Sights & Sounds is your weekly guide to the Bay Area arts scene. Artist and curator Michael Orange is the founder and executive director of the Oakland arts collective MATATU. He told KALW’s Jeneé Darden about three fantastic arts events happening around the Bay this weekend.
- Ear Hustle at City Arts and Lectures (SF) 3/29
- Re-Engineering Humanity @836M (SF) until 5/17
- Zakir Hussain and the Masters of Percussion at Zellerbach Hall(BER) 3/31
City Arts and Lecturespresents a conversation with producers Earlonne Woods and Nigel Poor from the Peabody Award-winning podcast Ear Hustle. The podcast tells the stories of life inside of San Quentin State Prison by those living it. The conversation will be hosted by Reveal’s Al Letson and it’s happening this Friday evening at the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco.
“I like that it’s a reminder of the ever-present reality of mass incarceration that’s so easy to ignore.”
Re-Engineering Humanity @836M is a group exhibition organized by yesuniverseand curated by Lady PheOnix. The exhibition examines how contemporary issues shape the way reality is manufactured and understood. This is a six-month exhibit featuring works from a variety of different artists and takes a closer look at how social engineering organizes human thought. The exhibition will be open at836M in San Francisco through the month of May.
“What she’s (Lady PheOnix) looking at are the contaminates that exist all around us that affect the way we think, affect the way we feel, affect the way we speak, and what’s really scary is affect the way that we dream.”
Cal Performancespresents tabla percussionist and composer Zakir Hussain and the Masters of Percussion program. The show will explore the world of traditional North Indian drumming and also celebrate the 100th birth anniversary of Hussain’s late father, the legendary Ustad Allarakha. It’s happening this Sunday at Zellerbach Hall on the UC Berkeley campus.
“What fascinates me about this program is their emphasis on the drum, and it’s illumination of how connected we are in the global diaspora.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLD2CCF237BEDAFF5D&v=As1OMMcHXFs
MATATU will be hosting a performance by Tuareg singer-songwriter Mdou Moctaron April 18th at Red Bay Coffee in Oakland.
