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Baraka Moon brings soul-stirring transcendental Sufi trance grooves with didge and drums to the stage and dance floor. The band joins three world music masters from different countries who have devoted their lives to collaborating with like-minded musicians from other cultures: Sukhawat Ali Khan on vocals and harmonium, didgeridoo virtuoso Stephen Kent (who also plays percussion, ngoma, and bass), and Geoffrey Gordon on multiethnic drums, percussion, and chant.

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Phish plays sold-out concerts at UC Berkeley’s Greek Theatre August 5-7, and Ashkenaz is here to keep that great vibe going with more music! In the first of two Phish afterparties (tomorrow’s is strictly Americana jam band time), Oakland bands Sun Hop Fat and Ca$h Pony jam away on original material with world flavors, San Francisco trio the Cosmic Turkey Farmers serve up psychedelic rock, and Honkama DJs music between live bands.

Sun Hop Fat was conceived at the Vulcan Lofts in East Oakland. Inspired by the music of the Swinging Addis period, the group forges new arrangements of Ethiopian classics and incorporates its own compositions. Ethiopian jazz-funk-fusion of the ’70s, inspired by pioneering Ethiopian bandleader Mulatu Astatke, offers the deep funk of Fela and Afrobeat but with an exotic, hypnotic, trance-inducing jolt. Sun Hop Fat is the local leader in this exciting style, played with heavy bass, loads of drums, fuzz guitar, and great jamming horns. At any moment the band can expand with many guest friends, but the core of Sun Hop Fat is baritone saxophonist Josh Miller, tenor saxophonist Jeremy Greene, trumpeter Dan Sarnam, singer and flute player Krystal Nzoiwu, singer-percussionist Dan Silberstein, bassist Jesse Toews, keyboardist Harrison Murphy, guitarist Matt Bryan, and drummer Jared Bryan. www.myspace.com/thesunhopfat

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Two rockin’ bands rooted in Americana share the stage for the second night of Phish after-partying at Ashkenaz. Phish plays sold-out concerts at UC Berkeley’s Greek Theatre August 5-7, and Ashkenaz is here to keep that great vibe going with more music! They may take different musical directions from Phish and each other, but both Great American Taxi and the Congress fill their dance and jam music with fresh ideas and inspired musicianship, perfect for dancing the night away.

Great American Taxi’s uninhibited sound is a swinging concoction of swampy blues, progressive bluegrass, funky New Orleans strut, Southern boogie, honky-tonk country, gospel and good ol’ fashioned rock ’n’ roll. The band was born in 2005 when singer, guitarist, and mandolin player Vince Herman of Leftover Salmon joined keyboard player and singer Chad Staehly for a superstar jam to benefit the Rainforest Action Group in Boulder. “We put together a dream band of the best local musicians for a one-off gig,” Herman recalls. “It worked so well we had to do it again, and again and again.” Great American Taxi quickly evolved into one of the top jam bands in the land, masterfully blending acoustic and electric instruments into music they call “Americana without borders.” Herman says, “We’re definitely connected to all the acts in the country-rock spectrum, as well as the spirit of Gram Parsons and Woody Guthrie. We want to address the issues appropriate to our times, while making music that gets people up and moving.” Along with Herman and Staehly, GAT is Jim Lewin on electric guitar and vocals, bassist Brian Adams, and drummer Chris Sheldon.

The Congress is an exciting new band out of Denver, formed by guitarist Scott Lane and singer-guitarist Jonathan Meadows. It blends feel-good American music and authentic Southern R&B to produce a fresh rock sound, highlighted by the strength of Meadows’ tenor vocals. The group took final form in 2009 with the addition of drummer Damon Scott and bassist Dwight Thompson. The Congress's shows are a fluid amalgamation of genre-bending music that can transport a listener from the intersection of Haight-Ashbury to the buoyant bustle of the French Quarter. Its song “Back Where You Are” was chosen to air on CNN as part of a worldwide fundraising campaign to aid relief efforts for the massive earthquake in Haiti. www.thecongressmusic.com

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The acclaimed, trailblazing Pakistani classical-folk singer Riffat Sultana comes to Ashkenaz with her band for an evening of songs from her centuries-old family heritage. Blessed with one of the most hauntingly beautiful voices in any musical tradition, over the years Sultana has performed Punjabi folk, devotional Sufi songs, and classical music as well as ghazal, geet, and electronic and acoustic fusion. In tonight’s concert she is accompanied by guitarist Shiraz Ali Khan and Gurdeep Singh on tabla and dhole. Shiraz, Riffat’s husband, is a student of the Ustad Salamat Ali Khan family and has recorded and produced several albums with them.

