Erthbound’s programming initiative is “Culturally Relevant Stories that are Important to Our Community” for its work with the Namba Performing Arts Space. Recent performances best demonstrated what local Cultural Relevance sounds like!
UKIFY featured young Ukulele acts including The Baja Boys, Blue Moon Singers and the recently formed “bluke-grass” band, Bonny Venture. This concert was unique, as it featured original music written by multiple talented local artists. Concert-goers were encouraged to bring along their Ukes for a Hawaiian jam-along or ‘Kanikapila’ as the big finale.
Namba blended Bluegrass with Latin music to present “LatinGrass” performed by Che Apalache from Buenos Aires, who began as a bluegrass band, but eventually incorporated Latin American styles into their repertoire. After Che Apalache’s appearance on NPR’s “All Things Considered”, their “Latingrass” music evoked images from Appalachia to the Andes, in a testament to a powerful cultural and musical exchange.
Hermanos Herrera is the six-member sibling group of third-generation Mexican Americans, who made their debut performance at Namba with their latest album, “Sones Jarochos y Huastecos y Más” a collection of songs for th Smithsonian Institute’s Smithsonian Folkways Recordings.