THURSDAY
FOLK
NANI VAZANA
Nani Vazana is one of few contemporary songwriters working in the Ladino language, an endangered form of Judeo-Spanish rooted in Castilian Spanish, Hebrew, Arabic, Greek, Turkish and French. Vazana’s concerts are offerings of joyful sounds—the singer plays multiple instruments—and celebrations of the Sephardic Jewish culture in which she is immersed. Moroccan marketplaces, flamenco dances and other Iberian experiences come alive in Vazana’s skillful performances, which made her the Eurovision for Minority Languages winner in 2024. – ADDIE MAHMASSANI
INFO: Thu, 8:30pm, Ashkenaz, 1317 San Pablo Ave., Berkeley. $20/adv, $25/door. 510.525.5099.
THURSDAY
JAZZ
ANDA UNION
The landlocked central Asian nation of Mongolia is the least sparsely populated country in the world, with a population of well under four million in a territory more than twice the size of Texas. While the vast majority belong to the Mongolian, or Khalkha, ethnic group, the country’s expanse has given rise to various musical traditions, many of which are represented in the nine-member group, Anda Union. Playing string and percussion instruments, the group celebrates the endangered pastoralist culture while bringing musical traditions into the 21st century. Wild and wide open as the steppe, Anda Union’s sound is redolent of the wind in the grass, the sway of yaks and the beat of horse hooves. – ANDREW GILBERT
INFO: Thu, 8pm, Freight & Salvage, 2020 Addison St., Berkeley. $54-$59. 510.644.2020.
FRIDAY
SWING
SQUIRREL NUT ZIPPERS
The past is a foreign country, and the Squirrel Nut Zippers hold passports to that old, weird America when medicine shows and minstrel acts crisscrossed the nation. Delighting in the zany, whimsical, bawdy and bloody songs that circulated in taverns, front parlors and vaudeville stages in two decades before and after the turn of the 19th century, the Zippers play zingy ragtime and early jazz, ballads, torch songs and novelty numbers. Since returning from a multiyear hiatus in the late aughts, the Zippers make a compelling case that there’s still plenty of entertainment gold to be mined from the era before electronic mass media. – AG
INFO: Fri, 7:30pm, Yoshi’s, 510 Embarcadero West, Oakland. $60-$99. 510.238.9200.
FRIDAY
BLACK METAL
DEMONCY
Black metal is not for everyone. And that’s the way its fans—and musicians—like it. Just ask Demoncy, one of the first-ever black-metal bands to come from the U.S. Formed in 1989 in North Carolina, Demoncy is known as a band that made the genre their own rather than copy-and-pasting straight from Norway. Their 1999 album, Joined in Darkness, is a cornerstone of the band’s arsenal and the one that solidified their place in the halls of black metal—American or not. And what better place to see them than at Eli’s Mile High Club, a venue needing some extra help with a recent announcement that the City of Oakland is trying to shut it down. – MAT WEIR
INFO: Fri, 9pm, Eli’s Mile High Club, 3629 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, Oakland. $21/adv, $26/door. 510.808.7565.
SATURDAY
AUTHOR EVENT
KATIE GEE SALISBURY
Author Salisbury presents her debut book, Not Your China Doll, about the illustrious and overlooked Anna May Wong, Hollywood’s first Asian-American movie star. Hosted by the Oakland Asian Cultural Center and Eastwind Books of Berkeley, she’ll read from and speak on Wong’s vivid, trailblazing life and how the cinematic industry and Hollywood historians ignored her contribution. Salisbury also writes of the Jazz Age’s dazzling glam and includes titillating and true tidbits drawn from the lives and romances of directors, actors and, especially, stories involving Wong’s legendary beauty, achievements and escapades. Ultimately, the book is a profile of Wong’s courage and, at last, shines a spotlight on her long overdue legacy. – LOU FANCHER
INFO: Sat, 1pm, Pacific Renaissance Plaza, 388 Ninth St., Suite 290, Oakland. Free. 510.637.0455.
SATURDAY
HIP-HOP
COAST CONTRA
Sometimes a freestyle erupts into virality, racking up millions of views and sparking big buzz. So it was with Coast Contra’s Never, a one-take video filmed around the studio table that grabbed attention in 2022 with its relentless energy, razor-sharp wordplay and old-school cipher feel. The L.A.-based group’s four members, charismatic twins Ras and Taj Austin, Colombian-born RioLoz and storyteller Eric Jamal, bring their own flavor and freshness without outshining each other. Their latest release, The Act, an ambitious a capella, adds a theatrical, spoken-word style to the group’s intensity and chemistry. – SONYA BENNETT-BRANDT
INFO: Sat, 6pm, Crybaby, 1928 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. $38.
SUNDAY
CLASSICAL
MAHLER CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
Zellerbach Hall will serve a masterful Mozart and Janáček “sandwich” this coming Sunday. Two bewitching piano concertos offer every possible sonic taste and texture. The music from arguably the greatest Austrian classical music composer of all time will receive tremendous sensitivity and virtuosity from pianist Mitsuko Uchida, who continues to shine during a multiyear collaboration with Cal Performances. The second work is Janáček’s Mládí for wind sextet, well-matched to counter the Mozartian “bread” and adding intimacy without losing strength or finesse. Expect articulate performances and dazzling moments. Leave feeling fully satiated. – LF
INFO: Sun, 3pm, Zellerbach Hall, 101 Zellerbach Hall, Berkeley. $90-$185. 510.642.9988.
SUNDAY
ROCK
RAMONA
Tijuana’s indie-music scene is booming, and Ramona is proof. Fusing ’70s rock inspiration with contemporary shoegaze, dream-pop and the tradition of Latin American balladry, they have built a loyal fan base from more than a decade of touring Mexico and beyond. Their bilingual songwriting in English and Spanish gives them a serious edge! Their 2021 album, Redes Sociales, is a shining example of their innovative sound, which they call “romantic psychedelic rock.” They’ve released a series of new singles in preparation for their U.S. tour, each part of a love story rooted in Chicano culture. – AM
INFO: Sun, 8pm, Ivy Room, 860 San Pablo Ave., Albany. $18/adv, $20/door. 510.526.5888.
SUNDAY
ROCK
HINDS
Catchy and danceable in a lo-fi way, Hinds is a garage-rock duo with power-pop sensibilities. Formed in Madrid in 2011 by Carlotta Cosials and Ana García Perrote, the duo continues to hold it down to this day. However, in 2014 they added two more members, close friends who went on to record and tour with Hinds until 2022. For fans of the Libertines, the Vaccines, Black Lips and other art-pop indie bands, Hinds knows who they are and aren’t afraid to show it. Playing support is Mamalarky, a four-piece indie band from Austin whose 2022 sophomore album, Pocket Fantasy, made waves in industry mags like Paste and Pitchfork. – MW
INFO: Sun, 9pm, The New Parish, 1743 San Pablo Ave., Oakland. $35. 510.227.8177.
TUESDAY
ELECTRONIC
CARAVAN PALACE
French band Caravan Palace is an international electro-swing powerhouse. Electro-swing, a genre that emerged in the late ’90s and early aughts, fused vintage jazz, swing and big band sounds with modern electronic production as DJs and producers began sampling old swing records and layering them with house beats. Caravan Palace brings live instrumentation and a slick, retro-futurist aesthetic through live performances and their stylized, animated music videos. The result is a heady, danceable blend of past and present. – SBB
INFO: Tue, 8pm, Fox Theater, 1807 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. $56-$108. 510.302.2250.
