The Annex Sessions show #77

“The Annex Sessions" Wednesday, September 18, 2024, 6-8:30pm will continue our music
series held at El Cerrito Natural Grocery Company Prepared Food Annex (The Annex)

Javier Navarrette’s “Modupue Wednesday with The Global Percussion Ensemble”

Pezhham Akhavass
Jim Santi Owen
Javier Navarrette
Jeff Pierre
Sekhar Sarukkai

The Global Percussion Ensemble is a group of esteemed musicians trained in various world
percussion and Afro-Cuban, Afro-Haitian, North Indian, Persian and South Indian musical
traditions.

Musician Bios

Pezhham Akhavass is an accomplished musician, percussionist, multi-instrumentalist, educator,
music director, Voting Member of the Recording Academy (GRAMMY), and instructor known
for his mastery of the tombak and daf. Born in Iran in 1980, Pezhham embarked on his musical
journey at a young age under the guidance of his renowned father, Mostafa Akhavass

Jeff Pierre grew up in Haiti surrounded by traditional drumming, dance and singing. He started
producing beats in high school and from there he wanted to take the culture to a new route.
Jeff has a unique and fresh style which is a blend of electronic music with traditional Haitian
drumming and singing. His work has been featured in films, TV shows and documentaries. Jeff’s
goal is to present the magic of his culture in a new and elevated light and give people a
beautiful experience that they can take with them through life.

Sekhar Sarukkai studied Mridangam under late vidwan T.A.S. Mani at the Karnataka College of
Percussion in Bangalore. Sekhar plays South Indian instruments including Mridangam, Kanjira
and Ghatam. After moving to California, he accompanied several local and international artists.
He played on the Mridangam and Kanjira for ‘Shiva,’ conceived and choreographed by late
legend Pandit Chitresh Das, and accompanied the Toronto Tabla Ensemble in the US and
Canada on the Mrudangam.

Jim Santi Owen is an American percussionist, educator, producer, performer, grant writer and
funder based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Drumming since the age of eight, Owen began an
intensive training in the North Indian percussion instrument tabla in 1991, studying under
Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri at the Ali Akbar College of Music, the California Institute of the Arts,

and in India. In 1995, Owen began studying South Indian percussion instruments including
mridangam, ghatam, kanjiraand morsing with master percussionist T.H. Subash Chandran, and
the temple drum, thavil, with K. Sekar. At Cal Arts, He studied North Indian music and tabla
accompaniment from Ustad Ali Akbar Khan and the art of accompaniment for the North Indian
dance known as Kathak from Pandit Chitresh Das. He served as the Music Director for the San
Francisco World Music Festival from 2009 to 2014 and is on faculty at Dominican University,
The California Jazz Conservatory, LINES Ballet School, the California Institute of the Arts, and the
Ali Akbar College of Music.

Javier Navarrette studied with masters in Cuba such as Miguel Angá Díaz; Jose Luis “Changuito”
Quintana; Folklorico Nacional de Cuba; and with Bay Area masters John Santos; Michael Spiro;
and Jesús Díaz. In 2022, Javier received the artist scholarship award with Plaza Cuba Travels to
study music at La Escuela Nacional de Arte in Habana, Cuba.
He teaches music in public/private schools and in adult workshops. For the past 10 years, Javier
has been teaching with Living Jazz Children’s Music Project in the Oakland public schools and at
the summer Jam Camp for Children.
Javier produces Modúpue Sundays with Arts at the Basin, Rocky's Market, Brooklyn Basin,
Oakland, and the Neighborhood Sessions at The Annex in El Cerrito, both musical events
presenting the Bay Area’s legendary musicians in the Afro-Latin music scene.

The Natural Grocery Company is proud to present this series in partnership with SunJams and

Javier Navarrette Music Productions.

The Annex

The Annex is a lively space for shopping, dining and relaxing. As the newest part of The Natural Grocery Company, the values are the same: a passion for vibrant community, healthy organic food and respect for the planet.

"The Annex Sessions" is sponsored by the Natural Grocery Company in its commitment to serve the local community and help in the recovery of the local art scene.

Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner 7 days a week, inside the Annex you’ll find: A Cafe, Juice Bar, Deli, Wine & Beer, and more.

The Annex building itself embodies our values: a few of the sustainable features are: extensive re-use of materials from the pre-existing structure, use of recycled materials from local vendors, and reliance on the solar energy we produce here, supplemented with other clean energy sources.

Javier Navarrette continues to bring live music to several venues around the Bay Area. Javier has been a professional musician and music educator in the Oakland Unified School District for the past 20 years. Over the past 2 years Navarrette has produced outdoors events that have proven instumental in enabling musicians to deal with some of the fallout of the pandemic and shutdown that followed. Most recently he has been curating "Modúpue Sundays at the Brooklyn Basin.” These musical productions ran from June–November 2021 at the new Oakland hot spot, the Brooklyn Basin, with internationally known, Bay Area musical legends. Follow Javier Navarrette on Facebook , Instagram and YouTube.

COVID RELATED SAFETY MEASURES

Please be safe. Feel free to wear a mask if you prefer.

TICKETS

Tickets are encouraged, we are happy to offer you a reserved seat (limited seating available) if you RSVP with a donation that will go towards paying for the music. Tickets are NOT required for this venue, you can simply come in, order food and beverages at the Annex counter. Seating for music nights begins at 5:30 PM, reserved seating help until 6:30 PM.

DONATIONS

SunJams is committed to funding children's music education in underserved public elementary schools. Your donation will help support this ongoing program.

In addition, we need to raise funds to continue bringing you this exciting new live music program. All of the proceeds will go directly to our network of local musicians, each of whom have been severely impacted by the lack of events during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Whether you donate $10, $100, or $1000 - any amount helps and will allow us to keep bringing music to our community! As always, your donation to our 501(c)3 may qualify as tax exempt.

We pledge a $100 donation for every weekly show we bring you, donated in the Fall to the ongoing music education program we have partnered with since 2015. The cost for this program is $1000 per student per year, your donation to continue this program allows us to sponsor ( a minimum) 5 elementary school students. Please help up increase this goal by donating what you can.

Please DONATE HERE

DURING THE SHOW

We will be taking cash or check donations at check-in, during intermission & at the end of the show.

TIME

The Annex is open every day, please check their website for hours (https://naturalgrocery.com/annex/).

 The show will begin at 6:00 PM and conclude by 8:30 PM.