Wanda's Picks

We open with a prerecorded interview with Bassekou Koyate, Ngoni Ba, re: "I Speak Fula," and his performance Thursday, March 18, 2010, 8 PM at Slims in San Francisco. DJ Said, Fat Souls opens. The interview is in French. (Yuna N'gal is the translator.) Sister Mona is in the studio live speaking about her business: http://ndotouzima.com/home. She is having an opening celebration Saturday, March 20, 2010, 3116 Adeline #111, Oakland, CA. RSVP (510) 547- 4829 for appointments. Hours are 10 AM to 10 PM. The reception is free. Contact her at: ndotouzima@yahoo.com We close with an interview with Sarah Crowell, Destiny Arts upcoming season, March 19-27 with the debut of "Asylum," at Laney College Theatre in Oakland. Visit http://www.destinyarts.org/index.html Sarah Crowell has been at Destiny Arts Center since 1990 as a dance teacher, artistic director, workshop facilitator and program development director, and served as the organization’s executive director from 2002-2007. Sarah has been a dancer and an arts educator for over 20 years.She has taught dance, theater and violence prevention to youth all over the Bay Area, in schools and community centers since 1990. Music today is from Bassekou Koyate & N'Goni Ba's "I Speak Fula," and Babatunde Lea's tribute to one of his most influential mentors, the legendary jazz vocalist and composer Leon Thomas. The idea for the project, titled UMBO WETI after the yodeling singing style of the Twa People of central Africa which influenced Thomas’ signature sound, came to Lea shortly after the singer passed in 1999 and has taken nearly a decade to bring to reality. Lea’s ten- year labor of love reaches powerful fruition on UMBO WETI, which features a stellar and inspired band of improvisers – Dwight Trible (vocals), Ernie Watts (tenor sax), Gary Brown (bass), Patrice Rushen (piano) – performing the songs of Thomas and others led with passionate fire by Lea on drums and percussion. They perform tonight, 8 PM at Yoshi's San Francisco.