Mana Humana was born from a rich history of musical cross-relationships. Drawing on an eclectic mix of styles - funk, rock, jazz, blues, world beat - Mana Humana creates a genre-bending experience that blends infectious grooves, a vast harmonic palette, and a communal vibe. For years, members of Mana Humana have been backing some of the Bay Area’s most progressive and vibrant world-beat ensembles: Zulu Spear, Lutsinga Musical Ensemble, Ivson Lins, and Planet Rio. Now they bring their many experiences together in Mana Humana’s own sound, stretching out in inspired band compositions and soloing.

Ashkenaz favorite Sean Hodge (of High Heat) returns, this time in the Visitants, a Bay Area rock & roll quartet who perform original songs as tight and infectiously melodic as they are irresistibly danceable. There is a strong stylistic connection to ’60s and ’70s rock when bands from Creedence Clearwater Revival to the Who and Beatles could deliver the meaning of life in a three-minute song complete with brain-melting guitar solo and heavenly vocal harmonies – everyone in the Visitants sings. The Visitants take the best qualities of the “good ol’ days” of rock and bring them to the present with their own inventive composing and playing on such original songs as “Sunflower Marmalade” and “The Weight of Lead.” Sean Hodge and Riley Bray share electric guitar duties, with bassist-keyboardist Ben Margoo and drummer Gordon Jacobs. www.facebook.com/pages/The-Visitants/149378195072866

Berkeley rock and blues band Rough Waters describes its sound as “Stevie Ray Vaughan back from the dead.” Founded in 2006 by guitarists-vocalists Henry Geller – a New York City native who has opened for such legends as Gladys Knight, Robert Cray, and Etta James – and Jesse Rosenthal and drummer Elijah Fletcher, Rough Waters later added Sam Fletcher on bass. www.facebook.com/roughwaters

Lavay Smith & Her Red Hot Skillet Lickers keep adding new elements to their timeless blues-jazz-swing repertoire. The band's third CD and first in nine years, “Miss Smith to You!”, provides fresh takes on classics for the dance floor, including “Miss Brown to You,” “I'm Not Evil,” and “When the Saints Go Marching In.”

Radio personalities from around the globe serve as DJs for Mondo Muzik Night. It’s the first-time-ever teaming of KPFA “Music of the World” programmers Stephen Kent, David McBurnie, Jose Ruiz, and Kutay Kugay. Dance your socks off with global sounds – from soukous to salsa, Middle Eastern grooves, bhangra, and Afrobeat, to reggae, reggaeton, dancehall, and much more!

Berkeley’s deep groove band 7th Street Sound propels another of its acclaimed one-night festivals of conscious reggae dance music, playing on its own and backing an array of fresh musical talent. 7th Street is a Berkeley-homegrown, Ashkenaz-raised band. Friends since high school, Eddie Arnold (drums), Danny McCaffrey (bass), and Benjamin Goff (keys) have been playing together since 1992. They recently added guitarist Jason Collins of the Funkanauts. 7th Street Sound has been called one of the Bay Area’s best-kept musical secrets and has backed many artists, including lovers’ rock legend Lloyd Brown on his first California tour. Other artists 7th Street Sound has worked with include Army, Tuff Lion, Messenjah Selah, Earl Zero, Winstrong, and Roots Natty.

A fresh new artist from Guyana, Arkaingelle unites an Afro-Caribbean perspective with a strong Rastafarian message. Though meditative, his lyrics are delivered in a blazing vocal style over deep vibrations. www.myspace.com/arkaingelle

Singjay Luv Fyah features selections from his recent collaboration with Million 7, “Ethiopia We Belong.” A Reggae-Vibes.com reviewer wrote that “his presence and delivery lives up to his name, bringing plenty of Fire and Love on this release, where he combines sweet, soulful singing with chanting on songs like ‘New Star Born,’ ‘Ethiopia I Belong,’ ‘So Many Lights,’ ‘Coming from the West’ or ‘Time Traveler.’” www.myspace.com/luvfyah

From St. Croix in the Virgin Islands, singer Binghi Ghost takes his name from the Rastafarian word for “Nyabinghi,” meaning the real, original chanting Rastafarians use to give thanks and praises through singing. Add in the choices humanity is currently facing, translate them into reggae, and that is Binghi Ghost’s music, an uplifting sound conveying that “we can accomplish what we set our minds to do.” www.myspace.com/binghighost

Originally from Philadelphia, I Rae Divine, the Empress of Zion, sings both conscious and love songs buoyed by her lilting high voice and deep bass grooves. www.myspace.com/iraedivine7thstband

Now in its eighth year, the Berkeley Old Time Music Convention has blossomed into a five-day festival (Wednesday, Sep. 8, through Sunday, Sep. 12) that includes square dances, concerts, films, workshops, demonstrations, and more. Pickers, singers, and fans of old-time music travel from around the country for this homegrown urban get-together; some have come from as far away as Japan and New Zealand!

