Red Baraat’s musical approach almost seems too contrived: Bhangra meets New Orleans brass meets jazz and funk and go-go. But since this Brooklyn nine-piece group formed a little over three years ago, it's made this largely instrumental style work, and garnished a following to show for it. The group includes three percussionists and six horn players, and tonight they're playing an early show at U Street Music Hall. I traded a few emails recently with Sunny Jain, the group's leader and dhol player.

Jain says he formed the group to bring together the various musical cultures that are a part of his life. “Much of my composing centers around my identity as an Indian-American, and music has always served as a bridge to the two cultures that felt so disparate when growing up,” he writes.  “While leading a jazz quartet as a drum set player for the past 10 years, I found myself gravitating towards the dhol drum. In the fall of 2008, the next natural step in my creative process was to start up Red Baraat, with the intention of creating a large, acoustic band that brought a powerful, primal sound."

The dhol is a double-sided barrel-shaped North Indian drum slung over one shoulder. The instrument "is synonymous with Bhangra, the folk and dance music of Punjab,” Jain writes. Brass bands are not just an American thing.  ”Having seen brass bands in the streets of India during childhood visits,” says Jain, “ I wanted to meld these sounds with the American sounds of funk, jazz, go-go—a musical collection reflecting global unity, which is not only found in the make-up of the band, but also in our audiences.”

Red Baraat has released two albums that are each reflective of the times when they were recorded. The songs on the studio-recorded Chaal Baby were largely composed or arranged by Jain, while a subsequent live album, Bootleg Bhangra followed two years of performing. For the band's upcoming sophomore studio record, Shruggy Ji, several members of the band contributed compositions. "The sound of the band has grown tremendously by depth and emotion since our inception, and this next album captures that,” Jain writes.

As a consumer, Jain’s own musical interests go beyond the speedy dhol-and-brass party rhythms of the group.  “I’ve been listening to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan while running.  The way Sufi numbers unfold creates a meditative space that I lose myself in…which also benefits my exercise time, “ he says. “Otherwise, my playlist shuffles pretty regularly depending upon mood….Deerhoof, Prefuse 73, Nitin Sawhney, Talvin Singh, Pains of Being Pure at Heart, My Pet Dragon, Coltrane.”

Red Baraat performs tonight at 7 p.m. at U Street Music Hall. $15.

Even from my nose-bleed seats at Carnegie Hall last month, Chucho Valdes’ hands looked huge and commanding as they swept across the piano. The reputation of the renowned 70-year-old Cuban musician got a bump 12 years ago in the film Calle 54, in which he reunited with his now 94-year-old piano-playing father, Bebo. Valdes and his band the Afro-Cuban Messengers perform at George Mason University’s Center for the Arts tomorrow night in support of the album Chucho's Steps. He spoke with me briefly on the phone recently via a translator.

Valdes is a kind of citizen of the world now. He lives in Malaga, Spain, he tells me, but since his wife is from Argentina, he also spends time there. But the setlist at the New York show demonstrated where his musical heart is. “I started with Ellington [“Satin Doll”] and finished with Gershwin [“Summertime”] with Afro-Cuban in between,” he says. Emphasizing Steps tunes between the cover-song bookends, Valdes and his band, all from Cuba, have ample opportunities to show off their range. On “Danzon,” Valdes plays delicately but swings while his trumpet player and acoustic bassist add romantic accents.  For “Zawinul’s Mambo” they get funky, incorporating Weather Report’s ‘70s hit “Birdland.” Afro-Cuban numbers such as “Yansa” allow his bandmates to chant folklorically and engage in percussion battles while Valdes shows his ability to play more straight-ahead dance rhythms. But when I ask whether he listens to any contemporary Latin pop sounds, like bachata, reggaeton, or timba, he responds, “I am familiar with them but I like jazz and classical.”

