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Entertainment Schedule

Fe' Prather

On June 29th at 1:30pm at Y Art, the street closure on 10th Street at University Avenue, the Berkeley International Food Festival will present Fe' Prather. Fe' will be reading from her book "The Mbaytes of Kamara", an adventure story of ancient times. Prince Malik and Princess Yazine live in the ancient Kingdom of Kamara. When their Uncle Amir is abducted by a Warrior Princess from the Southern Kingdom, the young royals set out to rescue him in this culturally rich coming of age story.

Fe' Prather is a long-time Berkeley and Los Angeles resident. She holds a BA Cultural Anthropology with an emphasis in Meso American Studies. Her post-graduate studies thus far have been in Oaxaca Mexico, Lake Atilan and Chichicastenango Guatemala.

Fe' is the Founder, Editor, Publisher of Gauguanco Productions. She studied Silk Screening/Graphic Arts under Rene Castro and Mike Roman and has exhibited her artwork in San Francisco, San Juan, Puerto Rico, and Barbados.

Accompanying Fe' will be reader Carinne Salnave, a Bay Area native, whose BA is in Socio-Cultural Anthropology, studied acting at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy for two years. Currently, she now lives in Berkeley and is a teacher and actor.

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REMENCIER:

Celtic Fiddle Rad becomes Afro-Celtic Rad Trad

Remencier ( pronounced "Reh-men-see-ay") means remember, recall and revisit, among other things. Fiddler and singer/songwriter Laurie Chastain discovered the word while searching for a title for her first "radtrad" release. Traditional fiddle tunes of Celtic & other genres combine with original songs & traditional songs to describe the world of history and myth as well as the world seen through the songwriter's eyes in today's multicultural Bay Area.

Laurie Chastain and Orlando Obligacion have combined Celtic fiddle with Afro-Caribbean traditional drumming to discover the new form of Afro Ð Celtic Rad Trad.

After cutting her performing teeth in the Bay Area's genre-defining "Klezmorim", Laurie turned her fiddle power and vocal range to Celtic, Eastern European and Gypsy material. She became a songwriter and traditional dance fiddler. Her band "Silverthistle" played around the area for years, featured especially at Ashkenaz in the Period Events and Entertainment dance series. Recently she produced the cd "Remencier" to begin to define "rad trad". New group Remencier continues to define rad trad with drummer Orlando Obligacion.

Orlando is a Bay Area pan-African percussionist, superb in too many styles to list. He's performed with many well-known groups, both local & national. It is his traditionally-based conga and djembe wizardry which combines here with the percussive Celtic fiddle to voice Afro - Celtic Rad Trad.

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Royal Hawaiian Ukulele Band

2005

The Royal Hawaiian Ukulele Band has through the years grown from six to forty members. The instructor and leader of the band is Kem "Kanikapila" Loong. He performed professionally in Hawaii and continued performing in the mainland.

The band operates as a ukulele class for all levels and also a performing group. As a performing group the band plays all types of music but specializes in Hawaiian. Best known for lively march medleys that blend American and Hawaiian, they have performed for social events, festival gatherings, and corporate events. The band has also performed at large venues such as the Oakand Athletics, University of California Berkeley, and Pixar Animation Studio.

The members of this lively group are composed of all ages and have become expert musicians and vocalists. At the annual Solano Stroll in Albany, California, the band is a favorite and attracts large crowds who instantly feel the breeze of trade winds and the rustle of coco palms. The band has performs at the Solano Stroll since 1997. They have also performed at the annual and most popular among Hawaiians and Hawaiians at heart, Ukulele Festival of Northern California held in Hayward, California; and the Aloha Festival in San Francisco. They can also be seen occasionally hosting Aloha Sunday Open Microphone at the Templebar Restaurant in Berkeley, California.

Many members have been in the band since its inception in 1995 and many more have joined the group as beginners to become expert musicians. Information on classes can be obtained by contacting Uncle Kem by email: ukulele (at) templebar.org.

For small social functions, the band is formed into a smaller performing group that is available for booking. For booking contact: Kem Loong (510) 524-6403 or e-mail: ukulele (at) templebar.org.

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Sponsored by the West Berkeley Neighborhood Development Center:

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