Let’s celebrate together the 13th Anniversary of Kafana Balkan!
We’ll be featuring over 25 performers with bombastic Balkan Brass with Ismail Lumanovski & Inspector Gadje feat. MC Deuce Eclipse and Magician Tobias Weinberger + Axon Orchestra (Los Angeles) + Jill Parker & Little Egypt, + DJ Željko. The dance floor will be hopping!

See footage here https://youtu.be/_Mx2u-RdW5Q?list=RD_Mx2u-RdW5Q where a line formed around the block, incited an all-night sweat soaked dance party, and ecstatic memories still resonating with those lucky enough to have been there.

“Virtuoso clarinetist ISMAIL LUMANOVSKI, a star of the Balkan music scene in the U.S. and abroad, and one of the most popular Romani musicians” performs internationally and leads the New York Gypsy Allstars. Ismail is perhaps the first Roma clarinet player to graduate from the Juilliard School of Music in New York. His sui generis mastery of Western classical and Eastern folk music have elevated both musics to new heights, and indeed to new octaves in the clarinet.

INSPECTOR GADJE brings a big sound to the beautiful and bumpin' brass band music of the Balkans. With 14 musicians sharing the stage, Inspector Gadje is an acoustic dance machine that makes the party move! A "... RIP ROARING MAD BALKAN BRASS BEDLAM" (KPFA'S Stephen Kent, “Music of the World”) and an "instant party atmosphere” (The SF Chronicle).

Magician TOBIAS WEINBERGER, who will be be joining the brass set - has been performing magic and circus arts since the age of eleven and was a longtime member of internationally touring rock and roll vaudeville troupe, The Yard Dogs Road Show. For the past few years Tobias has combined his love of magic, circus and surrealism to build his own show, The Traveling Spectacular.

Emcee DEUCE ECLIPSE will share the stage with Inspector Gadje, he creates an open universal sound, which he describes as “Freedom Style” or “Indigenous Noise." His vision is deeply rooted in both the traditional Nicaraguan music his father would play on his guitar and the rhythmic expressive style of American Hip-Hop. He is both a solo artist and front man for the beloved Bay Area ensemble Bang Data, and has toured extensively with the Zion I Crew.

AXON ORCEHSTRA Creative forces collide with an Eclectic Off The Beaten Path musican mix, merging urban and village music styles featuring: virtuoso violinist Fabrice You (of FishTank Ensemble) + guitar genius Dusty Brough + multifaceted virtuoso double bass player Miles Jay accompanied by the modern Balkan grooves of Marco Peris Coppola.

JILL PARKER
is an international, award winning belly dancer. She is an instructor, choreographer, and founder of the modern tribal fusion belly dance movement.
She's an exceptional belly dance teacher with a gift for demystifying this sensuous form, making its techniques accessible to new dancers, while offering tremendous insight for refinement to advanced dancers. With over two decades of experience, she has trained many of the top dancers in the genre.
Jill is an original member of Fat Chance Belly Dance, founder of Ultra Gypsy, and director of Little Egypt. She teaches weekly classes at ODC Commons (SF).

DJ Željko:
Not only was Kafana Balkan the first ongoing Balkan dance party in San Francisco, it's also the Bay Area's biggest Balkan music party masterminded by DJ Željko Petkovich. Željko hails from the Balkans, Serbia by way of Frankfurt and now resides in San Francisco. We here in San Francisco have the great benefit of enjoying his discriminating taste and seemingly endless collection of Balkan music. DJ Željko clearly loves what he does and he is a crowd pleaser, concocting a genuine brew of highly danceable Balkan Brass.

More on Ismail Lumanovski - https://www.ismaillumanovski.com
More on Inspector Gadje - https://www.inspectorgadje.com
More on Kafana Balkan -www.facebook.com/kafana.balkan
More on Jill Parker - https://www.facebook.com
More on Axon Orchestra - https://www.facebook.com/AxonOrchestra/