Berkeley World Music Festival

What a fool I was! I lived in Berkeley for 19 years before attending my first Berkeley World Music Festival in 2015.
We’re talking about incredible, live talent. We’re talking inspiration and joy! We’re talking about innumerable exclamation marks in my sentences. We’re talking Celtic music! We’re talking actual Didjeridu! And we’re talking about you.
First place I went to was to the Caffe Med where Safra sang and played Mizarahi music, which is Hebrew set to Middle Eastern tunes – and people were dancing! Then I picked up a map and schedule at the info booth at Haste and went to town! At the end of the day, I topped it off with Stephen Kent’s riveting Didjeridu. All amazing!
Don’t make the mistake of missing the upcoming 2016 festival on June 11 and 12, where I’m sure they’ll turn our minds around with these genuine, magnetic human beings masquerading as mere talented artists, geniuses, and musicians!
Wander around with your friends! Meet new people. Listen and dance to fantastic music. The festival is all free, and I’ll bet this year is also going to be too good to waste!
It’s all for you!

Wonderful, family and fur-​child friendly event. Had face painting, puppet making booth, and a clown making balloon animals for children. The event had beautiful multi-​ethnic bands playing lovely music. This was a free event that all could attend no matter what socioeconomic situation you currently find yourself in. Everyone was friendly and very respectful. Good, positive vibes felt throughout.

Ok… Let’s keep this real. The Berkeley World Music Festival is your «no-​frills» alternative to the bigger street fairs like ART AND SOUL or FILLMORE JAZZ. You won’t be able to pronounce the name of the majority of the performers or the music they may be playing.
But don’t worry, it won’t matter who’s playing what since you’ll most likely be too buzzed from the contact high from all the weed smokers in People’s Park… lol
The highlight of the festival this year was the 60 minutes non-​stop funk jam performed by Bay Area legends THE AFRO-​FUNK EXPERIENCE in Amoeba Berkeley (they were only scheduled to perform for 30 minutes).
There’s not really much to say about this event. If you’re expecting crowds into the ten’s of thousands-you’re going to be disappointed. I’ve never seen the crowd get past the 500 – 800 mark in the year’s I’ve been going. For a festival confined to the spaces of People’s Park in Berkeley, it does a good job in using it space to maximum efficiency.
However, I will note one very positive aspect of the festival this year-​no naked people!

We went here after a 6-​mi walk with another friend. It was pretty good. We went on Sat 6÷7÷08 for the 5^th annual event which was from Noon-​9pm.
Since I didn’t print out the schedule I didn’t know where all the music was going to be. If u go next yr. print out a schedule which is on their website under «map/​schedule».
We get to the corner of Telegraph & Bancroft and there’s not happening there. So we wondered around and got to the People’s Park. There you can get a schedule of events.
Since we arrived late we got to see only a few things:
4:30−5:30pm Sila & the Afro Funk Experience (Africa’s James Brown) at People’s Park.
Then we saw Stephen Smith (Saxophone Jazz) @ Moe’s Books, 2476 Telegraph Ave. Nice jazz I knew some of the songs & not too loud which I liked.
Laurie Chastain «Remencier» played Celtic Rad-​trad fiddle — that was pretty nice.
Eva Scow Ensemble (Brazilian Choro-​Jazz) saw them & sat outside the Raleigh’s Pub & Grill, 2440 Telegraph — too loud for me.
Disciples of Markos (Rebetika: Old-​Time Greek Blues) — Festival finale @ The Village, 2556 Telegraph. Greek music was pretty good.
I wish could have seen Dengue Fever (Cambodian Pop) & Hombres de Tango (Argentinean Tango).
Liked: that it was FREE
Didn’t like: Many performances in stores that couldn’t handle the crowds so not everyone could see it. I think it would have been better if everything was at People’s Park or on the UC Campus.
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