous.

Currently located in San Francisco, Soma Olam offers a unique, "impressionist" style of physical theater. A multimedia performance troupe, we set out to create and explore emotional landscapes through visuals, soundscapes, and performative elements. These elements include aerial arts, stilting, dance, acro-balancing, multi-media projection, abstract lighting, elaborate set design, and special effects.At the confluence of the personal and the universal, these performance journeys are multi-sensory and participatory. We feel that through the window of the microcosm of human relation, we glimpse into the grander archetypes that govern our world and universe.

Josh Brill is an internationally acclaimed artist who has performed his live ambient music for a wide array of events and environments. Josh Brill's music can be described as an evolving piece of aural sculpture. It weaves in and out of one's conscious while decorating the moment with sonic tapestries. Beginning with a single note, Josh's soundscapes are born from silence. In accordance with the moment, they expand and evolve into a rich universe of interweaving melodies and harmonies. Josh describes his music as "…akin to the emotional texture of morning raindrops seen through the ears of our sleeping child, while melodic clouds dance through the air as they morph into anything that has and ever will exist."

Amy M. Ahlstrom is a contemporary quilt artist creating hypermodern urban fiber art. Drawing upon her background as a graphic designer and comics illustrator, Amy digitally photographs the visual details of cities- street art, signs, and architectural details- and collages these images by computer into quilt designs. The resulting Urban Quilts, crafted of silk, are tactile visual postcards of urban environments. Based in San Francisco, Amy has designed Urban Quilts from images of San Francisco’s Chinatown, North Beach, and Mission districts. Quilts from her trips to Tokyo, Kyoto, London, Paris, Amsterdam, New York City and Chicago are planned. Amy holds a Master of Fine Arts in Fiber from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Fiber from Northern Illinois University. She has shown her work at the Three Arts Club and the Pond Gallery, and has been published in New City and the Chicago Reader.

Moses Sedler is a composer of music for dance, film, and concert stage. He is also a cellist, performer and music teacher. Moses has a background rooted in classical music, as well as improvisatory music, eastern European folk music, and Indian music. As a performer Moses has played in Europe, Israel, and North America, and has performed, recorded with and composed for the award winning ensemble DAVKA; a cello, violin, percussion and woodwind ensemble. DAVKA creates new music drawing source material from eastern European Jewish folk music, as well as Middle Eastern and Balkan rhythmic language, with composition and improvisation structures similar to modern jazz.

California native Tim Beck is both metal craftsman and sculptor. After a brief time as a professional fashion photographer, Tim entered the US Airforce and received extensive formal training in metal fabrication and processes. A stint in a shop specializing in pharmaceutical and custom fabrication made new materials and processes available for exploration and afforded him the opportunity to create from raw materials. The plant-life series, a collection of stainless-steel plants, featuring razor-sharp leaves and delicate candle-flowers, was the first of Tim’s work to be shown in galleries and exhibitions in the Bay Area. Most recently his works using large pieces of structural steel and incorporating mechanics and fire have been featured in fire-arts exhibitions at The Crucible in Oakland, at Burning Man, as well as in East Bay Open Studios. His recent explorations of carving away at large chunks of metal using a torch to reveal graceful human figures is a pioneering process that is capturing the interest of the Bay Area metal-arts community, and creating a new genre of metal sculpture.

Aryana Farsai spends her days chipping at Atlas' Stone. By working to lighten the psychic load for humanity through the heaviest arts, she achieves her own goal to create buildings which hold up a spiritual enlightenment and achieve a lasting impression on society. As a sanctuary and temple builder, her mediums include: clay, steel, glass, soil, flora, concrete, plaster, found and re-purposed materials, as well as collected items diverted from waste streams. Aryon Artworks is her company, founded on principles of creative design, ecology, and building the foundation for a more ecologically balanced way of life for urban people. Her specialties include: vitreous glass and marble mosaics of both classic and modern design; ceramic hand building and custom sculpted tile; ceramic tile history, fountains, garden design, ceramic jewelry, and natural buildings.