Valdes says this lengthy tour has meant some of the songs from Steps have evolved.  “That’s what jazz is all about,” he says. He says that in penning each composition, he decides where to “insert the Afro-Cuban portions.” As much as he enjoys jazz, Valdes made clear with a simple gesture during the Carnegie Hall show encores where his roots are. As the audience began clapping repetitively—like, well, Americans—Valdes stopped everyone and began clapping clave-style—one, two, three, pause, four, five. Still in love with playing and recording, Valdes clearly has no interest in retiring.  “I play all the time," he happily proclaims, "at least six hours a day.”

Chucho Valdes and the Afro-Cuban Messengers perform Friday at 8 p.m. at the George Mason Center for the Arts, 4400 University Drive, Fairfax, Va. $23-$46.

But first, some background: This past November, WAMA board member and musician Diana Quinn asked me to suggest some nominees. Each year, WAMA members select most of the nominees, but the organization also contacts "experts" for additional assistance.  I sent her an extensive list of local performers and recordings in the areas of rap, pop, rock, EDM, world music, blues, soul, jazz, roots rock, and metal, and included links from a variety of publications covering those artists and recordings. On the jazz front, I urged her to contact Washington City Paper critic Michael J. West and DJ, writer, and recording engineer Larry Appelbaum.

Quinn said she'd bring my suggestions to WAMA's board. She said WAMA compiles the votes of its dues-paying members, and if there are not enough nominees in some categories, they consider the suggestions of the experts, which have to be seconded by someone in WAMA to make it on the ballot. As for the number of experts contacted this year, WAMA president Mike Schreibman says "anywhere from 2 to 10 depending on the category."

Obviously, I'm pleased to see some of my suggestions made it. For the first time, rapper Fat Trel, experimental-pop act Bluebrain, Mariachi Los Amigos, and eclectic indie label Sockets Records were nominated. Oddisee, Zenizia Allstar, Orquesta La Leyenda, The Caribbean, Deleted Scenes, Kid Congo Powers, and Edie Sedgwick also are included. The Wammies will be that much more diverse this year. The addition of these artists helps make the rapper, electronica artist, record company, Latin duo/group, and pop/rock duo/group categories more reflective of what D.C. had to offer in 2011.

Now for the bad news. The go-go categories almost entirely ignored younger musicians, such as popular and critically lauded bounce beat groups like TCB, XIB, Reaction Band, TOB, and ABM. (I suggested go-go talker Killa Cal, but he didn't make the list.)

The omissions continue. Maryland-based Haitian band Rafrechi may have played Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage recently, but they weren't nominated. Maryland soul singer Jim Bennett won a southernsoulrnb.com award, but he didn't make the cut, either. There is no heavy metal category. Sockets Records got a nomination, but indie-rock acts associated with that label, like Hume and Laughing Man, were not (nor was the Sockets hip-hop band The Cornel West Theory). Few of Michael J.  West’s favorite local jazz musicians are included—where are Brian Settles, Nasar Abadey, and Brad Linde? Volta Bureau , Protect-U, and Outputmessage released acclaimed EDM recordings, but they're not applauded here. I've made the case for many of these musicians in earlier articles on the Wammies, but WAMA doesn't seem interested.

Real talk: In the end, my complaint isn't that individual artists I like are ignored by the Wammies (although plenty are), but that the Wammies need to reach out to a truly wide variety of experts, and do a better job demonstrating they care about all styles of music. It was nice that Quinn reached out to me and included some of my suggestions this year, but it's still disappointing how much impactful local music—much of which is heralded by local media—is ignored each year. While time and time again, WAMA insists it does its homework and that it's the responsibility of skeptics to become paying members of WAMA if they feel a sound needs more attention, the hit-and-miss nature of this year's ballot shows that WAMA's approach is not working. After a quarter century, WAMA has not convinced many local musicians that it is worth it to join the organization.

To get a sense of WAMA's biases, look at the general music awards at the bottom of the ballot. WAMA’s “musician of the year” nominees include roots rockers, folkies, and a klezmer musician, but no modern jazz, reggae, R&B, go-go, metal, or indie-rock players. It should probably go without saying, then, that the category is disappointingly homogeneous—it includes 10 white men and one white woman. Since the Wammies include a wide range of genre categories honoring musicians from all walks of life, you'd think the "musician of the year" prize wouldn't seem limited to such a narrow few.

