New school soul meets old world grooves. Today’s program features two of the most exciting acts to emerge from the Bay Area in the past decade and a fantastic theater performance. Propelled by the snake-hipped young vocal phenom Ziek McCarter, Con Brio extends the dance-inducing funk legacy of Sly & the Family Stone and R&B trailblazers like D’Angelo and Prince with a combustible mix of pulsating rhythms, scorching guitar, punchy horns, and the churn of a Hammond organ. Founded in 2007 by esteemed cultural activists Joti Singh and Bongo Sidibe, Duniya Dance & Drum Company combines two vastly sophisticated musical cultures with a singular synthesis of Guinea’s West African polyrhythms and Punjab’s North Indian grooves. In Black Orpheus: Una Historia de Amor guitar-toting poet Orpheus ventures into the underworld in an attempt to retrieve his beloved Eurydice, stolen by Death. Set in a mythical barrio during Carnival, A.C.T.’s Stage Coach production layers Afro-Latino rhythms to create a classic love story with a Carnival heartbeat.

Yerba Buena Gardens Festival celebrates the new SFMOMA!

Duniya Dance & Drum Company, Noon
Con Brio, 2pm
Black Orpheus: Una Historia de Amor, 4pm

Presented with support from