Join us for a fun night of Balkan brass and folkdance music. Bill Cope's Orkestrar Unbound will open the show and we will proceed to round out the evening with Tano Brock's Sarma Brass Band as we celebrate Benji Rifati's birthday!
The Berkeley Balkan Bacchanal resents Sarma Brass Band & Orkestar Unbound at The Starry Plough Pub, 3101 Shattuck Ave, Berkeley, CA
Show starts at 8 pm, doors open at 7 pm. Tickets: $20 at the door.
Cash or Venmo accepted. All ages before 10 pm. 21+ after 10 pm when kitchen closes.
Sarma Brass Band is a balkan brass band that evokes the energetic grooves and soaring melodies of the Balkan Roma. The band draws upon founder/leader Tano Brock’s upbringing in the Balkan music scene in Northern California, as well as his travels and studies throughout the Balkans. They play original material as well as a variety of traditional music from Macedonia, Serbia, Greece, and Albania. Featuring musicians from the US, Serbia, Turkey, and Palestine, Sarma Brass Band represents an international love of Balkan Brass. Their full and epic sound, consisting of groovy melodies and chest-thumping rhythms will entice even the most shy listener to dance.
Tano Brock, saxophone; Benji Rifati, trumpet; Sean Tergis, percussion; Marco Peris, percussion; Peter Bonos, euphonium; Evan Stuart, sousaphone; Aya Safiya, voice.
Opening the show at 8 pm, Orkestar Unbound features multi-instrumentalist bandleader Bill Cope, Asaf Ophir on woodwinds, vocalist Emily Saletan and Dan Auvil on drums.
Bill Cope is a multi-instrumentalist who does not focus on just one instrument but performs on over 60 in many diverse concert settings. He began playing Balkan music in the mid-1970s after falling in love with the music while part of a dance group based in San Jose, California. He began his teaching career giving lessons on tambura at the Mendocino Balkan Music & Dance workshops in 1982, and to date he has taught at many workshops around the country. Bill has been the music director of San Francisco-based WestWind International Folk Ensemble, AMAN International Dance Ensemble, Mendocino Folklore Camp, and the San Francisco Kolo Festival. He was the Administrative Director of the East European Folklife Center in the early 90s. He is currently the director of the San Francisco Kolo Festival and manages his own house concert venue Cope-a-Cabana.