If you’re in the SF Bay Area, check out GO! OHANA this week. Held every month at the historic La Pena Cultural Center in Berkeley, GO! OHANA is RAMA’s monthly APA music and art show celebrating the pan-Asian family. Emceed by Ryan Takemiya, the event spotlights independent artists of every genre and style. It offers artists an intimate space that immerses you in the performances in an inclusive and welcoming community. Here’s this month’s line up:
Lailani Africa and Brandon Nguyen
Lailani Africa and Branden Nguyen hail from Sunnyvale and Cupertino, Ca. This new duo started early summer of this year. Branden, a music major graduate from UC Riverside brought his Jazz guitar flavor to singer/songwriter Lailani. They have been playing different venues from open mics to small shows throughout the bay area. Currently they are composing songs for an album. They aim to infuse spoken word, hip hop, jazz and other styles to their music.
Jenton Lee
From his quirky parodies, to his funky mashups, Jenton’s goal is to have everyone in the audience smiling at least once before leaving the stage. He maintains a strong presence on YouTube with over 3600 subscribers and over 1.3 Million video views. You can find him posting up a new video every week, so be sure to subscribe to his channel at YouTube.JentonLee.com to keep up with his latest videos.
Asian But Not Smart (Won’t Even Start Parody) by Jenton Lee
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Yer Yang
Yer Yang is a Hmong womyn who grew up in south Sacramento. She spent her last 5 years living and going to school in Berkeley and has recently moved back to the Sacramento area. Yer first found her passion for music her first year of college when she performed at a small open mic one of her student organizations (the Laotian American Student Representatives) hosted. During her third year of college, she started a small and informal band with one of her friends Phi Nguyen called Phyier [pronounced fire]. This acoustic duo started performing for their student organization SASC (Southeast Asian Student Coalition) and has since performed at several events on campus. Since Phi’s recent departure to the east coast, Yer has been working on a small solo project. She hopes to be able to compose new music that can capture her experiences and emotions, music that her friends, family and supporters can relate to. For Yer, music is a tool to bring people together to just have a good time as well as a way to heal and continue moving forward.
Festizio
San Francisco alt-rock band Festizio combines ambient sounds and driving rhythms in a landscape of intertwined harmonies. Listeners often associate its sound with bands like Radiohead and Muse, though the eclectic variation of genres that Festizio employs clearly distinguishes it as unique. With a diverse musical background, the band also collectively draws from a variety of influences ranging from dance rock to soul. Already garnering positive reviews from industry critics and Bay Area venues, Festizio’s popularity is spreading well beyond its local roots. With the release of its long-awaited self-titled album, Festizio solidifies its reputation by providing a fresh new sound to rock music.
GO!OHANA
Friday, October 22, 2010
7:30pm
La Pena “Cool-tural” Center
3105 Shattuck Ave
Berkeley, CA
Admission $8 (buy tickets)
Doors open at 7:00pm
Food and Drink!
Free Raffle!