Riffat Salamat Sultana is the first woman from her family’s musical lineage to publicly perform in the West. The daughter of Ustad Salamat Ali Khan, who was universally recognized and acclaimed as the finest Pakistani classical singer of his time, Riffat comes from a 500-year lineage of musicians hailing from the Sham Chaurasi Gharana (school of music). But growing up in Lahore, Pakistan, Riffat as a Muslim girl wasn’t allowed to learn the classical music her father and four brothers performed. On tour with her father’s band, where she was allowed to play tambura (string drone instrument), she decided to pursue singing in the West, eventually settling in the Bay Area.

A native of Southern Louisiana, accordionist and singer Andrew Carriere brings a long family tradition into his playing. His father was the legendary Creole fiddler “Bebe” Carriere, his uncle was accordionist Eraste Carriere, and cousins Chubby, Calvin, and Roy Carrier are popular in the zydeco arena. Carriere moved to the Bay Area in the ’60s, learned accordion from the late Danny Poullard, and is featured vocalist on the California Cajun Orchestra’s “Not Lonesome Anymore” CD. He performs regularly with the Creole Belles and CZ & the Bon Vivants, and more occasionally in the Cajun Classics.

Award-winning poets collaborate with an array of musicians for a night to remember in this fundraiser for the East Bay’s acclaimed poetry magazine, Poetry Flash. Legendary San Francisco Beat poet Michael McClure and Berkeley musical activist Country Joe McDonald are special guests for the evening, appearing with M.L. Liebler, the Detroit poet both have worked with in the past. Local poet Risa Kaparo works with bassist Sascha Jacobsen (well-known to Ashkenaz regulars as a member of Argentine Tango band Trio Garufa, whose CD release concert is Sep. 18 at Ashkenaz), and M.L. Liebler performs rock and blues poetry with a band including Peter Lewis of Moby Grape fame. The evening of art, fun, and refreshments helps keep Poetry Flash in print publication.

One of the five poets who took part in the historic S.F. Six Gallery Reading in 1955 (along with Allen Ginsberg), Michael McClure became one of the best-known of the “beat generation” poets; he is also is a playwright, novelist, and songwriter. He read at the 1967 Human Be-In in Golden Gate Park and at the Band’s 1976 “Last Waltz” at Winterland, among other important cultural events. McClure has collaborated with an array of musicians from Ray Manzarek of the Doors to experimental guitarist Henry Kaiser and minimalist pioneer Terry Riley. He co-wrote the song “Mercedes-Benz” with Janis Joplin. www.michael-mcclure.com

Country Joe McDonald is best-known for “Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-to-Die Rag,” one of the best-known anti-Vietnam War anthems, popularized in the film “Woodstock,” but he has a long career filled with music and support for important causes – from ecology to Vietnam vets to nurses – and regularly performs his one-man show about Woody Guthrie. www.countryjoe.com

A grand prizewinner in the 2007 John Lennon Songwriting Contest, Risa Kaparo performs selections from “Awaken,” her debut album of poetry and music. “Awaken” can be thought of as metaphor for the whole sphere of Kaparo’s creative life. “She pulls us to that passionate oscillation where body and soul become one,” says Poetry Flash. Tonight Kaparo collaborates with guest artists including Sascha Jacobsen, who has played bass with the Santa Cruz Symphony, Monterey Symphony, and Sarasota Opera as well as Trio Garufa. www.risakaparo.com