But that is WAMA. Dues-paying members  have until Feb. 5 to vote for their choices.

*correction-This blogpost originally said there were no metal bands nominated.  While there is no metal category, Periphery was nominated for best modern rock group, and Pentagram for best modern rock recording.

A Library of Congress ethnomusicologist, Cutting previously led the Brit folk-rock inspired band The New St. George, and now leads the Ocean Orchestra. Her new album Song of Solstice celebrates spiritual traditions of wintertime with a mixture of originals and unique covers. It also features a lot of musicians. "I don't even know where we're going to put all the performers," says Cutting in an email, "but it will be fun trying!"

The lineup should include an eight-member band (including Cutting on accordion and keyboards), a 14-voice chorus from Washington Revels, a group of Revels-affiliated kids, an eight-member team of Foggy Bottom Morris Men, Celtic harpist Sue Richards, and recorder player John Guillory. Cutting says, "That’s a heck of a lot of people to wedge into one evening (and one space!)."

Song of Solstice—a project that has stretched over 15 years—is something she wanted to do for quite some time. She says, “For the past few years, I've been presenting holiday concerts with my Celtic group Ocean ... and I've wanted those concerts to be really different from people's usual diet of  classical and pop holiday music. Since I couldn't find much music honoring the winter solstice that communicated the particular ideas I wanted to communicate, I just ended up writing my own solstice song." (That would be the title track.) Another number, "Green Man," celebrates "the wild irrepressible spirit of nature," and "appreciate[s] evergreens, which stay alive when all around them is dead." (Inspired by this song, she commissioned Takoma Park artist William L. Brown to design a "Green Man" made of pine, holly, and ivy for the CD's cover.) The disc even includes a quirky bonus: "Bah Humbug," embedded on the CD as video. The Washington Savoyards' Jase Parker stars, "giving Santa a kind of campy drag-queen feel."

How is it all going to come together tonight? Let's wait and see. "If I pull this off," says Cutting, "I will certainly earn some kind of title (how about "She Who Needs Her Head Examined")."

Jennifer Cutting and her Ocean Orchestra and guests perform at 7:30 p.m. tonight at Birchmere, 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria. $25.  703-549-7500.

Photo by Jeff Prehn

When Arlington County Manager Barbara Donnellan presented in late November a new business plan for the financially troubled Artisphere that included closing the building on Mondays and Tuesdays, I wondered what would become of the arts center's "Salsa Tuesdays" events. While tonight’s Cuban salsa and timba event with DJ Reyna is being billed by dance instructor and promoter Eileen Torres in emails as “the final Salsa Tuesday at Artisphere,” Artisphere’s new director of programming, Rosanna Ruscetti, says that the Rosslyn complex will continue to feature salsa dances, but in a more “targeted” manner in order to attract larger crowds. The business plan calls for “reducing operating hours and frequency of programs to stimulate demand.” Ruscetti says that while she had no part in the decision to close Artisphere on certain nights, she says she recognizes the need for the venue to find new ways to establish an audience. She says she is “working with the [Artisphere’s] salsa and zydeco partners to strategize on building audiences.” Ruscetti notes that despite the general “no Monday and Tuesday” mandate planned for after tonight, on Tuesday, Jan. 10, Artisphere will host a dance with the highly touted local record spinner DJ Bruno “El Unico” called “Salsa, Have You Heard This?” 

Artisphere’s struggle to draw larger crowds isn't just the fault of too many weekly weekday programs. As previously reported on Arts Desk, the arts center is located in a drab business area, its restaurant area was vacant for many months (and is now vacant again), and its largest performance space only has 220 seats. Artisphere’s promotional efforts need to be addressed, as well. With lots of salsa dance nights around the Washington area, Artisphere will have to find new ways, within its red-inked budget, to market its targeted events if it wishes to establish a larger audience for couples dancing to the clave beat. It might be wise of Artisphere to look elsewhere in Arlington for ideas.

