653 Chenery Street
in San Francisco's Glen Park neighborhood

1-415-586-3733
[email protected]

Open to walk-in trade and browsing
Tuesday to Sunday
noon to six

 

Live Streams every weekend!
Refresh your browser
to catch a show in progress!
Visit our Facebook page or
YouTube channel!

But nothing beats being in the room
with the music & the musicians!

which way west? concert series
4:30-6:30 pm every Sunday
January 5th: Avotcja & Modupue!

avotcjaAfro-Nuyorican by birth, Avotcja is a Bay Area treasure now & has been for decades!  Hear her radio shows on KPFA and KPOO, and catch her performances of music & poetry around the Bay and you’ll know why.  She’s a brilliant and deep poet, a champion of la cultura, an inspiration to countless young, creative artists of color– in fact performers of all colors, even that pinkish one we quaintly call white.

Baba KenBird & Beckett is always proud to lead off another year in our “which way west” concert series with an annual performance by poet/small percussionist Avotcja and her award-winning ensemble Modupue — a band that attracts some of the most exciting world music instrumentalists in the Bay Area, including at any given point the likes of Sandy Poindexter, Yancie Taylor, Jon Carlos Perea, Coto Pincheira, Hafez Modirazdeh, Shirley Kazuyo Muramoto, Eugene Warren, Billy Dunn, Jimmy Biala and Francis Wong.  For today’s performance, Modupue is a quartet, with Avotcja being joined on talking drum and vocals by Baba Ken Okulolo — a Nigerian performer with a long pedigree who has now been based in the Bay Area for nearly three decades, along with the justly acclaimed pianist and composer Jon Jang and Trinidadian musician Val Serrant on steel drum and djembe.  Top musicians all!

Modupue was named Bay Blues Society Hall of Fame Jazz Group of the Year in 2005 and again in 2010!

Modupue is an important part of what makes the Bay Area culturally crucial!  Don’t miss the boat on this band!

Val SerrantJon Jang

Below, a picture from last year’s performance at Bird & Beckett, when vibes player Yancie Taylor and bassist Eugene Warren were on the gig:

Modupue at Bird & Beckett

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The Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project

Our events are put on under the umbrella of the nonprofit Bird & Beckett Cultural Legacy Project (the "BBCLP"). That's how we fund our ambitious schedule of 300 or so concerts and literary events every year.

The BBCLP is a 501(c)(3) non-profit...
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The Independent Musicians Alliance

Gigging musicians! You have nothing to lose but your lack of a collective voice to achieve fair wages for your work!
The IMA can be a conduit for you, if you join in to make it work.

https://www.independentmusiciansalliance.org/

Read more here - Andy Gilbert's Feb 25 article about the IMA from KQED's site

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