The RootsDavies Symphony HallBetter than: Sitting still for an orchestraLocal music history was made last night as the Roots performed the first-ever hip-hop concert at Davies Symphony Hall as part of SFJAZZ's Spring season. The Philadelphia-bred, Grammy Award-winning group plays in your living room almost every day if you own a television set; they're the house band for the new Late Night With Jimmy Fallon program, which airs five nights a week on NBC. It's a hardcore commitment for the Roots,
By Randall RobertsAny knucklehead with DSL and a laptop can now make an electronic track. With a half hour of clicking and fiddling, you can sample enough cheesy beats and mashups to clog arteries from here to Berlin. Simple dropdown mouse maneuvers can transform electro tracks into progressive house tracks (from dry and synthetic to wet and gushy), rhythm tracks can be tempo-tweaked with an upward toggle to change a Timbaland beat into a Chromeo one. Add some T-Pain-esque pitch-correction vocal
Baba KenBaba Ken and the Afro-Groove ConnexionTuesday, March 31, 2009Elbo RoomBetter than: Sitting around wondering what happened to the weekend."We aim for a good party tonight. Is anybody going to work tomorrow? Nooooo." Such was the devilish proclamation made with a perma-grin by local Afro-funk band leader Baba Ken around 11 p.m. last night. For those who silently answered yes to his question, though, the agreed answer was the same as it was for those who had the luxury of sleeping in this m
EKAphotographyElectable: Sila performs with the AFE at Stern Grove
San Francisco's favorite Kenyan Afro-groovester, Victor Sila, has just released Black President, his second album with the Afrofunk Experience. I'll admit to being a bit biased--Sila is a friend of mine, and I wrote his bio--but I really like the album. The musicianship on the Black President is quite good; the Afrofunk Experience has become a really tight ensemble, and the horns, guitar, and percussion all shine. Sila has evolv
Michael Jackson in 1987
I'm not trying to be cynical or morbid here, but Michael Jackson's death was the best thing to happen to him in years. In death, Michael lives on forever. He has now joined the ancestors, among them musical icons like Bob Marley, Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, Marvin Gaye, Jackie Wilson, and Fela Kuti.
I appreciated the VH1 tributes which showed his greatest moments over and over (gotta love that amazing moonwalk during the Motown 25th Anniversary, not to mention his gravi
EKAphotographySupa Sistas: Les Nubians
Yesterday was definitely a day to be outdoors. With thermostats pointing north, inside was the last place anyone would want to be. And why would you want to, anyway? It was nice outside. Hot damn, summer in the city. And, unlike many a summery San Francisco day, Mr. Marine Layer stayed far away. Double hot damn. While many, I'm sure, headed to the beach, the most chill place to be yesterday may have been Sigmund Stern Grove.
Every summer for the past 71 y
Nigerian born producer / promoter /label owner DJ Said came into this world from the same corner of the globe as Fela Kuti, and he's just as addicted to spreading Afro Beat to the masses--although he blends those sounds into myriad dancefloor styles. After a stint in England, Said settled in the Bay Area and has built a following through his DJ sets, his Atmosfere parties, and his Afro House label, Fatsouls Records. His events combine turntables with live musicians performing on an array of Afri
Afrobeat's Ancestor: Fela Kuti
It's hard to think of a more iconic artist than Fela Anikulapo Kuti. The founder of Afrobeat, who famously proclaimed "music is a weapon," was both a voice of progressive social change--and often uncomfortably-honest socioeconomic critique--and a musical visionary. Fela's fusing of traditional Yoruban music with American jazz, R&B and funk was ahead of its time, as evidenced by the flowering of the Afrobeat genre a decade after his death and the influence Fe
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