The convention’s square dance night features acoustic fiddle bands pumping out music that makes you want to get up and dance, plus callers who love to introduce the uninitiated to the fun of a square dance party, with the emphasis on “party”! No dancing experience is needed; the callers will teach all dances from scratch and will call the moves all the way through. No need to bring a partner, although you can if you want. And same-sex partners fit in fine.

Jimmy Triplett, Scott Prouty, and Andy FitzGibbon are younger-generation fiddlers deeply immersed in the older West Virginia mountain style of playing, which includes dance music as well as beautiful solo fiddle tunes. They’ve learned directly from such legendary fiddlers as Melvin Wine, Wilson Douglas, and Lester McCumbers. They’ve all won fiddle contests and have taught at many camps, including Augusta and Mars Hill. In addition to playing and teaching old-time music, all three have been involved in activities related to its documentation. While living in Elkins, WV, Triplett worked for the Augusta Heritage Center, where he co-produced a two-CD compilation of the fiddling of Ernie Carpenter and the DVD “One More Time: The Life and Music of Melvin Wine.” FitzGibbon is an expert banjo player and works as a banjo repairman; he has researched historic banjos and their makers. Prouty has assisted in the production of several recordings and was an archival intern at the Library of Congress’s Archive of Folk Culture and at the Smithsonian.

Oakland’s Squirrelly Stringband took first place in the first two years of the BOTMC string band contest. Since then fiddler Dave Murray, clawhammer banjo player Debbie Berne, guitarist Allegra Yellin, and Rachel Kraai on washtub bass have played old-time Southern breakdowns and backwoods mountain music at countless festivals, parties, and barn dances. The band recently started up a “First Friday” square dance at the Niebyl-Proctor Marxist Library. www.spectacularopticals.com

From Arcata, the Striped Pig Stringband is Colin Vance (fiddle), Brian Letts (guitar), Cisco Haggerty (bass), and Matt Brunner (banjo). At home they host a monthly square dance of the hot and sweaty variety. www.myspace.com/stripedpigstringband

The callers: Retired printer Bill Martin (who plays in the Martin Brothers and Uncle Wiggly Stringband) comes from a long line of old-time musicians, and has even called a square dance with the Great Wall of China in the background. He played a key role in fostering Portland’s thriving old-time music and dance scene over the last two decades. www.bubbaguitar.com

Family Square Dance at Ashkenaz is a longstanding tradition, and this one is part of the Berkeley Old Time Music Convention. Family dance is a way for the whole gang to have a great time dancing together – no experience is necessary, and all ages are welcome. The callers teach the dances from scratch and prompt the moves all the way through, with some dances that even babes in arms can do!

Maggie Lind and Caroline Oakley call to live music by the stringband Pork Pies. Two of Portland’s best square dance callers and old-time musicians, Oakley and Lind have called dances up and down the West Coast, with many appearances at the Portland Old Time Gathering, which they helped start. They are also accomplished and engaging children’s music teachers. www.squaredancefever.com (Caroline); www.myspace.com/maggiebanjo (Maggie)

This is a full-immersion evening in Bohemian cabaret, featuring the wildly eclectic Portland, Oregon, ensemble Vagabond Opera, who for this performance are joined by leading dancer Hannah Romanowsky. Vagabond Opera is described by the Washington Post as “a band of ceaseless charisma, boundless energy, impeccable musicianship and more than a little touch of both the naughty and exotic.” It delivers passionate offerings of Bohemian cabaret, Paris hot jazz, gutbucket swing, tangos, Ukrainian folk-punk ballads, klezmer, and vigorous originals, meeting in a world of riverboat gambling queens, Turkish belly dancers, and the enigmatic Marlene Dietrich. Weaving elements of Kurt Weill, Duke Ellington, and Edith Piaf with absurdist flair, theatrics, and an old-world mood, Vagabond Opera presents the new wave of opera – lusty voices singing in 13 languages and a cabaret of rich musical phrasing, sparkling lyrics, and indomitable stage presence, all played with exuberance, skill, and a gritty Vagabond edge.

