The Third San Francisco World Music Festival 2002
San Francisco World Music Festival June 9-16, 2002 brought acclaimed world musicians and dancers from rarely seen cultures into the Bay Area spotlight. The festival culminated June 15-16 at the Palace of Fine Arts in collaboration with the 24th San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival. Our programming featured Elvel, an indigenous group of musicians and dancers from the isolated Kamchatka Peninsula near Siberia, brought shamanistic song and dance to the stage in their first-ever U.S. performance. Sabjilar, a family trio from the Khakas region of Central Asia, presented their native song and folklore through a unique style of throat singing. This marked their first U.S. appearance. We alsho showcased Persian percussion master Pejman Hadadi and Namah Dance Company, performing Iranian classical and percussion music and contemporary Persian dance; La Tania, internationally celebrated flamenco soloist, reinterpreting the classic form in her groundbreaking Nuevo Flamenco; Ballet Afsaneh, presenting a reflective women?s dance from Afghanistan; Chinese martial artists of Wushu West, demonstrating moves to a commissioned musical piece under the direction of Hao Zhi Hua (Patti Li), the Beijing championship winner of a style of wushu that incorporates manipulation of weapons (swords, sticks) and characterizations of people and animals.
Performances at Julia Morgan Theater in Berkeley:
Persian master musician Hossein Alizadeh;
Performances at Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco:
Pejman Hadadi and Namah Dance Ensemble (Iran), Elvel (Kamchatka Peninsula, Asia), Sabjilar
(Khakas region, Central Asia), Wushu West (China) a commissioned piece demonstrating
martial arts accompanied by the world premiere of an original musical piece commissioned
by the EDF and World Music Festival, La Tania Flamenco (Spain), Minoan Dancers with Edessa
(Greece), Ballet Afsaneh with Aziz Herawi (Afghanistan), Group Petit La Croix (Haiti).
