Eclectic Fever 2009: New Year's Eve Masquerade

The Bay Area’s best comes to life at this can’t-miss event celebrating all that makes San Francisco the best place to live, work, and play. Proceeds will benefit House of Hope School in Uganda, East Africa.

Each year, New Year’s Eve parties wash away the old and bring in the new. This year, that time-honored tradition has taken on a larger significance, with the historic election of Barack Obama as 44th President of the United States.

With the entire world still buzzing over Obama’s ascendancy, multiculturalism isn’t just an ideal anymore – it’s the wave of the future. And what better way to celebrate this evolutionary step in global consciousness than a multicultural New Years Extravaganza?

Held at San Francisco’s Giftcenter Pavilion on December 31, Eclectic Fever’s multicultural lineup offers a wealth of global sounds for just one reasonably-priced cover charge: Afrobeat, Afrofunk, Afropop, and Nu-Afrikan grooves (Sila and the AfroFunk Experience); sweaty Afo-Brazilian funk, provocative and boundary-busting Samba grooves (Sambada); 70's funk and soul legend (Darondo); nuclear-powered life force and phenomenal vocal, melodic and rhythmic abilities (Nino Moschella), The contemporary Indian music and dance (Nonstop Bhangra Collective); beat box maestro (RadioActive); wildly energetic Brazilian dance ( Sambamora Dance Company); seductive belly dance (Rasa Vitalia); and the latest in international electronic sounds and world music classics (DJ Jeremiah and Afrobeat Nation).

Let your hangover - not apathy - be the only thing you regret in the morning.

ECLECTIC FEVER LINE-UP & PRESS REVIEWS

1. SILA AND THE AFROFUNK EXPERIENCE

(Afrobeat, Afrofunk, Funk, Reggae, Soul)

Funk Artist of the Year - Los Angeles Music Awards

Africa's James Brown - Oakland Post

Mixing the legendary sounds of Fela Kuti with some tricks gleaned from James Brown and P-Funk, Sila (who sings in Swahili and English) and company create a dancefloor-ready throb guaranteed to move you. - San Francisco Weekly

Kenyan funk master - San Francisco Chronicle

Guaranteed to keep you glued to the dance floor- San Francisco Bay Guardian

Bay Area dance kings Sila and the Afrofunk Experience combine an international vision with dazzling musicianship. Frontman Victor Sila rivets audiences with a combination of James Brown's punchy grooves and Fela Kuti's relentless West African swing. - East Bay Express

2. SAMBADA
(Samba, Afro-Brazilian Funk)

SambaDá is one of the hottest emerging groups on the West Coast music scene, with their mixture of hard hitting dance music and exceptional live show earning them main stage slots at most of the major California music festivals this year. While Brazilin natives Papiba Godinho and Dandha da Hora bring their profound knowledge and respect for the roots of afro-brazilian song and dance, the entire band has developed a type of samba-reggae-funk with a universal appeal. SambaDá musically unites the Americas, drawing from percussion based styles of South and Central America, and blends it with that good old funk and reggae back beat so familiar to crowds of North America.

3. DARONDO
(70's Funk and Soul Legend.)

Darondo records are high on the wants-lists of many collectors. Back in the day he was seen cruising around town in a white Rolls Royce and could have been the next Al Green or Sly Stone. But about 25 years ago Darondo disappeared. Until now…

"I feel compelled to spread his name, even if it's 25 years late, because it's too good to stay in hiding...The next time you go to a party, hit the DJ up with a CD-R of "Legs". When the whole place explodes in a frenzy, and the last plume of smoke has billowed off the dance floor, take your melted disc back and tell them Darondo sent you to put dynamite in the people's quarry."
- John Mayer

“Sexy, earthy funk... formidable tracks. Four stars.”
- Rolling Stone


“An unearthed testament to an artist whose work stands with that of Brown, Al Green and Sly Stone in terms of sheer funkiness”
- Ice

"A street savvy Al Green"
- Unleashed Magazine

4. NINO MOSCHELLA
(Funk and Soul)

"One to watch...Essential."
- CMJ New Music Monthly

"One of the albums that I've been digging in a big way is this! Absolutely superb...absolutely classic!"
- Gilles Peterson (BBC Radio 1, Worldwide)

“Simply put, The Fix is one of the best albums of the year. Period.”
- About R&B

"This is next level shit."
- Straight No Chaser (London)

"Propulsive debut...thumps with hard-hitting drums, bluesy guitars and funky ass bass lines"
- Vibe Magazine

"It's such an assured, confident set that you'd think the Italian-American newcomer had been at it for years..."
- I-DJ

"An astonishing work due to Moschella's nuclear-powered life force and phenomenal vocal, melodic and rhythmic abilities."
- The Stranger (Seattle Weekly)

5. NON-STOP BANGRA
(Bhangra, Dholrhythms Dance Troupe.)

Voted Top 5 Global Nights, SF Bay Guardian, 2005
Voted Top 20 Favorite far-out dance floor destinations, SF Bay Guardian, 2006

6. RadioActive
(HipHop)

7. DJ JEREMIAH AND THE AFROFBEAT NATION
(Afrobeat, Brazillian, Afro-house, Middle Eastern, Funk)

DJ Jeremiah and his Afrobeat Nation, who provide live trumpet and percussion while Liberia-born DJ Jeremiah spins funk by the likes of James Brown as well as Afrobeat stars like Fela Kuti, infusing orchestral jazz and African tribal chants into the mix. - San Francisco Chronicle

 
8. SAMBADAMORA DANCE COMPANY
(Brazilian Samba dancers)

9. RASA VITALIA
(Tribal Belly Dancer)