Wednesday, April 10, 2024, 6-8:30 PM will continue our music series held at El Cerrito Natural Grocery Company Prepared Food Annex (The Annex) - “The Annex Sessions"

Maestro Jorge Alabê & Friends

Maestro Jorge Alabê – surdo, vocals and persussion
Catia Machado-Lund – vocals and percussion
Brian Moran – cavaquinho and vocals
Abel Damasceno – percussion
Brian Rice – pandeiro

Samba Pagode! Beautiful, danceable, sing along and feel-good!

World-class Brazilian percussionist Jorge Alabê brings the rich musical culture of Brazil to the
U.S. as a performing artist and master teacher.
His deep history and skill developed as he grew up playing Afro-Brazilian and samba rhythms in
Rio de Janeiro, and took him around the world as director of percussion with the legendary
performing company Oba Oba. Jorge is an acknowledged percussion master, and a popular and
dedicated performer and teacher now based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Maestro Jorge Alabê
Master drummer Jorge Alabê grew up in Rio de Janeiro immersed in the rich musical culture of
Brazil, becoming a master in samba percussion as well as in the Afro-Brazilian religious tradition
of candomblé. He is an “Alabê” connected with the oldest candomblé house established in
Brazil, Casa Branca; the title of “Alabê” means that he has obtained the highest level in
drumming and leading of rituals in the candomblé religion and signifies deep experience and
authority. Jorge played percussion with the highest level samba groups in Rio and was the
rhythm director of Minas Gerais Samba School in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. He has performed in
recordings with Brazilian stars Milton Nascimento and Martinho da Vila and appeared on Globo
TV in Brazil during 1978–1980 on the entertainment program Brasil Pandeiro.
He went on to become percussion director of the internationally known Brazilian performing
group Oba Oba in 1980. During 15 years working with Oba Oba, Jorge toured with the group
through Europe, Asia, South America, and the United States, including three runs at the
Marquis Theater on Broadway in New York. Since 1993, Jorge has conducted workshops on
samba and candomblé in the U.S.
Jorge moved to New Orleans in 1996, where he presented a series of workshops on traditional
Afro-Brazilian religious drumming and dance, gave workshops in Brazilian rhythms at local
universities (Tulane, Loyola, Southern universities, and various elementary schools), and
worked with community organizations during Black History month. During his time in New
Orleans, he worked closely with the cultural group Casa Samba, under the direction of Curtis
Pierre, and built the musical and performance skills of the group, including artistic direction of
their yearly participation in Mardi Gras and the New Orleans Jazz Festival and their
performances throughout the year. In addition, he worked on the development of an after-
school cultural arts program at Eden Park Elementary School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and for
four years, 1995–1999, taught Afro-Brazilian culture for the New Orleans Recreation
Department’s Teen Camp summer program, with Young Audiences, and was honored by the
mayor of New Orleans for his contributions.
Since moving to the U.S., Jorge has given frequent workshops at schools and universities, and
with student groups around the country, including New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Washington
DC, Chicago, San Francisco, San Diego, Portland, Seattle, Austin, and San Antonio. In 2005, he
taught for the fall semester as a visiting artist in the Department of Music at the University of
Richmond. He has been the samba director of California Brazil Camp since 1997. Currently,
Jorge is based in the San Francisco area and directs the samba group Grupo Samba Rio. He is
developing musical and educational projects locally, while continuing to travel throughout the
U.S. to perform and conduct workshops.

https://www.jorgealabe.com/ind...

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.