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Featuring psychedelic jams spinning out of original songs and classic covers, the Dedicated Maniacs are a group of Bay Area musicians inspired by the psychedelic cowboy and roots music of the New Riders of the Purple Sage, Grateful Dead, The Band, David Nelson Band, Willie Nelson, Gram Parsons, and more. They actively utilize their improvisational and general weirdness skills to reinterpret the classic American roots music catalog. The Dedicated Maniacs are keyboardist J.D. Smith, bassist Douglas Garay, drummer Brandon Watson, and guitarists Michael Berry and Mike Jensen. www.thededicatedmaniacs.com

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Jamaican reggae great Don Carlos traditionally draws overflow crowds to Ashkenaz, so advance ticket purchase is encouraged. A singer whose lyrical messages echo the spiritual side of the late Bob Marley, Don Carlos has led the cause of conscious reggae for more than three decades. He is backed by his regular band, Dub Vision. Born Ervin Spencer, he grew up in the impoverished Waterhouse district of Western Kingston, Jamaica, along with other future reggae greats including King Tubby, King Jammy, and Junior Reid. Carlos started popular Jamaican vocal trio Black Uhuru in 1973, then left for a solo career in the ’80s and ’90s that began with his solo album debut, “Suffering,” along the way joining a reunion of the original members of Black Uhuru in 1992. For most of his life Carlos has been an influential singer of conscious lyrics – songs of peace, love, politics, understanding, freedom – all driven by the classic reggae sounds and dance rhythms he helped popularize in such albums as “Day to Day Living” and “Them Never Know a Natty Dread.” This year he issued the latest of nearly three dozen albums, “Changes,” and is performing songs from it and throughout his career in this concert.

With original music filled with spiritual insights and teachings, Oakland’s Reggae Angels spend most of their time on the road spreading the message. Launched in 1992 by Fenton Wardle (he and Cynthia Roots are the lead vocalists), the Reggae Angels quickly gained a reputation as both the best backing band and leaders on their own. In addition to their own tours, the Reggae Angels have done a 50-city U.S. tour with Andrew Tosh and toured with and backed a who’s who of top names in reggae (Sugar Minott, Big Youth, the Abyssinians, Frankie Paul, Everton Blender, and Don Carlos, to name a few), in North and South America and Hawaii. The Reggae Angels are well-known not just for their dynamic rhythmic grooves, but also for their universal message of guidance and inspiration, with lyrics affirming wisdom, generosity, and gratitude. The Reggae Angels have their own recording studio in Oakland called The Workshop, where they help produce other artists as well as their own works. www.ReggaeAngels.com

Begun in 2002, this recurring bellydance open stage event has raised thousands of dollars for the Women’s Daytime Drop-in Center of Berkeley (www.womensdropin.org), which offers aid to the area’s homeless women and children. A typical Café Bellie features dozens of bellydancers, from beginners to veterans, who travel from as far away as Santa Cruz and Sacramento to contribute their time and talent for the cause. Some of Northern California’s top dancers have graced the stage, including Rachel Brice of the Bellydance Superstars and Shabnam Pena, Bellydancer of the Year for 2005.

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The young singer-songwriter Trevor Hall heads this talent-heavy three-band night of Southern California rock, reggae, and alternative music, mostly original. Also on the bill is rock-reggae band The B Foundation and Zutra.

Colbie Caillat says that “Trevor has one of the most beautiful voices I have ever heard.” Hall has packed a large amount of music-making into a short lifetime. His songs range from melodic rock to even more melodic reggae, with lyrics filled with aspirations and inspirations, sometimes with just acoustic guitar backing his lilting voice, and at other times with full electric band. Born in 1986 and raised in South Carolina in a family that encouraged his musical interests, he spent his high school years in Southern California’s Idyllwild School for the Arts, where he studied classical guitar and met people from around the world. “My greatest lesson there was observing how art spoke to everyone,” Hall says, “no matter what race, what faith, or what country you were from. I saw how it brought people together, and that made me feel good.” A recording contract with major label Geffen Records led only to an EP, but since 2005 he has released several albums of his own, both as CDs and downloads, and now is on Vanguard. Hall’s busy touring schedule has led to his sharing the stage with acts from the Wailers and Ziggy Marley to Caillat and Stevie Nicks. His song “Other Ways” is on the soundtrack to the film “Shrek the Third.”

