Wanda's Picks Special Edition

Special guests are Keith Terry and his dance partner Evie Ladin, who will speak about the "Second Annual International Body Music Festival," December 1-6, 2009. If you have ever gone on an obsessive search of a sound or song whose name and origin you didn’t know, you might relate to Keith Terry, the director of the International Body Music Festival, which returns for its second year to the San Francisco Bay Area early December in multiple Bay Area venues. In fact, Keith's obsession runs so deep that last year he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, the first to go to a body musician, someone who makes music purely with their body. This year the Festival director has tracked down human beatboxers, a flamenco duo, a highly rhythmic Cuban a capella group, Peruvian zapateo, and a sound Terry has heard for years and will spotlight. The festival also features Kenny Muhammad, a.k.a. The Human Orchestra, is known for emphasizing complex polyrhythms, non-percussive sounds, and a breathing “wind technique.” The beatboxer will share a bill with Cuba’s Vocal Sampling on Dec. 5, at the Freight & Savage in Berkeley, CA. The six-man ensemble from Havana will be among the first wave of Cuban artists to tour the U.S. since a performance embargo took effect in the wake of the Buena Vista Social Club. Max Pollak, a soloist, performs what he calls RumbaTap, a form that combines foot-driven percussion with the organic flow of Afro-Cuban rumba; Rashidi Omari, a young Bay Area dancer who specializes in hip-hop contemporary dance, an expression derived from local Oakland culture marked by high energy and a frenetic pace. The Prescott Clowns, an Oakland youth performance group led by hambone artist Derique McGee, along with a student performance group from the San Francisco School, led by Sofia Ibor Lopez perform. Step Afrika! stepping, gumboot, out of Washington, DC, performs Saturday, Dec. 6, 8 PM at the Herbst Theatre, in San Francisco. Visit http://www.crosspulse.com/html/aboutkt.html