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The Second Annual San Francisco World Music Festival

By AsianWeek Staff

Master percussionist Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri. Photo courtesy of Door Dog Music Productions.

The last weekend of the San Francisco World Music Festival at Cowell Theater in Fort Mason kicks off with a round table discussion on urban music at noon, June 2. For the first time, musicians from the hip-hop scene in San Francisco will meet with master musicians from other cultures to discuss the future of world music in the Bay Area. Then, Door Dog Music Productions presents two incredible sets of performances: Nazarkul Seldrahmanov and Maira Balbakbaeva will contrast Kyrgyzstani sound with the unique Chinese music of the Jumping Buddha Ensemble. Later, the same evening, Pejman Hadadi, Hossein Behroozi-Nia, the Namah Dance Group, along with Hossein Omouni will perform in the grand tradition of Persian music. On June 3, another roundtable discussion will wrap up musicians’ personal takes on world music trends. Gamelan Sekar Jaya and Rahman Asadollahi Azerbaijani Group will perform from 3 to 5:30 p.m. The last set of the festival will feature the Georges Lammam Ensemble with Arabic music, and master percussionists Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri, Ganesh Kumar, T.H. Subash Chandran, and Uttam Chakraborty with Tabla Rasa. At 10 p.m., anticipate a high-energy festival group jam that never happens the same way twice.

The Jumping Buddha Ensemble. Photo courtesy of Door Dog Music Productions.