Camellia Boutros

Some sounds could only emerge in San Francisco, like the Arabic psychedelic rock of Camellia Boutros. A first-generation Lebanese-Palestinian composer and multi-instrumentalist, she spent years performing on trumpet, oud and bass in Arab, Balkan and Mexican combos. Eventually she developed a fretless 12-string electric oud-guitar as a vehicle for composing her own brand of experimental Arab rock. Writing music rooted in Arabic scales (known as Maqam) and San Francisco rock, she’s captured her experience growing up between California and the Levant with her highly personal blend of psychedelia, folk, jazz and hip-hop. When she’s not fronting her own band, Boutrous can be found performing with the percussion and brass-powered Mission Delirium, the Romany-inspired Balkan brass band Inspector Gadje, the all-femme son jarocho and Arabic folk musical project Corazón de Cedro and with Mexican-born rapper Chhoti Maa. For this afternoon’s show she’s joined by drummer Michael Morales, electric bassist Sean Spangenberg and tenor saxophonist Michael Booker.