The Annex Sessions will continue Wednesday, February 14, 2024, 6-8:30pm at El Cerrito Natural Grocery Company Prepared Food Annex (The Annex)

Karamo Susso & Friends – Kora Music of Mali

International kora star Karamo Susso, with Amina Janta and guests will join us to celebrate
Malian music.
The kora, the 21-stringed harp lute of West Africa, originated in the ancient Kingdom of Mali
more than a thousand years ago. Tradition tells us that djinns brought it into this world and
gave it to the griots: families whose place in the culture was to sing the epics of heroes and
relate histories. The griots played kora and sang in court to praise the kings, and in the villages
to carry news and to celebrate traditional ceremonies. The music is intricate, elegant, and
potent. It is sweet while strong, percussive while lyrical, active while calm. Centuries of complex
tradition are heard in it, as are simple truths.

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

Navarrette Music Productions.

SunJams is committed to funding children's music education in underserved public elementary
schools. Your donation will help support this ongoing 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 SunJams 501(c)3 may qualify as tax
exempt.
Javier Navarrette Music Productions 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 few years Navarrette has produced outdoors
events that have proven instrumental in enabling musicians to deal with some of the fallout of
the pandemic and shutdown that followed.

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/reservations 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.

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.

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 ( launched in April 2022) 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.

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.