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Zimbabwe’s lively and highly percussive Bongo Love formed in 2001, when its members were still in their teens. Blending the traditional and popular music the quartet grew up on with world sounds they love, Bongo Love calls its unique style “Afrocoustics,” which is also the title of its first CD. Bongo Love uses acoustic, mostly percussion-oriented instruments that also produce melody (including mbira and marimba), along with bongos, various African drums, and voices to create its music.

Bike Night is back! This first-Friday-of-the-month series is an Ashkenaz-style celebration of all things bicyclical: an “unbridled dance orgy,” a Sunset Bike Cruise from Sproul Plaza, and a door discount for those who leave the car at home and instead roll to the Naz on their two-wheeled thing. Strap your dancing shoes to your bike rack and cruise to I Like My Bike Night #3 for the diverse lineup in store:

Titanium Sporkestra from Seattle will swing through on their West Coast tour, bringing their rolling percussive thunder and anarchic energy with them. Fans of Loyd Family Players, Extra Action Marching Band, and all-out body-rocking percussion will love this ensemble of 8. “Feel free to surround us, feel free to dance, feel free to take your clothes off...” www.myspace.com/titaniumsporkestra

Fresh from the San Francisco Bicycle Music Festival on June 20 (www.bicyclemusicfestival.com), Justin Ancheta, StitchCraft, and Cello Joe are bicycle and walking touring acts – Ancheta and StitchCraft based here in the Bay Area; Cello Joe in Santa Cruz. Ancheta and his band play reggae-flavored indie rock, funk, and jazz. His songs are compelling, his voice powerful, and his delivery heartfelt. You’ll be humming at least one of his tunes as you pedal home. www.justinancheta.com

Formerly spinning the twisted kite tales of StitchCraft, Heather Normandale opens up a world of what lies beneath the mossy stones of our emotional oceanic experiences and tries to make sense of it all, or at least make something pretty (YES! Mud sculptures for a ladybug colony!!). With her various stringed instruments acting as ships, she hopes to sail in and float on that water stuck in your ear and leave you feeling a new sense of balance. www.stitchcraftmusic.com

Cello Joe is simply the wildest beatboxin’ cellist in the west! He plays classical hip-hop and funky folk, spreading joy, mirth, and positive vibrations. He is the world’s first long distance bicycle touring cellist and has cycled from Lake Tahoe to Guadalajara, Mexico. Beatboxing + cello = awesome! www.myspace.com/cellojoe

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Master of the kora (African harp), Senegal’s Youssoupha Sidibe has taken his West African music into a number of realms, collaborating with an array of non-African artists and receiving praise and acclaim for his talents. Sidibe began his music career more than 20 years ago, studying kora at the National Music Conservatory in Senegal. He combined the lilting, angelic sounds of the kora with the Sufi chanting of the Senegalese Baay Faal community. Sidibe’s “Sacred Sound” approach to music is presented not only as a link to the ancient griot tradition of his homeland, but also as relevant for today’s world.

Tonight, Sidibe performs in a trio with drums and bass, floating his beautiful kora solos and deeply soulful vocals over the Mystic Rhythms Band’s high-energy, trance-inducing dance grooves. The show is a benefit for the Seva Foundation, the Berkeley-based world doctors’ nonprofit.

Sidibe has been booked at prominent festivals and venues such as the world’s largest music festival, Music Fest; the African Festival of the Arts in Chicago, the world’s largest African festival; the main stage of Reggae Rising; Earthdance; the Sierra Nevada World Music Festival; and the Warfield Theatre. His kora artistry was featured on Jewish reggae star Matisyahu’s hit CD, “Youth,” which was nominated for a 2007 Grammy Award. He has also collaborated with such diverse artists as Spearhead’s Michael Franti, bluegrass-fusion banjo ace Bela Fleck, singer India.Arie, and Vaughn Benjamin from Midnite, the immensely popular St. Croix reggae band, which recently released Youssoupha Sidibe and Midnite’s “For All.”

