Celebrate the vibrant rhythms of Mardi Gras and Carnaval with CHELLE! & Friends and special guests from the Venezuelan Music Project on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 7-9 p.m., at Rhythmix Cultural Works, 2513 Blanding Avenue.
Travel from New Orleans to coastal Venezuela, blending New Orleans and Caribbean traditions in a joyful evening of music, history, and culture.
CHELLE! & Friends
New Orleans native, and Oakland’s own “Queen of New Orleans Music,” Michelle Jacques is Artistic Director & Founder of CHELLE! & Friends. She and some of the most accomplished musicians in the Bay Area combine all the influences of New Orleans music—jazz, funk, soul, Creole, Cajun, gospel, Caribbean, African, Zydeco, rock, and the chants and stirring rhythms of Mardi Gras Indians—into an irresistible musical gumbo that is sweet, spicy, aromatic, and intoxicating.
CHELLE! & Friends features Michelle Jacques on lead vocals; Rhonda Crane on vocals; Bryan Dyer on vocals and trumpet; Donna Viscuso on woodwinds; Eric Swinderman on guitar; Kevin Scott on bass; and Michaelle Goerlitz on drums.
“Whether leading a children’s Mardi Gras parade or headlining the ‘Queens of New Orleans’ Music Festival, CHELLE! & Friends’ blend of music delights audiences of all ages,”
said Linda Lucero, Executive Director of Yerba Buena Gardens Festival.
Venezuelan Music Project
The Venezuelan Music Project (VMP) was founded in 1997 to share the sounds and cultural traditions of Venezuela throughout the Bay Area and the continental United States. Combining indigenous Venezuelan, West African, and Spanish influences, VMP is a dynamic ensemble full of vitality, energy, and color. Led by Jackeline Rago, a multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger, producer, and educator who specializes in Venezuelan folk music as well as music from other countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, VMP is one of the only groups in the Bay Area performing Venezuelan music today.
VMP features Jackeline Rago on vocals and guitar; Anna Marie Violich on vocals; and Omar Ledezma Jr. on percussion and vocals.
Rago “has become a recognized ‘folklorista’ and a respected Bay Area musician,” Jesse “Chuy” Varela wrote in Latin Beat Magazine. “Blessed with a superb voice and a melancholic falsetto so important to the rural Joropo style, she’s also a dynamic percussionist with an amazing sense of rhythm.”
Tickets to Mardi Gras Carnaval at Rhythmix may be purchased online for $36 apiece (includes $4 service fee) or $100 for four tickets (includes $14 service fee).
All seating is general admission.
