4th World Folk Jam at the Birdhouse

Join us for an evening of live world folk music and dance in a beautiful Berkeley Hills mansion.

We love the world folk music and dance community! Through these World Folk Jams, we seek to support and promote this community in a number of ways. Our events provide a space for professional networking and creative collaboration. We hire many performers for our events and pay them fair rates, and we are building a gig referral network to connect event producers and performers. We also run a large Facebook group, World Folk Music and Dance (Bay Area), to help the community publicize its events.

About our Ticket Prices: Our 9-hour, 1-night festival featuring numerous musical acts, dance performances, workshops, and tea lounges in a beautiful mansion with a giant hot tub is excellent value for money. Ticket sales go to cover these expenses and to pay fair wages to our musicians, performers, shuttle drivers, security, and other event staff. If you would like to attend but the price is prohibitive, please consider applying to be a volunteer using our Volunteer Application. Professional musicians can also apply for free tickets using our Guest Musician and Band Leader Application.

SCHEDULE TL/DR

• 7pm: Potluck. Informal jams.
• 8pm-9pm: Workshops and opening ceremonies inside.
• 9pm-10pm: Dance and Fire performances outside.
• 9pm-12pm: Hannah Mayree, the Black Banjo Reclamation Project, with Kele Nitoto and Seemore Love
• 9pm-12pm: The Mio Flores Group (Salsa)
• Midnight-12:30am: Flamenco performance by MeliMichi
• Midnight-3am: Masters of Traditional Indian Music
• 12:30am-3am: Sidewalk Band (Latin/Folk)
• All night: Sound healing lounge. Tea lounges. Hot tub.

SCHEDULE DETAIL

FIRE DRAGON DEN

8pm-9pm: Musicians Career Building Workshop by SF Garnish Music School. To give back to the musicians community at our events, we've hired a teacher from the SF Garnish Music School to lead this workshop which will give you a roadmap for getting heard, getting paid, and finding your way in the ever-changing music industry. Free to all attendees.

9pm-Midnight: Hannah Mayree, the Black Banjo Reclamation Project, with Kele Nitoto and Seemore Love. In celebration of Black History Month, we are elated to welcome Hannah Mayree (she/her/they/them), a banjoist, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist. Hannah shares original and traditional banjo compositions, harmonies through acoustic live vocal looping and reminds us of the power found in our relationship to the earth, music and community. They founded the Black Banjo Reclamation Project: Reclaiming Banjo and Black earth-based cultural practices through self-determination and reparations.

Midnight-3am: Masters of Traditional Indian Music. Featuring renowned musicians Peter Van Gelder (sitar), Ben Kunin (sarod), Tim Witter (tabla), and Michael Lewis (tabla). They are decades-long students of Ali Akbar Khan, Zakir Hussein, Swapan Chaudhuri, and the Ali Akbar College of Music. They will be joined by Michael Davis (venu - South Indian flute), who has studied Carnatic music for almost 50 years, and by Claude Palmer (Oud), who has studied Indian music for over 30 years.

MIDDLE EARTH LOUNGE

8:30pm-9pm: Opening Ceremony: Monkey Chant and Body of Sound with Alyssa DeCaro. Join us to set the tone for the evening through collective creativity. Tune your body as your most essential instrument through vocal rhythms, body percussion and singing.

9pm: Yoga / Tai Chi / Chi Gong TBA

10pm-3am: Divine Chaos Sound Healing Jam. Help create a peaceful womb with an ambient healing soundscape. Bring bowls, bells, gongs, chimes, harps, didgeridoos, voices, etc.

All Night: Free Gourmet Tea Lounge. Open massage tables. Squish.

SOUTHERN AIR TEMPLE

8pm-9pm: Beginner to Intermediate Salsa dance class by Yvette/Evee. Yvette/Evee (she/they) has been dancing for over 25 years and has been teaching for 10 years. She is the assistant director of In Lak'ech Dance Academy, a safe and welcoming space that promotes artistic expression and collective healing within the queer and trans community.

9pm-Midnight: The Mio Flores Group (Salsa). Mio Flores is a master timbalero and congero, well-known in the Bay Area music scene. He is joined by Benezra Tergis on piano, Carlos Ramirez on bass / vocals, Angel Miguel on drum and many special guests. This power quartet plays salsa, Latin jazz and special arrangements. They are known for improvising and playing way outside of the box.

Midnight-12:30am: Flamenco performance by MeliMichi. Professional Bay Area Flamenco Artists Melissa Cruz and Mizuho Sato present the artistry and dynamic of flamenco, the art form from Andalucía, Spain. Focusing on flamenco's intricate and complex rhythms, they will play live percussion, showcase their "taconeo" (footwork) talents, and move with the fluidity of upper body expression using "braceo" (arm movements) and "floreo" (hand movements).

12:30am-3am: Sidewalk Band (Latin/Folk). Led by Heron Rana and based in the Sacramento area, Sidewalk plays a mixture of original music and covers, including folk, cumbia, son jarocho, salsa and other styles, emphasizing harmonies, rhythms, and horns.

All Night: Free Gourmet Tea Lounges

WATER GARDEN OF DELIGHT

7pm: Potluck

7pm-10pm: Drum Circle Open Jam. Bring your favorite instruments to join the jam.

9pm: Dance Performance Open Showcase. All forms of folk dance welcome. Just show up and share your magic.

9:30pm: Fire Arts performance by Lava Lotus and Cinder Lunae

All Night: Giant Hot Tub. Fits 20 people. Bring towels. Clothing optional. Keep it clean and respectful.

All Night: Refreshment Bar. Offerings: Young Coconuts. Chai. Hot Chocolate. Kava-colada. Chocolate Treats. Snacks.

THIS IS A PARTICIPATORY EVENT

We encourage all attendees to participate in creating experiences.

• Bring instruments to jam. If you're a professional musician, fill out our Guest Musician and Band Leader Application.
• Dance performances welcomed. World folk dance showcase at 9pm.
• We invite flow arts, circus arts, storytelling, poetry reciting, live painting, acrobatics, body-painting, interactive art and theater. etc.
• Please bring wholesome food and drink to share. Potluck dinner begins at 7pm.
• BYOB. No alcohol will be provided. Free gourmet tea served in a Chinese tea ceremony style by Tea Tribe / Om Shan Tea.