Seva (Sanskrit for “service”) was started in 1978 by concerned doctors whose mission for more than 30 years has been to alleviate suffering caused by disease and poverty, with projects that range from blindness prevention and sight restoration in Asia and North Africa to working with indigenous peoples in the Americas on health and social justice issues. Longtime Seva advisory board member Bob Weir (Grateful Dead, Ratdog) says, “Their programs are miraculously well-conceived and their personnel are the best I’ve met.” www.seva.org

This regular event at Ashkenaz presents flamenco “in an intimate, cabaret setting, as it should be seen,” with a costume exhibit and sale of flamenco items. Tonight’s featured performers are dancer Yaelisa, guitarist Jason McGuire “El Rubio,” singer Felix de Lola, and dancer Melissa Cruz. Bring your kids, your palmas, and your dance shoes and join them onstage for Open Stage Juerga and Sevillanas! Yaelisa’s young students Las Flamenquitas also make a special appearance.

A Bay Area treasure, Yaelisa has captured the attention of critics around the world. The Los Angeles Times called her a “luminary” among flamenco dancers for her extraordinary rhythmic ability, which radiates pure emotion infused with sensuality. Raised by her Spanish mother, also a flamenco performer, Yaelisa was surrounded from birth by the rhythms, gestures, and vocal laments of the art in its purest form. Her artistic training has come from some of the great Spanish masters, including Ciro, Manolo Marin, Jose Galvan, and El Guito. Her mission is to present flamenco dance with a contemporary approach that echoes the “nuevo flamenco” movement happening in Spain today.

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One of those great vocal trios that came out of Jamaica (Culture, the Wailers, Wailing Souls, Mighty Diamonds), the Itals (Rastafarian for “pure and natural”) put their Rasta-drenched lyrics into smooth harmonies atop some of the deepest rhythm grooves beginning in 1975. Over the decades the personnel changed, the sound was sometimes modified to accommodate drum machines and other studio gimmicks, but the vocal sound remained supreme. Still propelled by original lead singer and chief songwriter Keith Porter – now reunited with fellow founding member Ronnie Davis, plus longtime Ital David Isaacs – the Itals keep roots reggae alive, filling their songs with conscious lyrics. From their early single, “In a Dis Ya Time” (which Keith Richards calls “the perfect reggae track”) through other hits such as “Don’t Wake the Lion” and “Time Will Tell,” the group has recorded and toured periodically. The most recent CD, 2003’s “Mi Livity,” inspired one reviewer to proclaim, “This is good, old-fashioned throwback roots material from Keith Porter, who sounds as good today as he did 30 years ago.”

Revival Sound System is a San Francisco-based DJ crew spinning original 45s of the finest in vintage Jamaican ska, rocksteady, and reggae from the ’60s and early ’70s.

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For Santa Cruz-based SambaDá, founded in 1997 by native Brazilian Papiba Godinho, every night is Carnaval. The ultimate goal isn’t just to preserve traditions the musicians are so well-versed in – including samba, bossa nova, pagode, samba reggae, batucada, and forro – but to get everyone dancing to the band’s infectious blend of Brazilian roots and other North and South American styles such as funk, reggae, jazz, rock, and hip-hop. The pulsating percussion, uplifting vocals, and rich melodies of SambaDá give it a distinctive sound, heard in both popular and original songs.

Tambores Remelexo combine Brazilian Carnival vibes with hip-hop, Afrobeat, and reggae in high-energy dance and party music, inspired by the booty beats indigenous to Rio’s favelas.

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The Bay Area’s leader in the World Beat and Afrobeat scene, Kotoja was created by Nigerian singer-bassist Babá Ken Okulolo and features bandmembers from West Africa and America playing a bubbling brew of African highlife, juju, jazz, and world dance rhythms with driving guitars, riffing horns, and persuasive percussion. New York clothier Dan Storper was so moved by a Kotoja concert in Golden Gate Park 15 years back that he started the popular Putumayo record company, whose many releases (including the most recent Kotoja CD, “Super Sawale”) offer positive, uplifting music from around the world in the spirit of Kotoja. “We see the world as one family,” Okulolo says of Kotoja’s style. “Our music expresses this message.”