The Salsa Room (formerly Cecelia’s), on Columbia Pike in Arlington, has 5,000 plus Facebook friends compared to the 3,717 who like the Artisphere page. The separate Salsa at Artisphere Facebook group, which is maintained by Artisphere's salsa promoters, has only 103 members. While promoter and dance instructor Eileen Torres regularly publicizes the dances via her email list,  Artisphere’s “Salsa Tuesdays” haven't gotten much attention from local websites, radio stations, and newspapers.  While local editorial coverage of salsa music is limited, and advertising is pricey, there are ways to reach out. But tonight’s timba event, for example, is not mentioned in the monthly Kesta Happening Latin music newspaper/magazine, nor is it included in Kesta’s music event website calendar that allows free submissions by anyone.  The event isn't in the listings in last Friday’s Washington Post Weekend section, nor in this week’s Washington Hispanic or El Tiempo Latino newspapers.

The lack of attention is a shame. Artisphere’s well-programmed salsa nights deserve acclaim for including more than just helpful dance lessons and creative DJs.  They have featured bands such as Cuba’s Sierra Maestra and films chosen by promoter Eileen Torres. Interestingly, The Salsa Room, which also promotes via postcards and other methods aimed more directly at the region’s Hispanic population, just had a Cuban dance night this past Sunday, with DJ Reyna, local Cuban band Timba Street, and others.  It remains to be seen how tonight’s final “regular” Salsa Tuesday at Artisphere will do audience-wise two nights after a similar event, or if next year’s less frequent salsa events will draw more Latin-music hipshakers.

Tonight’s “Salsa Tuesday” features a dance class with Eileen Torres from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. and DJ Reyna playing Cuban sounds from 8:30 to 11 p.m. at Artisphere, 1101 Wilson Blvd Arlington. $6.  (703) 875-1100

D.C. fans of African sounds have a tough choice to make tonight. Tuareg guitarist Omara Bombino Moctar and his band bring their desert psychedelia to the Black Cat with local pan-African openers Sahel, while Nettle, an international band including two Moroccans plus Jace Clayton (aka DJ Rupture), Andy Moor from The Ex, and others, will be at the “Africa is Not a Country” party at the Marrakech Lounge along with several DJs spinning sounds from across the motherland.  Nettle is celebrating the release of its new album, El Resplandor: The Shining in Dubai. Bombino and Clayton discussed their projects via email.

Thirty-one-year-old Bombino was born near Agadez, Niger, and with his family, he fled at age 12 to Algeria from the violence of the Tuareg uprising against Niger. In Algeria, he acquired a guitar for the first time. When peace temporarily returned to Niger in 1997, Bombino and his family moved back, and he continued playing, inspired in part by Tuareg band Tinariwen.  Early in 2007 Bombino and his band were recorded for the 2009 Sublime Frequencies release, Group Bombino – Guitars from Agadez, Vol. 2. But later that year, in the midst of a second Tuareg rebellion, the Niger military would ban the guitar and kill two of Bombino’s bandmembers.  Again the guitarist fled, this time to Burkina Faso, before returning to now-calmer Niger in 2010.

Bombino now lives in Niamey, Niger, with his wife and daughter, but travels often to Agadez. Bombino says he currently performs at weddings and other Tuareg functions “all the time when I am at home and in Agadez.” He's also working toward having the Tuareg language of Tamashek taught in schools. It’s “slow to be honest," he writes. "It takes a lot of effort, time and patience to get something like this moving in Niger. But I will continue to champion this issue and we'll make progress little by little.” On his new album, Agadez, his fingerwork melds his region’s droning axe sound with influences from Jimi Hendrix to John Lee Hooker. One benefit of international touring, Bombino writes, has been meeting other six-string players. “I love Vieux Farka Toure, and this was the first year I got to play with him and see him live in concert," Bombino writes. "I also got to see Dave Matthews with Tim Reynolds which was really cool. Finally, I really enjoyed seeing Pete Townshend play when we did Jools Holland last month in London.”

