Austin has the indie scene locked down with South by Southwest, San
Francisco’s got its Outside Lands Festival, and Oakland all but owns
the words “art and soul.” In Berkeley, though, the biggest music
festival of the year centers on world music and poetry. This year’s
Berkeley World Music Festival (sponsored by such disparate
entities as the Pagan Alliance, Whole Foods, and the East Bay
Express) makes good on its name, incorporating everything from
Tex-Mex to Balkan folk music to Italian opera. It will also uphold a
variety of Berkeley traditions: dancing in the park, blank-versifying
on street corners, reclaiming space. It will even give extra latitude
to the term “world music,” with a pre-party at Blakes on Telegraph
(2367 Telegraph Ave.) that errs more on the side of indie rock
(headliners are Too Two Desmond and the Graham Patzner Band).
Metaphorically speaking, it will be a polyamorous affair.
The linchpin of this year’s World Music Fest is the People’s Park
concert, which combines a craft bazaar with a mostly Afrobeat lineup.
Hosted by Stephen Kent — who doubles as a didgeridoo player
— it will feature Thomas Mapfumo & The Blacks Unlimited,
Julia Chigamba & the Chinyakare Ensemble, Markus James & the
Wassonrai (whose tagline is “Mali meets Mississippi blues”), and Freddy
Clarke’s Wobbly World (a band that doesn’t shy away from “fusion” as a
descriptive term). In the meantime, a whole spate of performances will
happen concurrently in some rather improbable venues — among them
Moe’s Books, Cafe Milano, and Mario’s La Fiesta Mexican Restaurant.
The biggest highlight? Berber musician Moh Alileche, who started off
playing an oilcan with a hole cut into it (there weren’t a whole lot of
resources in his remote North African village) and became a veritable
James Brown of the mondol (a mandolin-like instrument with five
silk strings) in his later life. He’ll grace Amoeba Music from 6 to 7
p.m., hopefully with an ensemble of bamboo flutes and hand drums. Were
that not enough to pique your interest, the music fest will also
include a spin-off poetry festival — i.e., a bunch of local
wordsmiths will colonize a small patch of sidewalk on the corner of
Telegraph and Haste streets, once the home of Cody’s Books. They’ll
have Mark States, Julia Vinograd, Avotcja, and Kirk Lumpkin among their
ranks. Festivities cap off with an after-hours party at Ashkenaz (1317
San Pablo Ave.), featuring Marty Dread with Reggae Angels. Full
schedule at BerkeleyWorldMusic.org