Community Roots is billed as “A Collective Event for Community Activation, Empowerment, and Celebration.” Using the Ashkenaz space to bring the community together, it’s also a multimedia experience with live music and live art: musicians performing onstage while visual artists, inspired by the music, paint live art on the spot. Local and sustainable vendors’ wares and organic food are available, as well as booths for local organizations and hands-on projects for children.

Latin hip-hop ensemble Thank You Julius has been making waves in the underground hip-hop art scene. It combines electronic and live instrumentation with creative lyricism and heavy rhythm. Able Monk & the Perfarmers blend virtuosic vocals with world-infused rhythms, creating conscious music to dance to. Vocal artist Reason creates a hybrid style bridging hip-hop, reggae, and dub on songs drenched in socially and spiritually conscious lyricism.

With a new CD, “Poetic Evidence,” featuring such guests as KRS-One and Killah Priest, illtext puts elevated lyrics to hip-hop beats. Born in Boston and raised in New York, illtext has been a rapper-producer for the past 12 years. He is deeply rooted in the Bay Area scene and is part of the Survivalist Project. www.myspace.com/illtext

Singer-activist Renée Asteria blends reggae rock with a Latin touch. She sings in English and Spanish, offering creative melodies and socially charged themes that are relevant to all. Asteria has sung with Pacific Vibrations and Spiritual Reggae Band and is a member of the Andean folk-rock band Quinoa Groove; over the past year she has worked regularly with Berkeley’s 7th Street Sound, a hard-hitting, dedicated roots reggae band. www.myspace.com/reneeasteria

One of Northern California’s main Cajun/Zydeco bands over the past decade, the women-led Tee Fee Swamp Boogie has a reputation for playing infectious, happy swamp boogie and blues dance music that mixes as much highly charged electric blues as Cajun roots into its shows, and tops it off with rich vocal harmonies. The East Bay’s major outdoor concert producer Russ Jennings explains, “Their music is just hip enough, and just traditional enough, to keep the gray hairs and the green hairs up and dancing all night long.”

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One of the first and greatest of Jamaica’s reggae harmony trios (along with the Wailers), the Mighty Diamonds came together in 1969 with Donald “Tabby” Shaw, Fitzroy “Bunny” Simpson, and Lloyd “Judge” Ferguson, and are singing together four decades later. Combining their Rastafarianism with catchy melodies over the then-emerging rhythms of reggae, the Mighty Diamonds scored hit singles including “Country Living” and “Hey Girl,” and their classic reggae hit, “Pass the Kouchie,” spread to the rest of the world with a little lyric rewriting when Musical Youth redid it as “Pass the Dutchie.” They have recorded more than 40 albums since their 1976 debut LP, “Right Time,” including their reggae classic “Deeper Roots” in 1979 and their most recent release from 2006, “Thugs in the Streets.” The Mighty Diamonds’ shows highlight their close-harmony singing on such hits as “I Need a Roof” and “Go Seek Your Rights.”

Roots reggae band Yellow Wall Dub Squad features some of the music’s best players, who have worked in Jamaica’s recording studios beginning in the 1970s. The group features bassist Stevie Love, drummer Alton “Sandrum” Vanhorn, and American keyboardist Steve Hoffman.

From St. Ann, Jamaica, singer, guitarist and bass player Itawe has been Sugar Minott’s bandleader for ten years, a member of Mystic Revelation of Rastafari, and currently is in Everton Blender’s band. His own music emphasizes his guitar playing and songs of human rights and social justice. www.myspace.com/itawe

King David brings reggae, dancehall, and soca to his original conscious music, including the 2007 award-winner “Give Tanks for Life.” www.myspace.com/kingdavidthetruth07

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Two years ago String Cheese Incident’s Michael Kang (mandolin, violin, guitar) joined Chris Berry’s world fusion band Panjea at Ashkenaz for an ecstatic late night of free-flying global fusion jamming. That collaboration has evolved, and tonight Berry’s band CB3 (Chris Berry Trio) is a quartet, with Kang and the rhythm section from the popular, 2009 Grammy-nominated electronic dance band Brazilian Girls. Fast-rising Bay Area group High Heat, featuring Sean Hodge, opens the evening.