Created in 2002 by opera singer-composer Eric Stern, the band includes trained operatic tenor and soprano vocals, accordion, tenor saxophone, two cellos, stand-up bass, and drums. Vagabond Opera has performed all over the U.S. and in Europe. Its music is available on three CDs. Tonight’s show may include excerpts from its recently staged, first full opera, “Queen of Knives.”

A classically trained dancer with a degree in Dance Ethnology, Hannah Romanowsky is an accomplished performing artist and instructor dedicated to the enchanting traditions of North Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia. She is a principal dancer with acclaimed ensemble Ballet Afsaneh, presenting dance, music, and poetry of the historic Silk Road, and Wan-Chao Dance, an ethno-contemporary company directed by Wan-Chao Chang. Romanowsky is the founder and director of Danceversity, a youth nonprofit cultural arts education program. www.hannahromanowsky.com

Equipped with a sultry voice, button accordion, and baritone ukulele, torch vocalist Tara Linda plays “Tortilla Western”: a blend of spaghetti western, rock, and Tex-Mex. “[Tara] Linda seduces like a siren… and like a poet, the lyrics challenge and enchant,” the San Antonio Express-News recently raved. Growing up in Texas, Tara Linda soaked up the region’s Americana, blues, and Tex-Mex influences. She later fell in love with 1930s Latin torch and picked up the accordion. “The accordion takes you around the world like no other instrument,” Tara says. “As a singer, the accordion is... emotional and endlessly expressive.” Tonight Tara and her band – guitarist Az Samad, horn and violin player Jeff Hobbs, drummer Dean Cook, and a bassist – focus on Tex-Mex and a little desert cabaret. www.taralinda.com

Zaryab Ensemble brings a contemporary re-interpretation of Persian traditional roots, melding ancient Persian modal qualities and traditional instruments with modern musical systems. The band features a renowned international cast that specializes in both Persian and Western music. In cooperation with Afsaneh Art and Culture Society - Ballet Afsaneh dance artists, choreographers, and collaborators, Zaryab Ensemble has developed numerous original compositions, in an inspiring juxtaposition of music, dance, visual art and poetry. Recent performances include Festival of the Silk Road (annually self-produced performance in San Jose), Celebration of Planet Earth (self-produced performance at Mountain View Center for Performing Arts), and San Francisco’s Re-Orient Festival.

The band of seasoned world performers includes singer Sonja Drakulich, a specialist in Turkish, Arabic, Balkan, and Medieval European music traditions, and the creator of the group Stellamara); santur player Neema Hekmat, an expert in Persian modal systems and improvisation; violinist and Persian-Western classical expert Pourya Khademi; and cellist Moses Sedler of the group Davka, specializing in Western classical, Eastern European folk and Indian music. Primary dance collaborators include Miriam Peretz, Mariam Gaibova, and Hannah Romanowsky.

Although tonight’s main performers have both played at Ashkenaz before in other bands, this is their local debut together as the amazing traditional Louisiana Cajun duo Jesse Lége and Joel Savoy. For their West Coast tour the accordion master and young fiddler are joined by the hot band of guitarist Sammy Lind and bassist Nadine Landry (from Portland’s Foghorn Trio) and guitarist Eric Thompson (of California Cajun Orchestra, Aux Cajunals, Todalo Shakers, and many more). They’ll play traditional Cajun dance hall music, as well as some of Lége’s own tunes that have become a part of the traditional Cajun repertoire.

Joel Savoy, son of Cajun music royalty Marc and Ann Savoy, is one of the most requested fiddlers in Southwest Louisiana today. Growing up in Eunice, Louisiana, literally at the feet of Cajun heroes like Dennis McGee, Dewey Balfa, Michael Doucet, and Wade Frugé (to name a few), Joel experienced a strong sense of what makes Cajun Cajun; as a result, he has developed a fiddle style that is at once authentic and on the cutting edge. In performance he represents his culture with an authority that few people his age can, and his playing leaves no doubt that Cajun music is still very much alive. He can be found playing with just about every band in Southwestern Louisiana at some time or other, though most often he’s seen with his brother Wilson and their parents in the Savoy Family Band. www.joelsavoy.com

Acclaimed Virginia-based contemporary folksinger-songwriter Nathan Moore returns with new songs and an artful evening that also features fellow East Coast singer Lael Neale with Trevor Garrod, and a special exhibit and sale by Bay Area concert photographers including Josh Miller, Sue Weiand, and Dave Vann. In addition, Naomi Alessandra will do live painting in front of the stage during the concert.