Southern California’s fast-rising surf-rock-reggae band The B Foundation fits in this Ashkenaz visit during its West Coast swing with the Vans Warped Tour. Their music is upbeat and infectiously danceable, but The B Foundation’s lyrics on songs such as “Bellyfloppin’” dig into deeper life issues. Already a busy touring act, the group’s stature grew over the past year following the release of its fourth CD, “Souvenirs Novelties and Party Tricks.” The B Foundation toured Japan and will visit Europe later this year. Meanwhile, Bud Light used the song “Rincon” in its commercial for Vans Triple Crown of Surfing. The band is lead singer-guitarist Patrick Stevenson, bassist Jason Moorehead, lead guitarist Tyler Lewis, and drummer Ian McGrath. www.thebfoundation.net

Zutra was formed when five Huntington Beach high school friends got together to play music based on reggae, dub, rock, and even acoustic folk, but with an original focus. Now in college, the group’s members blend sweet vocal harmonies with extended instrumental workouts. Zutra’s first recording, “Rasta Revival,” is available from CD Baby, and the new “Acoustic Harvest” was released in July. In 2008 founding bassist Scott Davis died in a skateboarding accident, but rather than devastate the band, the tragedy gave the other members resolve to make music in his spirit. The love of creating music comes through in Zutra’s recordings and stage performances. Zutra is guitarist-singer Bert Marienthal, bassist-singer Kevin Hammond, lead guitarist Dustin Bloomberg, keyboardist Chase Livingston, and drummer Patrick Gleason. www.myspace.com/zutramusic

The original Afrofunk Experience band returns to Ashkenaz, featuring vocalist and lyricist Sandy Tili following the departure of original singer Sila. The ensemble’s bottom line has always been its award-winning instrumental funk sound. The Afrofunk Experience often opens its concerts with an intro borrowed from Fela Kuti’s “Expensive Shit,” and after that it’s all original music influenced by the whole world of funk, from Nigerian Afrobeat to Oakland’s own Tower of Power. The AFE formed six years ago and recorded two highly praised CDs featuring Victor Sila Mutungi on vocals. The group is currently at work on its first post-Sila recording, bursting with fresh original fare – “Mad Money Woes,” “Istanbul,” “Nuevo Funk,” and more. Along with Tili, the lineup, with everyone joining in the singing, is trumpeter Mike Pitre, saxophonist David Boyce, bassist Wendell Rand (who gave AFE its name), drummer Paul Oliphant, guitarist David James (a founding member of Michael Franti’s Spearhead, currently in Beth Custer Ensemble), guitarist Ken House, and percussionist Brandon Lee.

The AFE has performed at nearly every dance hall and festival in the Bay Area, from Café du Nord and the Fillmore to Outside Lands and Stern Grove, as well as major summer fests including Sierra Nevada Music Festival. Along the way it has picked up an array of awards for its soulful performances, including SF Weekly Music Awards’ Best International Act. The band’s CD with Sila, “Black President,” was named Outstanding World Music Album in the 2010 NAACP Image Awards.

Fishbear is one of a growing number of bands – like Beirut, Gogol Bordello, and Vampire Weekend – that meld genres in creative ways to give an exciting new meaning to “world” music. Formed in 2006, the young Santa Rosa-based band is rooted in musicality, an egalitarian chemistry, and openness to new forms. Elements of indie, ska, classic rock, klezmer, and jazz are at the core of Fishbear’s unique and exuberant sound. Recent performances include opening for Cake at the Fillmore in San Francisco, and an appearance at Yoshi’s in San Francisco. Fishbear is Travis Hendrix on keyboards and sax; lead guitarist Hadley Black; trumpeter Josh Jackson; bassist Gaven Hayden-Town; Sebastian Shader on trombone, mandolin, and violin; and drummer Ben Weiner. All six members sing as well. www.fishbearmusic.com

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Berkeley-based Tambores Julio Remelexo was formed in 2004 by Julio Remelexo. The Brazilian percussion ensemble features him along with lead singer Danilo Macarrao and other percussionists and instrumentalists who often dance while performing. The ensemble presents the heart of the Afro-based groups of Brazil. The music, Brazilian traditional and popular, is about the state of the world today and the hope for peace.

