Arts Listings

WORLD MUSIC FESTIVAL 

Telegraph Avenue blossoms in late spring for the Berkeley World Music Festival on afternoons and evenings this weekend, from Bancroft down to The Village and in People’s Park Saturday, June 2, with music from all over for listening and dancing—and it’s all free. Founder and organizer Gianna Ranuzzi emphasizes that the festival supports both local musicians and international multiethnic consciousness—most of the players, singers and dancers live right here, in the Bay Area. But the scope of the cultures they represent is truly staggering, from Mamadu and Vanessa playing and singing the Mali Blues, to Pusaka Sunda Javanese Gamelan Dejung; Julia Tsitsi dancing Zimbabwe style to Brass Menazeri’s Balkan band; Tito y Su Son de Cuba’s salsa to Mahal’s Filipino fusion; Mo Alileche’s Berber diaspora music and song to the Cajun All-Stars ... and fusion like a traditional Moroccan group with djeridu wizard Stephen Kent of KPFA and the Druid Sisters’ Tea Party (”Celtic Gypsy Tribal Grooves”)—continous music outdoors and in cafes, for two days. See www.berkeleyworldmusic.org.