Adrienne Shamszad is a singer-songwriter, culture preserver and teaching artist from Oakland, CA. She has a dynamic repertoire of songs in the styles of American folk, soul, rock, and traditional Iranian music that evoke a spirit of love and connection. Her lyrics are poetic, intimate, genuine and inspired by the mystic Poets of Iran as much as the folk poet-songwriters of the 60s and 70s. Her strong and soulful voice, skillful and complex guitar work and bold performance style have developed into.

Adrienne is an Oakland, California native of Iranian and European heritage who has traveled extensively, studying and bringing her music throughout the U.S., India, and other parts of Asia. Her mission is clear: to weave together the threads of her study and creativity into an original musical fabric that moves and inspires her audiences. Her impressive musical range extends from the sacred to the profane, the mystical to the earthy, the lofty to the down-low, and she is equally at home with acoustic or electric, improvisation, jazz, rock and roll, rhythm and blues and Persian classics.

Since beginning formal training in Persian music in 2016, Adrienne's music has expanded to a genre of its own. She sings the blues, lullabies, love songs, revolutionary anthems and prayerful power ballads in English and in Farsi. She mixes her own lyrics with those of the essential Persian language poets such as Hafez and Rumi, bringing the messages of her ancestors into the present moment.

In 2018, Adrienne won the Living Cultures grant through the Alliance for California Traditional Arts (ACTA) to deepen her study of Iranian Classical singing with master teacher and vocalist Mahsa Vahdat. In 2020, ACTA again sponsored Adrienne’s study in Iranian traditional music on Setar with master teacher and composer Atabak Elyasi.

Adrienne has performed with Kitka, David Wilcox, SOVÓSO, Coleman Barks and Mahsa Vahdat. She has been featured in productions by The Berkeley Repertory Theater, Golden Thread Productions and Diaspora Arts Connection. She has self released two albums and several singles and is currently recording two full length albums to be released back to back in 2023.

Learn more: adrienneshamszad.com

SONG LIST

1. Leili Lullaby

2. Love You Without Fear

3. Manjun Naboodam

4. Love Song In The Void

5. Tazarv + Daram Omidi

BACKGROUND MUSIC :

Stagger Lee (I Killed Billy To Save Us All) Instrumental - Aireene Espiritu/Edward Tree

Music Of The Tabla With Manesh Judge. North Indian Classical, Western Folk, Electronica and Beyond

MANESH JUDGE is an Indian-American artiste born in the Bay Area, disciple of Ustad Syed Arshad. He has over 2000 global shows to his credit & has been a TV show host since 1996.

On the production side he has done award-winning music for some films like Maya, For Here or to Go?, Josh, The Descent, Line of Descent and others. Some notable global collabs and shows with legendary singer, Asha Bhosle, Ustad Shafqat Ali Khan, Ustad Rais Khan, Deepak Ram, Habib Wali Mohd, Devika, Gunjan, Noor Lodhi, Amitesh Mishra, Mike Overtone, Dan Ashley, Jorge Santana, Brad Gillis, Cornell Carter, Bali Brahmbhatt and Aki Kumar to name a few. Some labels produced for include BMG Crescendo India and Virgin Records India. He is honored to join such a fine group of artistes.

SONG LIST:

1. Color-Coded Symphony, Live performance 11/12/19 Freight & Salvage, Featured Country India - Color-Coded Symphony

2. Tana Mana - Ravi Shankar

3. Chaos - Manesh Judge, Noor Lodhi

4. Abyss - Karsh Kale, Anoushka Shankar

5. Sakhi - John McLaughlin, Shankar Mahadevan, Zakir Hussain

6. Light - Talvin Singh

BACKGROUND MUSIC :

Stagger Lee (I Killed Billy To Save Us All) Instrumental - Aireene Espiritu/Edward Tree

BO RAZÓN - https://www.fb.com/borazonmusic

Bo did a presentation with us back in October 2021 on the Overview of Philippine Native Music. You can watch that on our YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/K_kZGtRvQuw. But this time we are featuring his own ethnofusion music from the Philippines to Cuba and beyond.

Bo Razón is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, recording artist, and educator whose experience spans more than four decades. His influences are mainly native music from North & Sub-Saharan Africa, Cuba, Southeast Asia, Brazil, the Caribbean, North America, the Iberian peninsula, and the Middle East.

Passionate about traditional music of indigenous world cultures as well as by contemporary music genres, he seeks ways in which the two may coalesce organically. His skill sets have brought him to work in a musical capacity with several global institutions of art and culture such as the British Council, the Goethe Institute, the Alliance Francaise, Instituto Cervantes, and the Philippine National Commission for Culture & the Arts. He has taught World & Afro-Latin music at the University of the Philippines, and has taught music to elementary and middle school students in California. Bo plays several stringed and skinned (percussion) instruments from diverse global cultures and has performed with many major artists from around the world in many settings and venues in Asia, Europe, and the Americas.

SONG LIST:

1. Babalu Aye (Gitano Mix)

2. Afroyesa Maranaw

3. And The River Flows On S

4. Sahara Mon Amour

5. Ochun a Mamayog

BACKGROUND MUSIC :

Stagger Lee (I Killed Billy To Save Us All) Instrumental - Aireene Espiritu/Edward Tree