Moore is best known to fans as the lead singer of the rock bands Surprise Me Mr. Davis and ThaMuseMeant, but he has also gained a considerable reputation as a solo acoustic artist, with lyrical, literate songs about “ordinary” people including himself and their struggles and adventures in daily life. Inspired by words as much as music, Moore has written over a thousand songs. His charismatic, sincere solo performances, evocative one-man shows that combine music, banter, and magic, have wowed audiences and garnered critical praise from coast to coast. “He’s one of the greatest songwriters we have and the faucet is always on, pouring fresh songs out like water. He’s intelligent, funny, honest, warm, a little crazy and full of love, and so is his music,” raved JamBase editor-in-chief Aaron Kayce. “Watching him strap on his harmonica while listening to him tell stories between songs, explaining their inspirations and deeper meanings, we’re reminded of folk legends like Woody Guthrie and pre-electric Bob Dylan.”

In 2008 Moore won the coveted Telluride Bluegrass Festival Troubadour Competition (and a beautifully inlaid $50,000 custom guitar to prove it). He is a regular performer and crowd favorite at the High Sierra Music Festival, where he was proclaimed Mayor of High Sierra following a comical campaign with such signs as “Moore is More.” At this show he’ll have for sale a few copies of his previously unissued CD, “You Yeah Smokin’ Hot”; all eight songs were written and recorded at his home in the Shenandoah Valley. Also on sale is a limited-edition commemorative poster created by local artist Coco Tardiff of Coques Design.

Opening the evening is young songwriter and singer-guitarist Lael Neale, accompanied on banjo by Trevor Garrod of Tea Leaf Green. www.myspace.com/laelneale

Singer Renée Asteria celebrates the release of “RazteRia,” her third CD, tonight with a party and festival of music from the CD and artists who appear on it: Raw-G, Godé, and LT3!. “Latin roots, reggae riddims, activist intent and strong female vocals coalesce on Renée Asteria’s rockin’ new release RazteRia,” says Chuck Foster of KPFK-FM in Los Angeles (KPFA’s sister station). “…The result is soulful, rock-solid and recommended.” One constant throughout Asteria’s musical career is songs filled with important issues, reflecting her strong commitment to justice, and RazteRia’s subject matter ranges from immigrants’ struggles to HIV/AIDS prevention.

Asteria’s music reflects her life experiences and her multicultural background (U.S. born, Bolivian-Dutch heritage), with a hint of Latin folk styles woven into a reggae-dominant rhythm track. Currently based in the Bay Area, she has planted musical seeds throughout the Americas (Argentina, Bolivia, Canada) and Europe (France, Switzerland). Asteria has sung with Pacific Vibrations and Spiritual Reggae Band and recently worked regularly with Berkeley’s hard-hitting reggae band 7th Street Sound.

From the Oakland hip-hop group Vomito Liriko, Mexican-born vocalist Raw-G is notorious for her out-of-the-ordinary flow, raw poetry, and deep lyricism that reflect her group’s struggle in life with a revolutionary state of mind. www.vomitoliriko.com

Godé – Congolese-American singer Mbutshu Yindja – performs an acoustic blending of Christian alternative rock and R&B with sweet yet powerfully sophisticated vocals and introspective lyrics.

LT3! is former Bay Area guitarist Luke Thomas’s current group with drummer Dickie Ogden and bassist Uriah Duffy. Together they play a funky blend of jazz, rock, and blues fusion, characterized by powerful grooves, improvisational explorations, and feel-good vibes. www.lukewhatimade.com

www.headforthehillsmusic.com

At the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, Bob Dylan said of fellow performers BeauSoleil, “That's my kind of music!” Led by virtuoso fiddler Michael Doucet, BeauSoleil takes Doucet’s Louisiana Cajun roots (heard in more traditional form from the Savoy-Doucet Band) and artfully blends elements of zydeco, New Orleans jazz, Tex-Mex, country, blues, and more into a satisfying and irresistibly danceable musical recipe.

The world’s best-known Cajun band, BeauSoleil championed the popularization of home state Louisiana’s indigenous French-language dance music in the 1970s and ’80s, helping turn a near-derogatory term, “Cajun,” into a label of pride for members of its Southwest Louisiana culture. BeauSoleil has a Grammy win and 10 nominations over its 30-plus-year career and is one of the most frequent guests on National Public Radio’s “A Prairie Home Companion.”