Chris Berry has sold more than one million albums in Southern Africa, where he is a star, and where his Zimbabwean band headlined huge concerts until that country’s increasing strife forced Berry to return to the United States. Over the past few years Berry has worked to build community through his world-rooted music, focused on his electrified mbira (Zimbabwean thumb piano) as well as his singing and percussion playing. On this summer tour, CB3 has expanded with like-minded musicians. Playing what could loosely be labeled “Afro-dub meets reggae and jam band music,” CB3 features Berry and Kang along with Brazilian Girls’ drummer Aaron Johnston and bassist Jesse Murphy.

Chris Berry’s life is unusual, to say the least. Growing up a rock-loving Sebastopol kid, his discovery of a Fela Kuti cassette eventually led to 10 years of studying and living in Zimbabwe, mastering the mbira and creating his band Panjea. He was the first non-Zimbabwean ever to be given the title of Gwenaymbira or “one whose music summons the spirits.” Berry’s CB3 is occasionally a trio, but more often is a rotating cast of committed musicians, often playing the main stages of the biggest festivals from High Sierra to Bonnaroo. www.myspace.com/chrisberrytrio

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Long an Ashkenaz audience favorite, Indian-Pakistani Qawwali-fusion singer Sukhawat Ali Khan returns with his new band, Ji, an exciting Indian-Bhangra-dance band with African-influenced rhythms. Singing and playing harmonium (single keyboard with hand-pumped bellows), Khan puts his mesmerizing performance style into a new setting where the rhythmic factor is amped even higher than before.

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Violinist-fiddler-composer and singer Tom “Rigo” Rigney’s East Bay quintet Flambeau plays traditional Cajun and zydeco two-steps and waltzes, along with low-down blues and New Orleans R&B. What sets the band apart is Rigney’s fresh musical takes on Cajun and zydeco, and other styles he loves to play from rock to classical, creating a Cajun/Zydeco celebration of life through dance. The tight ensemble of virtuoso musicians – which also includes guitarist Danny Caron, keyboardist Caroline Dahl, bassist Steve Parks, and drummer Brent Rampone – plays mostly original material, highlighting Rigney’s arrangements.

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Malian kora (African harp) master Madou Sidiki Diabate presents a night of traditional West African music that dates back centuries. While relatives – his famous older brother Toumani Diabate and his cousin Mamadou Diabate – and others often put the kora into world fusion trappings, Madou Sidiki Diabate champions the kora’s traditional roots. Toumani Diabate (the world’s first Grammy Award-winning kora player) said of Madou’s 2007 solo kora CD, “Mariam,” “‘Mariam’ is the best solo kora album to date. I listen to it all the time and I am so pleased that my brother has chosen to record this traditional music in a time when so many African musicians are moving in a more modern direction.”

Born in 1982 to a prominent djeli (griot) family of Bamako, Mali, Mamadou, widely known as “Madou,” is the youngest son of the late Sidiki Diabaté and Mariam Kouyaté. His father, Sidiki Diabaté, “The King of the Kora,” used his talents as a djeli to effect social change in the country in the years between World War II and the Malian independence of 1961. Madou began playing kora at age three and became the 71st generation of koraists in his family. From Sidiki, Madou learned the repertoire, technique, and magic of the kora. He developed as a djeli through the years by accompanying his parents as they traveled and performed. At the age of six he played his first concert, and in 1992 he became the youngest ever to perform solo kora on Malian television. Since 1997, Madou has filled his brother Toumani’s former position as lead kora for some of the best singers and musicians in West Africa, including Kandia Kouyaté, Ami Koita, Baaba Maal, Salif Keita, Sekouba “Bambino” Diabaté, and many others. He has performed at over 1000 concerts and more than 40 festivals throughout Africa, North America, Europe, and Australia.

