Berkeley Balkan Bacchanal presents Balkan Ensemble Meraklii and Orkestar Seyir. Show starts at 8 pm. Doors open at 7 pm.
Tickets: $20 at the door/$15 for students. Cash, card or Venmo accepted at the door.
All ages before 10 pm. 21+ after 10 pm when kitchen closes.
Food, beer and wine available from the bar.

Orkestar Seyir brings Tallava music from the Balkans to the USA, sometimes even mixing traditional Tallava dance rhythms with American EDM. Tallava is modern Balkan Roma music, a genre of music rarely played in the United States. The band is led by co-leaders Dvoraka La on the electronic violin/vocals and Jeff Giaquinto on the electric guitar. They are dedicated students of David Mamudov, a Macedonian Roma Tallava violinist and guitarist. Kat Lopez-White (bellydance) will be collaborating with Orkestar Seyir for a portion of their set.

Dvoraka La: electric violin and vocals
Jeff Giaquinto: Electric Guitar
Jacque Patton: keyboard
Ari Salim Marcus: Darbuka
Melissa Cruz: Electronic drum kit
Sean Spangenberg: Electric fretless bass
Bay Area-based Balkan Ensemble Merkalii & Rumen Sali Shopov pick you up and spin you around with their energetic Balkan and Romani dance tunes.

Rumen “Sali” Shopov is a singer, multi-instrumentalist, and director of Balkan Ensemble Merkalii. Raised in the vibrant Turkish/Muslim/Romani neighborhood of Gotse Delchev, Bulgaria, he was immersed in Bulgarian, Macedonian, Greek, Turkish, Serbian, and Romani music, and also served as concertmaster of the Bulgarian folk ensemble Nevrokop. Since emigrating to the US in 2001, he has performed and taught in numerous Bay Area venues as well as international music camps and has received support from ACTA and the Berkeley Civic Arts Commission.
Sharon Grodin - Accordion
David Solnit - Clarinet
Daniel Goldberg - Saxophone
Mike Margulies - Trumpet
Ivan Velev - Tupan
Lucas Roemer-Camino - Violin
Rumen Sali Shopov - Tambura, Vocals

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Kafana Balkan presents the bombastic Balkan Brass Band Inspector Gadje, Zedan & Osman (Syrian Traditional Music), Alia Saeed (Belly Dance) & DJ Željko. The dance floor will be hopping!

See footage here https://youtu.be/_Mx2u-RdW5Q?list=RD_Mx2u-RdW5Q where a line formed around the block, incited an all-night sweat soaked dance party, and ecstatic memories still resonating with those lucky enough to have been there.

INSPECTOR GADJE brings a big sound to the beautiful and bumpin' brass band music of the Balkans. With 14 musicians sharing the stage, Inspector Gadje is an acoustic dance machine that makes the party move! A "... RIP ROARING MAD BALKAN BRASS BEDLAM" (KPFA'S Stephen Kent, “Music of the World”) and an "instant party atmosphere” (The SF Chronicle).
ZEDAN
Faisal is a distinguished Arabic percussionist, born in Lebanon and raised in Syria, with a lifelong dedication to preserving and teaching the rich traditions of Arabic music and drumming.
His extensive repertoire encompasses a wide range of Arabic music genres, including classical, regional, and belly dance music. Additionally, his versatility as a percussionist extends to Greek, Balkan, and Eastern European musical traditions.
Throughout his career, Faisal has collaborated with numerous local and international artists, contributing to the global exchange of cultural traditions.
OSMAN
ALIA SAEED
About the presenters: Kafana Balkan was the first ongoing Balkan dance party in San Francisco and is the only one of its kind organized by DJ Željko Petković in the Bay Area. Željko hails from Serbia by way of Frankfurt, and, lucky for us, he now calls San Francisco home. DJ Željko has discriminating taste, a seemingly endless collection of great Balkan albums, and love and joy for his music, a crowd-pleasing, danceable Balkan brass sound. Željko promotes Balkan music and culture by producing Kafana Balkan roughly four times a year.
Since February 2015, he's joined by Marco Peris Coppola, Creative Co Strategist and Co Booker, who is helping Kafana Balkan grow.
There will be Rakija -delectible Serbian plum brandy. Warning! Drink at your own risk
More on Inspector Gadje - https://www.inspectorgadje.com
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Kitka is thrilled to partner with The Freight and Center Stage to introduce Bay Area audiences to Kurbasy, direct from L'viv, Ukraine.

A captivating force in Ukraine’s contemporary arts scene, Kurbasy transforms centuries-old folk songs, lullabies, and legends into mesmerizing multimedia experiences. With haunting vocal harmonies, evocative instrumentation, and dreamlike visual imagery, Kurbasy's performances bridge the ancient and the urgent, the mythical and the modern. In their latest work, Songs of the Ukrainian Forest, Kurbasy conjures time-bending soundscapes that channel deep-rooted cultural memory into affirmations of resilience, love, and resistance in the face of violence and war.

Kitka will open the evening with a spellbinding set of Ukrainian polyphonic songs, showcasing their signature blend of precision, power, and emotional depth. Kurbasy will then take the stage with a dramatic song cycle drawing from Eastern, Central, and Western Ukrainian folk traditions, including rare Lemsky dialect songs from the Polish borderlands. “We want to affirm our loud and clear freedom, our love for our country and our people,” says Kurbasy vocalist Maria Oneschak.

“We want to show our independence and strength,” adds her singing partner Natalia Rybka-Parhomenko.

The evening will culminate in a moving joint performance by Kitka and Kurbasy—Ukrainian and American voices united in solidarity, singing out for democracy, peace, and justice.

ALSO NOTE:

UKRAINIAN FOLKSINGING WORKSHOP
with
Kurbasy's vocalist-directors
Maria Oneshchak and Natalia Rybka-Parhomenko

Wednesday, October 29 from 7:30-9:30pm
Lake Merritt United Methodist Church
1330 Lakeshore Avenue
Oakland, CA
Pre-registration required.
For more info and registration link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1712718540259?aff=oddtdtcreator

Singers of all ages, genders, backgrounds, and levels of experience are welcome to participate!

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