The Brass Menazeri

Doors open at 8:00 PM, show begins at 9:00 PM.

Brass Menažeri: The Brass Menažeri ("Menagerie") is the San Francisco Bay Area's Balkan Romani ("Gypsy") powerhouse Brass Band. They cascade through the music of the Serbian, Macedonian, Greek & Rajasthani Roma with wild rhythms, soulful vocals & hot improvisations. The energy is infectious—toes tap, bodies slam, sweat flies as vital energy radiates from the dance floor. The Brass Menažeri is a shining example of traditional Balkan repertoire combined with new sensibilities, innovative arrangements & original compositions at the hands & lips of American devotees. Aphrodesia: It's been quite a ride for Aphrodesia since their birth in 2003: a pilgrimage to the legendary Shrine nightclub in Lagos, Nigeria in 2006, a cross-country voter-registration tour in a vegetable oil-powered bus in 2004 and accolades everywhere from National Public Radio to USA Today. Through it all the San Francisco-based 11-piece ensemble has won audiences over with an eclectic, unique sound- a blend of rich, female lead vocals and slamming horn-laden polyrhythmic funk that Global Rhythm Magazine called "a Pan-African mash-up." The Hornucopia Festival: The Hornucopia Festival is a new festival featuring the best horn and brass driven bands in the Bay Area and beyond for two weeks of mind blowing, soul shaking shows, workshops and presentations. Taking place September 4th – 14th at 9 different Bay Area venues, The Hornucopia Festival is a celebration of the historic and contemporary power of horn and brass music to bring people together while exuberantly bridging genres, languages, borders and cultures. With educational workshops, a DIY parade, and over 30 eclectic bands, The Hornucopia Festival will bring together music as diverse as Gypsy Brass to Afrobeat, Marching Bands to Cartoon Bands, Punk Rock Polka to New Orleans 2nd line, delighting hot and cool Jazz cats, klezmorim, soul stirrers and salseros alike in one brassy, horny celebration. Kafana Balkan / DJ Zeljko: Since 2006 Kafana Balkan has thrown the wildest balkan music and rakia fueled parties in San Francicso. DJ Zeljko spins deep and firey balkan brass, soul and gypsy funk to keep your spirits high and feet moving while the whole affair goes to benefit the Hleb i Sir Cirkus, which puts on free circus workshops for refugee children in Kosovo. "Best Crazed Gypsy Brass Band Dance Party" - 2008 Best of SF Weekly