Tri Tip Trio is steeped in Louisiana and New Orleans zydeco and swamp blues. Although little more than three years old, the band comes with a vision and well over a decade of its members playing together. The Tri Tip Trio concept is based on Clifton and Cleveland Chenier’s early zydeco/blues dance hall sounds. Lloyd Meadows’ propulsive washboard and harmonica and soulful vocals, along with Bruce Gordon’s pumping accordion and Tyler Eng’s rock-solid drumming, are all Tri Tip Trio needs to capture raw and exciting sounds for both dancers and listeners. The three musical musketeers play classic zydeco, blues, and New Orleans funk as well as band originals. They also like to integrate cover tunes that were never originally zydeco songs into their sound. The group’s debut CD, “3 of a Kind,” is a tribute to “King of Zydeco” Clifton Chenier and includes a cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Miss You” alongside original and traditional tunes.

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Prezident Brown is the reigning Jamaican reggae M.C., a champion of the new roots and reality consciousness. At tonight’s CD release party he is backed by his Solid Foundation Band, and Andrew Diamond opens. Prezident Brown’s message is pure Rasta conscious vibes. He is an artist driven by a sense of mission and purpose that, he likes to say, “edutains” (heightens the consciousness of a people) as much as entertains.

Born Fitz Albert Cotterell, Prezident Brown grew up in the green hills of Clarendon, Jamaica. As “Junior Ranking,” a name his mother gave him, he would grab the microphone and chant away at schoolyards and country dances. As a teenager, he was known as “Slim Brown,” before becoming Prezident Brown. Discovered by reggae producer Jack Ruby, he became one of the hottest sound system stars, recording for a number of record companies, and in the ’90s his songs began to supplant the guns and self-hype lyrics then popular in the dance halls. Collaborations included appearing on Steel Pulse’s “Black and Proud.” www.jahmanipro.com

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Led by Kenyan native Victor Sila Mutungi, who has been called a “Kenyan funk master” (San Francisco Chronicle) and “Africa’s James Brown” (Oakland Post), Sila & the Afrofunk Experience draw inspiration from Nigerian Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti while distinguishing themselves by incorporating African genres such as zouk and soukous, as well as the music of Western artists including Sly Stone and Funkadelic. Tonight the San Francisco-based ensemble celebrates the recent release of its second CD, “Black President,” inspired by the historic election of the first African-American U.S. president.

Barack Obama, James Brown, and Fela Kuti offer an iconic trinity of musical, cultural, political and ideological influences on “Black President.” Like Kuti, Sila connects personal issues with larger social and political ideas, and echoes of classic Afrobeat are evident in the Afrofunk Experience’s call-and response choruses, highly syncopated percussion, blazing horns, and incessant grooves. Brown’s inspiration can be heard in Sila’s shrieks and screams as well as the band’s punchy horns, chicken-scratch guitar, and funky bass lines. In the title track, the band chugs along with a locomotive-like groove while Sila riffs on the imperative for change which swept Obama to victory. Other emotionally charged songs address the global AIDS epidemic, neo-colonialism and political corruption, tribalism in African society, and warmongering among Western nations, and explore influences from kinky reggae to Latin-tinged rhythms to Motown-y pop/soul stylings. “My goal on the album was to reach out to the younger generation, who have never heard of Baaba Maal or Youssou N’Dour,” Sila explains. “I want to make African music hip to young people.”

Growing up in poverty in a small Kenyan village, the young Sila loved music and singing, both traditional African songs and hits from artists such as Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles, Otis Redding, and James Brown. The power of the Western stars captivated Sila even over the faint signal of a shortwave radio. Inspired, Sila left Africa and moved to Washington, D.C., to pursue a career as an R&B singer. After relocating to San Francisco, he began reconnecting with his African musical roots. In 2003 he assembled the AfroFunk Experience to play his highly charged style, heavy on the funk, with lots of guitar and horns backing his vocals delivered in Swahili and English. The band’s current lineup consists of tenor saxophonist David Boyce (a founder of Afro-futurist jazz ensemble the Broun Fellinis), bassist Wendell Rand, guitarists Ken House and David James, drummer Bennie Murray, trumpeter Mike Pitre, trombonist Andre Webb, and master African percussionists Karamba Kouyate (from Guinea) and Samba Guisse (from Senegal).