Nettle’s new album is the soundtrack for an imaginary remake of Stanley Kubrick's The Shining set in a luxury hotel in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The band includes Clayton on synths and laptop, Moroccan Abdelhak Rahal on violin, the Scottish Jennifer Jones on cello, Moroccan Khalid Bennaji on guembri, American Brent Arnold on cello, the English Andy Moor on guitar, and Canada's Lindsay Cuff on vocals. Together, they blend electronic beats and avante-garde noise with traditional North African folksong and percussion playing.  Clayton says Nettle “grew out of my longstanding interest in Maghrebi music. In 2002 I moved to Barcelona, a city with a strong Moroccan musical community.  Slowly I became involved with it, and a few years later I was working regularly with a violinist, Abdelhak Rahal.   Nettle existed before I met Abdel, but it was primarily a solo project. With him I decided to turn it into a group, to make my involvement with Moroccan music more of a collaborative work.”

While Nettle’s mostly instrumental sound has its out-there aspects, Clayton says it can reach fans of more traditional sounds. “Nettle played a free concert in Tangiers recently and it was well received! We make an effort to connect. There are avant sounds, sure, but, for example in Tangiers, Lindsay learned to sing a Berber song.  When she opened her mouth and Berber words came out , the audience was floored, so happy. We approach everything with a lot of respect, and a lot of emphasis on translation.”  The album has also gotten some attention in Dubai.   Clayton excitedly notes that there have been “several interviews and some interest in bringing us over to perform it in 2012!! I hope it happens.”

“Africa is Not a Country”  features Nettle along with  DJ sets by Bent and Mothershiester showcasing anthems from Mozambique, South Africa, Kenya, Congo,Nigeria, Madagascar, Ghana, and North Africa—plus a glut of "pirated" Kenyan Pop mp3s that dj Bent found online. Free. Nettle plays at 9 p.m. at the Marrakech Lounge, 1817 Columbia Rd NW.

Bombino and band with opener Sahel perform at 9 at the Black Cat, 1811 14th St NW.  $20. (202) 667-4490.

Saturday night at Glen Echo Town Hall,  singer Carol Freeman and her two-piece band will be performing rebetika—a style of Greek music from the early 20th century first played in hash dens, which often features lyrical themes involving alienation, drug culture, prison, and unrequited love. Freeman’s program, “Four Women of Rebetika," will focus not on that original hash-den style, but on a slightly more sophisticated café version of the emotional sound, with similar lyrics popularized by two Greek Jewish immigrants in Turkey and two Turkish Greek Jewish immigrants who moved to America. The songs will vary from mournful elegies to livelier mid-tempo dance numbers.

So how and why did Carol Freeman choose this seemingly arcane musical style? She writes in an email, “I began as a singer of Balkan music (Bulgarian, Macedonian, Croatian, Bosnian, and, of course, Greek.) Friends and colleagues shared recordings of music with each other, particularly field recordings and vintage recordings, as these were not widely available those days. I discovered some songs by some of these Asia Minor-style rebetika singers, and fell madly in love with them. I tracked down reissued recordings in Greece, but they were really few and far between. However, there were a few collectors of 78s here in the U.S. who had collected a lot of their music. There was essentially no one singing this music at the time I became involved in it, so a few close friends who did have collections were eager to share them with me.”

With music and anecdotes, Freeman, oud player Haig Manoukian, and violinist Beth Bahia Cohen will  bring to life Roza Eskenazi, Amalia Baka, Victoria Hazan, and Stella Haskill. Freeman notes that “Roza Eskenazi was the most famous, probably because she was simply fantastic. For two of these women, Roza and Amalia Baka, they defied their families when they became singers. Roza began as a dancer. She was an exquisite singer, and once she was discovered by a well-known Asia Minor composer/producer, just took off.”  Freeman adds, “In this country Amalia Baca was kind of a go-getter who was bored with her role as Jewish housewife on the lower East side and set out to make changes.”