Born in Salvador in northeastern Brazil, Remelexo grew up with music. His mother was a singer in the legendary Ilê Aiyê, the first black Carnaval group in Brazil. By the time he was 17, Julio was a percussionist with Banda Aiyê and toured Brazil, Europe, and the U.S. with them in the ensuing years. Invited to the United States on a cultural exchange by Brasarte, Remelexo taught workshops and created a new band of women playing percussion, Grupo Julio Remelexo. The band has performed at carnivals and clubs around northern California.

Isaura Oliveira is a special guest tonight with Tambores Julio Remelexo. Born and raised in Salvador Bahia, the cradle of Afro-Brazilian culture, Oliveira is a master Brazilian dancer, choreographer, actress, and cultural educator. She has performed and taught extensively in the U.S. and Europe and was named Best Brazilian Dance Teacher 2010 in the East Bay Express. Oliveira created and produced the Festival Brasileiro of the Bay Area in 2009. www.isaurabrasil.com

Also based in Berkeley, SaravaZamba is a roots rockin’ Brazilian band that freely blends traditional Brazilian rhythms and melodies with soukous, highlife, funk, soul, Afrobeat, and reggae. The group was started with the intention of writing original music in both Portuguese and English that could heat up dancehalls without neglecting soulful songwriting. SaravaZamba is Andrew McKleroy on vocals and guitar; Leonardo Mascarenhas on vocals, guitar, and percussion; Fabio Reis on drums and guitar; bassist Brendan Neutra; Dave Eagle on congas, berimbau, and percussion; and guitarist Rob Moreno. www.myspace.com/saravazamba

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The leading Bay Area-based Berber bandleader, Moh Alileche’s music celebrates the culture he was born into – the Amazigh (pronounced AM-uh-zeer) people, also known colloquially as Berber – who were North Africa’s indigenous inhabitants for thousands of years before Islam and Arab conquest and who still make up one-third of Algeria’s population. He and his ensemble are joined by the women of Danse Maghreb (www.dansemaghreb.org), who perform authentic Berber dances in traditional costume.

Alileche grew up in the mountainous Kabylia region of northeast Algeria and began playing music as a child with a single-stringed instrument made from an aluminum can. Now he plays the mondol, a ten-string mandolin-like instrument, and sings. Since moving to the East Bay in 1990, he has shared both his music and culture, neither given much attention in mainstream America.

The Pine Leaf Boys are a new generation of Cajun musicians from Louisiana who not only grew up with the music, but live and breathe it. The five young musicians play authentic, traditional Cajun, Creole, and zydeco music while adding some updates of their own. The band has recently taken its spicy Louisiana sound to new spots including the United Arab Emirates, Israel, and the Palestinian Territories, as well as playing the International Festival in their hometown of Lafayette and New Orleans’ Jazz Fest. The Pine Leaf Boys’ 2005 debut CD, “La Musique” (on El Cerrito’s legendary Arhoolie label), was simply the freshest-sounding Cajun album to come along in years. Their next three CDs – “Blues de Musicien,” “Homage au Passé,” and “Live at New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival 2009” – were all nominated for Grammys.

The Pine Leaf Boys’ dance music includes soulful waltzes, rocking two-steps, and raunchy Creole blues. Everyone sings in French and harmonizes, and it is not uncommon to see them switch and trade off their various instruments during their shows. The variety and energy they release evolves through their shows.

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For much of the past decade the small Virgin Island of St. Croix has yielded some of the best in contemporary reggae artistry. The I Grade Family “Feel Your Presence” Tour showcases both the quality of the Virgin Islands’ major recording company (home to reggae’s top band Midnite) and some of I Grade’s roster of artists: powerhouse vocalist NiyoRah, former Soulive lead vocalist Toussaint, and guitarist-singer Tuff Lion. While Tuff Lion is well-known to the Ashkenaz audience, this is Toussaint’s debut here, and NiyoRah’s first appearance in five years.

