Brass Menazeri Stellamara

Brass Menazeri Stellamara
Benefit for Briana Waters
Produced by Sean Tergis

Come and enjoy the astonishing, original music of the contrasting brass band and the poetic stellamara ensemble. This will be a summer evening to remember!

The Brass Menažeri is the San Francisco Bay Area’s original Balkan powerhouse Brass Band. It cascades through the music of the Serbian, Macedonian, Greek, and Rajasthani Roma with wild rhythms, soulful vocals, and hot improvisations. Its high energy is infectious and dancing is inevitable. The Brass Menažeri is a shining example of the traditional Balkan repertoire combined with new sensibilities, innovative arrangements, and original compositions at the hands and lips of American devotees.

Stellamara is San Francisco’s original electro-acoustic, world-folk music ensemble with 21st century expression. Near Eastern, Balkan, Medieval, Ambient, and World music run in its veins. It creates a bridge to transport the listener out of the ordinary world into the realm of the sublime. It unveils the deep relationship between seemingly disparate cultures while surpassing any confines of tradition. It gracefully blends musical forms with passionate, highly personal, aesthetic and subtle, otherworldly ambiance. With its world-renowned discography, Stellamara is internationally regarded as being at the forefront of contemporary world music, giving new life and a fresh, modern expression to the beautiful and mysterious qualities of traditional modal music.

Former Stellamara violinist Briana Waters was falsely accused and convicted of eco-terrorism for a property arson at the University of Washington. She was essentially framed and served two years of a six-year sentence before her conviction was overturned. Unfortunately, Briana is not free yet. She is still accused of the crimes that put her in prison in the first place, and still faces prison time. She and her daughter, Kalliope, are struggling to make ends meet, between paying lawyers and court costs, with few employment prospects. All proceeds from this evening’s benefit will go to helping Kalliope when her mother is back in prison.

Briana will perform on violin and the exquisite, renown vocalist, Sonja Alexandra Drakulich, will sing! Sonja says of Briana: “You will all be able to hear what an amazing, inspired musician Briana is, despite the challenges in her life. Her strength is an inspiration to us all.”

Wheelchair accessible around the corner at 411 28th Street

$20 donations are accepted