Freeman has done her homework in creating the program.  “I learned the music from listening to—really living with—the recordings, beginning in the '70s,” she says. “I also met with one of the four women, Victoria Hazan, from 1978 into the 1990s. She was living in the Sephardic Nursing Home in Brooklyn for those years. I researched the lives by talking with older Greeks who had known the women, by reading the little that had been written (Roza did write a little autobiography, but she was not really steered in a good direction with regard to what she wrote about and already had some dementia when she wrote it), and by talking to relatives of the women. In the case of Stella Haskil, I know her nephew well, and am also in contact with her husband's son (from his second marriage), who is very interested in promoting her music and her memory.”

Freeman also learned this genre’s feel through instrumentalists who played it.  She notes, “[t]here is a loosely woven community of Balkan/Greek/Turkish musicians who have known each other for a long time. We are all friends who share a long history as well as a great passion for this music. In the case of the two musicians who will be with me on Saturday—well, Haig Manoukian was someone I had seen perform and and admired greatly in famous Arabic/Turkish/Greek/Israeli clubs in the '70s. Because I had always held him in such high regard, I almost fell over when he agreed to join our ensemble. This was more than twenty years ago, and we have worked together ever since. Beth Cohen is someone I have known through the Greek and Balkan folk dance world for a very long time.”

Freeman also offers a big picture reason for singing the music of these performers.  She says she “set out to create this program because while these singers were revered for their extraordinary music, in general Greeks had no idea that they were Jewish. Also, American Jews tend to have no idea that music made by Jews includes these types of non-Western or non-Ashkenazic musical forms.”

“Four Women of Rebetika” takes place at 8 p.m. Saturday at Glen Echo Town Hall, 6106 Harvard Ave., Glen Echo, Md . Free for Folklore Society of Greater Washington members; non-members $25. Reservations recommended. Tickets at www.fsgw.org or contact Betsy at (301)717-4641 or glen.echo@erols.com.

Senegalese singer Baaba Maal’s “Tales from the Sahel” show tonight at the Birchmere should prove to be very different from his last local appearance a year and half ago.   That gig offered his 13-piece band Daande Lenol adapting songs from his 2009 album Television, which featured programmed beats and guest vocals from members of New York band Brazilian Girls. But tonight, this longtime vocalist—whose  high-pitched timbre has led him to be dubbed "The Nightingale"—will  be just  joined by percussionist Mermans Mosengo, British multi-instrumentalist Jim Palmer, and longtime British music critic and author Chris Salewicz.

Via email, Maal explained that the tour, which includes acoustic music alternating with question-and-answers segments, “is something I have been doing for many years in Africa and is how musicians have performed for centuries. In the west I was invited to give a lecture at the British Museum about five years ago and I brought my guitar along and it's progressed from there.” The Sahel is a belt-shaped region of grasslands and savannahs that stretches from Senegal in the west to Ethiopia and Eritrea in the East. The college-educated Maal’s father was a nomadic farmer in that region. As a teenager and 20-something Maal toured Senegal and Europe with guitarist and griot Mansour Seck, and they would recount historical tales and perform.

Maal first met Salewicz, who has penned books on Bob Marley and Joe Strummer, 20 years ago when the critic, after seeing Maal perform in Paris, visited him in his home town of Podor. “Every show has been different so Chris has surprised me every night,” he says, adding “that the beauty of this show is that we don't know where the discussions will lead.” Maal says that with this spoken segment he is trying to convey “something of the rich and vibrant culture of Africa and how culture is an important part of the process to educate, and how we should all work together for a better future.” Similarly with the choice of songs Maal states, the setlist “does change every night and I sing some very old songs and a couple of new ones, but I like to keep it as a surprise.”

Maal had intended to have his longtime percussionist Mamadou Sarr with him on the entire tour, but Saar was blocked from getting his visa in a timely manner. “No reason was given, just more time was needed for processing. I have just heard that he might have a visa granted in time for the last three  shows this weekend so we are waiting with fingers crossed.  He was so upset he could not travel; Mamadou toured the U.S. last year and there was no problem. However we have been fortunate that my great friends from the band Playing For Change lent me Mermans Mosengo, their amazing percussionist, for the tour.” Maal says he began working with the other musician on this tour, Jim Palmer, “about five years ago, and Jim was very important during the recordings of my last album Television. I invited him to play with my African band Daande Lenol when we went on the road and he has even come to Senegal a few times to play shows in Dakar. He is so versatile and plays so many instruments including drums sometimes on this tour.”