Since arriving in the Bay Area, Liberian native DJ Jeremiah has been making a commotion, both musically and politically. Jeremiah’s experiences as a refugee inform his in-your-face lyrics, which are delivered over a mix of hip-hop beats, jazz-inspired tunes, and funk music. He is often accompanied by live trumpet and percussion, while he 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. www.afrofunk.org/jeremiah.html

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With revivalist zeal, the Stompy Jones band doesn’t just recreate, but breathes new life into the most jumping, rocking, and swinging small band music of the ’30s, ’40s, and ’50s. It has performed everywhere from San Francisco’s Top of the Mark to Disneyland. Big band leader Les Brown said that the sextet has “the best small band sound that I’ve heard in years.” The group, originally known as the Swing Session Band, was formed in 1998 to play East Coast Swing and Lindy Hop. In 2007 it released “That’s Alright,” its fourth CD (and second under the name Stompy Jones). Songs come from the various recordings, featuring rousing revivals of classics by Louis Jordan, Earl Hines, Fletcher Henderson, Louis Prima, Roy Milton, and John Kirby as well as several band originals.

Would you like to be a part of building Ashkenaz’s future? All are cordially invited to tonight’s mixer in the Back Studio to meet Ashkenaz’s Board of Directors and each other, to learn about Board membership, and to hear about our current work... while enjoying food and drink, and of course a bit of music and dance.

As a nonprofit organization, Ashkenaz is governed by a Board of dedicated volunteers. The Board is currently seeking committed, qualified community members with a passion for Ashkenaz to help build our future! The Board’s role is to provide governance, establish policy, work to bring in needed financial resources, and create the vision for the future of Ashkenaz.

There’s a new generation of exciting rock talent coming out of Berkeley. Tonight Ashkenaz showcases three young bands who emphasize songs with irresistible melodies and arrangements, deeply personal lyrics, and tight instrumental backing.

Finalists in the 2008 Bay Area High School Battle of the Bands, the thirstbusters return to Ashkenaz to celebrate the release of their CD. They play with melodic verve, ranging in style from Coltrane to Coldplay. Formed by members of the Berkeley High Jazz Ensemble – keyboardist and singer Zach Sorgen, guitarist Ryan Thomas, drummer Forrest Mitchell, and bassist-vibist Chase Jackson – the band blends rock, pop, experimental, fusion, and jazz. www.myspace.com/thirstbusters

Berkeley’s Gracie Coates Band offers a refreshingly young, modern look at the singer-songwriter genre. Daughter of Bay Area theater innovator George Coates, alternative singer-songwriter and keyboardist Gracie Coates has been compared to Norah Jones and Fiona Apple, but given her family history, it’s no surprise that she’s doing music that is adventurous and deeply personal. She has been performing since she was 4 years old, appearing in multimedia theater (Nowhere Band) music videos (“Twisted Truths”) and writing and recording her original songs. Her band features Rachel Ruggles on violin. www.myspace.com/graciecoates

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Led by Nigerian singer and multi-instrumentalist Danjuma Adamu, the band Danjuma & Onola features musicians from three continents, playing a churning blend of Afrobeat, Afro-Latin, Afrofunk, and Highlife. They intersperse classic Fela Kuti tunes (Adamu played with Kuti in the early years of his career) with dozens of original compositions. In addition to Adamu, Onola includes Italian drummer-singer Renato Enahena Annicchiarico, Mexican rhythm guitarist Bruno Proal, and Americans drummer Mike Shannon, guitarist-keyboardist Daniel Thomas, and bassist Derek Negron. www.myspace.com/danjumaonola