From St. Thomas, vocalist NiyoRah (Nigel Olivacce) joined with six other reggae artists in 1998 to co-found the group Star Lion Family. The songs on his 2005 debut CD, “A Different Age,” delve into a wide range of issues, including love for nature, strengthening of all peoples, especially Africans, and spiritual growth. He has developed those themes on more recent recordings. The “Stolen Scrolls” album joins NiyoRah with DJ Child of Project Groundation Massive, drawing on the singer’s I Grade catalog to create an official “mixtape” of his songs. www.myspace.com/niyorahmusic

With a husky tenor that is the epitome of soul, and with musical influences that range from roots reggae to gospel to neo-soul to hip-hop, Toussaint carries a sound that is true to his nickname, “the Liberator.” The son of a Baptist preacher and gospel singer, he grew up singing in church in his home state, Indiana. Joining the group Soulive, he wrote the lyrics and sang lead on the group’s “No Place Like Soul” CD and toured the world in the hit band. Earlier this year Toussaint connected with I Grade Records to record the just-issued “Black Gold,” his epic album of original soul-drenched, genre-defying roots music. The CD’s first single, “Be You,” is already ringing through the airwaves worldwide, with a video filmed on location in St. Croix. www.toussaintliberator.com

Virgin Islands singer and guitarist Tuff Lion has crafted his own style and sound based on his belief that “Music is life. Life is Love. Love is Jah.” Working with such major island companies as I Grade and Mt. Nebo, he has issued recordings featuring his conscious lyrics and innovative guitarwork, including “Rootstafari” and “Know the I Self,” as well as the instrumental CD “Ten Strings” where his guitar does the talking. Tuff Lion has taken his music around the world, from Israel to Japan, Canada, Mexico, and Europe. www.tufflion.com

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From Birmingham, England, singer and toaster Pato Banton is one of the modern giants of reggae. Banton and his roots-solid Now Generation band are on a 50-city tour that runs through October, bringing his conscious and uplifting vibe to dance floors across America. In a career that included a spiritual sabbatical, he returned to the stage with renewed commitment in 2005 and comes to Ashkenaz with a long set list that includes songs from the 1980s to 2008’s “Destination Paradise” CD. Banton’s distinctive vocal approach first caught public attention through his work with the English Beat, including his 1982 duet with Ranking Roger, “Pato and Roger a Go Talk.” He made a guest appearance on UB40’s 1985 album, “Baggariddim.” The next year he issued his own album produced by Mad Professor: “Mad Professor Captures Pato Banton.” He later had a hit with his version of the Police’s “Spirits in the Material World,” and collaborated with Steel Pulse’s Justin Hinds on “Wize Up!” in 1990.

The Now Generation is drummer Tony Saenz (from Banton’s former backing band, the Mystic Roots Band), bass guitarist Mikey Ortiz, guitarist-keyboardist Daniel “D-Lop” Lopilato, singer-keyboardist “Rootsdawtah” (Antoinette Hall), and the three mighty JAH! Horns.

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Performing new music from within an ancient tradition, New Directions in Indian Classical Music presents a chamber music approach to Carnatic (South Indian classical) music. The San Francisco Foundation commissioned the ensemble in 2009 to explore the ecstatic edge of contemporary Indian Classical Music. It was created by virtuoso vocalist Gautam Tejas Ganeshan, founder-director of San Francisco’s Sangati Center for South Asian Music, home of classes and regular intimate concerts. Alongside Ganeshan are Anantha R. Krishnan on mridangam (barrel drum) and Deepa Preeti Natarajan on the tambura (drone string instrument).

The group prefers to perform in small settings and house concerts, but has also taken its music to concert venues from Berkeley’s Julia Morgan Theater and Freight & Salvage to the Asian Art Museum and the 2009 International Arts Festival in San Francisco, as well as concerts in Boston and Los Angeles. Ganeshan has served as guest lecturer on Carnatic music for Music of India courses at UC Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz and has conducted workshops on singing and the aesthetics of Indian classical music at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and the Asian Art Museum.