– Innovative, multiethnic music acts will highlight the global music lineup at the Eagle Rock Music Festival, Saturday, October 6, from 5 p.m. to midnight, free of charge and open to all. Other stages at the festival will include a second mainstage and showcases devoted to local rock, jazz, and eclectic music.
Headliner Chuchito Valdés, of Cancun, Mexico, and popular L.A.- based artists Jessica Fichot, Black Shakespeare + The King Rockers, Michele Greene, and the Mariachi Divas (sponsored by the Los Angeles County Arts Commission and Recording Industries’ Music Performance Fund) will be featured on a Global Stage, and other artists, including Charangoa, El Haru-Kuroi, Café Fuego, will play in showcases up and down Colorado Boulevard along the street festival.Pianist Chuchito Valdés’ creates music rooted in the traditions of Afro-Cuban jazz and his own family legacy of talented piano players from Cuba. Grandson of Bebo Valdés and son of Chucho Valdés, Chuchito is a recognized master at Cuban music. His performances draw on genres such as bebop, Danzon, Cha-Cha-Cha, Son Montuno, Cuban Timba, and Guaguanco. Chuchito has recorded and performed with the Cuban band, Irakere, and also in concerts from Cuba and the Caribbean to North America, South America, and Europe. Joining him onstage will be drummer Raul Pineda, who has also played with the elder Chucho Valdes, and bassist Sawa Perez, who has worked with Ry Cooder, Arturo Sandoval, and Ibrahim Ferrer of the Buena Vista Social Club. Valdes’s brand of Cuban jazz is passionate, driving, and exciting—a show not to be missed; Neil Tesser, author of The Playboy Guide to Jazz, states that Chuchito Valdés displays "hellbent intensity" and "daredevil technique."
Los Angeles-based Jessica Fichot is a contemporary chanteuse in the French tradition, and— like both her hometown of Paris and her adopted home of Los Angeles— the music she creates is imaginative and international. The influence of her French/ Chinese/American upbringing results in a sparkling sonic journey that encompasses the French chanson tradition, gypsy jazz, Chinese and Latin American folk music, and a classic American repertoire. Backed by a quartet, Fichot will perform songs from her 2007 album Le Chemin, which include her accordion and piano playing, and smart lyrics that recollect the sardonic voice of Serge Gainsbourg. Fichot has notably performed at Grand Performances in downtown Los Angeles and in an official showcase at the South x Southwest Music Festival in 2007.
Black Shakespeare + the King Rockers are a Los Angeles reggae and soul band that blends hip-hop and funk into the mix. The King Rockers made their debut playing with Lee ‘Scratch" Perry and Mad Professor at the El Rey Theatre in 2001. The King Rockers is one of the many local projects of Black Shakespeare, also a DJ for the Chocolate Bar at the Echo Ex-Plex and 90.7 KPFK radio show "TruthSeekas." Shakespeare and Aurelito Mercado take reggae to the streets, and music festivals too, with I and I Sound System retrofitted, funkdafied ice cream truck, profiled on NPR and featured at Sunset Junction and Nocturnal Wonderland in 2007.
Directed by Cindy Shea, the Mariachi Divas are among the most established and multicultural mariachi bands on the Los Angeles music scene, featuring performers of Mexican, Cuban, Samoan, Argentinian, Swiss, Japanese, and Anglo descent. Each woman’s musical background also plays an important role in the Divas, adding violin, jazz flute, conga rhythms, and ranchera and merengue influences to the mariachi performance. The Divas were established as a traditional, all-female Mexican mariachi ensemble, but developed into the larger, multi-cultural group, inspiring the shift into exploring complementary music styles as each Diva brought a new approach of music to mariachi. The Mariachi Divas have been featured at the Arrowhead Pond, Greek Theater, and the John Anson Ford Amphitheater, where in 2006 they headlined "Women in Jazz." The Divas performance is sponsored by the Los Angeles County Arts Commission and Recording Industries’ Music Performance Fund through the assistance of the Professional Musicians Union Local 47
Michele Dominguez Greene, a bilingual vocalist in the folk and Latin tradition as well as an Emmy-award nominated actress (L.A. Law), will round out the world stage with melodies that are set to a grooving rhythmic percussion with congas, bongos, cajón and bombo.
The Eagle Rock Music Festival is an annual celebration of music, and aims to bring together a range of musicians and musical styles in one setting, free of charge, to treat Angelenos to a music experience that goes beyond genre-specific boundaries. Stages and showcases will offer experimental music, hip-hop, jazz, rock, and eclectic music drawn from the vibrant local scene. For more information, visit the Festival web page: http://www.myspace.com/eaglerockmusicfestival.
A free shuttle service to and from the festival will be available from the Eagle Rock Plaza parking lot, where limited parking will be available for festivalgoers. The Plaza is located off of Colorado Boulevard in Eagle Rock where the 2 and 134 freeways meet.
Author: World Music Central News Room
World music news from the editors at World Music Central