This tour is not the only item the busy Maal is working on.  “I have been in the studio a lot recently working with Playing For Change,” he says, plus “a young very talented  musician from the U.K. called Jamie Woon, and I have just released an album in Senegal only called Souvenier. I am sure some of these projects will be released shortly here.” In addition, there’s his annual Senegalese music festival. “Its going very well, thank you, we are now on the sixth edition and will be held in Podor, northern Senegal over the first weekend of December. It's called ‘Les Blues du Fleuve [The Blues of the River].’ You are all invited to come!"

Baaba Maal performs at 7:30 p.m. tonight at the Birchmere, 3701 Mt. Vernon Avenue, Alexandria. $35. (703) 549-7500

The D.C. area has plenty of club DJs spinning popular Latin dance music, and various promoters and clubs bringing in big-name reggaeton, bachata, salsa, and rock en español acts, but Maracuyeah is carving a unique niche. Since March, the D.C. DJ duo has been assembling evenings that feature an eclectic mix of cutting-edge tropical dance music as well as more classic sounds, often coupled with live performances. Earlier this year, they featured Argentine DJ Chancha via Circuito and Brooklyn-based Brazilian baile funkster Zuzuka Poderosa.

Tonight, Maracuyeah is holding court at Napoleon Bistro & Lounge in Adams Morgan, where Colombian cumbia/folktronica DJ and vocalist Pernett will perform along with D.C. singer and hornplayer Trumpetgirl. They'll be joined by six D.C.-based DJs spread out on the establishment's two floors. Here's how the very enthusiastic Maracuyeah DJs are hyping the evening's offerings:

First Floor: Pan-Latin To the Future & Into Outer Space–> Cumbia Intergalactica, Salsa Psychodelica, ElectroChampeta, Merengue Marciano, Rock de otra Dimension, y Remezclas Forever, including your favorite 80s synth projections to the future, like Technocumbia, Latin House + Reggaeton Pre y Post Moderno

Second Floor: Pollada/Parranda de Casa (Second floor)- Latin Patio Intergenerational Fiesta Jam- Enjoy the songs you danced with your grandma- Vallenatos Deliciosos, Cumbias Caribenas, Exitos Andinos, Las Chicas del Can, Salsa Picantes, Tamoboras para Reventar, Joyas de Dancehall.

In an email interview, the ladies behind Maracuyeah, DJ Rat and DJ Mafe, discussed their dance nights, their influences, and their favorite tropical fruit.

Washington City Paper: When did the first Maracuyeah event happen in D.C. and who was featured ?

DJ  Rat: The first official Maracuyeah DJ night happened in March of 2011 and featured DJs Mafe, Rat, Bent, and Wanako. We do a lot of free dance nights to build community, start conversations around new tropical musics, and introduce crowds to the music of artists we hope to later showcase live in D.C.

Arts Desk: What does Maracuyeah mean?

DJ Mafe: Maracuya, or passion fruit, is one of our favorite tropical fruits from Colombia and Peru! We threw "YEAH" on the end because that's part of our attitude, and partly in ode to the Colombian affirmation, “Yeah Maracuya,” YEAH tu sabes.

DJ Rat: In Peru, one of my favorite treats is drinking Maracuya juice at the mercado or at breakfast. You throw the whole fruit in the blender, so its shiny black seeds  get mixed in with the rest of the juice. It comes out a combination of light sunny tartness, and gritty texture at the end of the glass, kinda like the delicious cup we are trying to mix, creating a conversation of the badass glowing tradtitional sounds and culture we love, with the new edgy and experimental music it influences. Yum.

Arts Desk: Rat, tell me about the tapes of songs and stories you have sent back and forth to family in Peru and how that influenced you?

DJ Rat: The tapes were awesome because there was so much wonder and lived experience crammed into this one plastic cassette, and I think the desire to do that has stuck with me in organizing parties within an amazing community of likeminded DJs in D.C. and Lima, Peru. We see a party or event as an opportunity to pull very different elements and experiences together, draw associations, spark unlikely conversations and interactions, tell our stories, express and create at the same time, and most importantly build community together—all packed into this one unit.

Also I think it was then that as a toddler I fell in love with the lo-fi format, which I think  is also influential in the style of how we do things at Maracuyeah—lo-fi, hi-love, and hi-impact too, we hope!

Arts Desk: Do you listen to Afro-Peruvian singers and percussion groups?

DJ Rat: I absolutely love Afro-Peruvian music, dances, and culture, and I love when conversations around AfroPeruvian culture can include the complex histories, struggles, love, and people who lived and live it.  I was part of a folkloric dance troupe in Lima, so I start geeking out, and don't know how much you wanted to go into this.

Arts Desk: Mafe, when did you come to the U.S. and to D.C. from Colombia?

DJ Mafe: I was born in Bogota, Colombia, and came to Miami 11 years ago with my family. I have been in D.C. for four years now.

Arts Desk: Mafe, did you ever think salsa dancing to Joe Arroyo at family parties was just for old people, and that you only wanted to hear alt-Latino, rock en espanol, and other things?  Now you like both, or have you always?

DJ Mafe: Back in Colombia, listening to salsa or merengue was not uncommon. It would be played in every Quinceañera party and minitecas (parties for underage kids). I would also hear my dad listening to boleros of Olga Guillot and the tropical music of Los Billos Caracas boys. When I arrived to the states my taste in music was redefined as I started listening to punk, rock en español, and more alternative sounds that my older brother introduced me to.  I think Latin alternative sounds have combined those two worlds. These sounds are mixing folkloric rhythms with electronic, rock, hip-hop sounds, which makes them appealing to this generation.

"Parranda Extravanganza" takes place tonight at 10 p.m. at Napoleon Bistro &  Lounge, 1847 Columbia Road NW.  $5. (202) 299-9630.

Like the Washington City Paper theater and dance critics who've seen Fela! during its ongoing run at the Shakespeare Theatre Company's Harman Center, I found much to like about this musical bio of Nigeria’s most controversial musician. But I found one thing in the production a bit curious. While the actors and dancers all seemed to be of African descent, you could say the same about only one member of the 10-piece band that also appears on stage. The ensemble sounded great, so I wondered who they are, and if they have any connection to Fela Kuti or Nigeria. After all, the Fela whom I saw, at the now-defunct Kilimanjaro in Adams Morgan, had an African band.

The musicians in the current D.C. run have played with or are connected in some way with Brooklyn band Antibalas, whose sound is based on Fela’s Afrobeat style. In fact, Rikki Stein, who was Fela’s manager and manages Fela’s estate, suggested the producers contact Antibalas when the musical was in its embryonic stages. Antibalas performed for them, and the band's trombonist and music supervisor Aaron Johnson then helped choose songs and write the arrangements for Fela!, and even co-wrote a number in the musical.

The musicians on the Harman Theatre stage have all played or substituted in the Tony-winning Broadway version. In an email, the Iowa-born, Long Island-raised Johnson acknowledged that none of the musicians are African. He also noted that he's played with Fela’s onetime drummer Tony Allen, as well as with Fela’s sons Femi Kuti and Seun Kuti, plus many other musicians who used to play with Fela. But he did not “think they were ‘contacted’ for the gig, as the skill set required was more than just being able to play Afrobeat."

The entire production, while laudable, is essentially an American take on a Nigerian icon. Lindsay Tolar, the Shakespeare Theatre Company's publicist, says that in creating the show, choreographer Bill T. Jones did not go to Nigeria, but did research via “both reading and watching much footage (interviews & performance) about Fela.” She also says Maija Garcia, Jones' associate choreographer for Fela!, has a solid background in African/Afro-Cuban dance and played an important role in the choreography. And of course,  Sahr Ngaujah, who adeptly plays Fela in the show, is a U.S.-born, Atlanta-raised actor of Sierra Leonean descent.